The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' offense was quite good in 2024, as the only one to rank in the NFL's top five in both passing yards and rushing yards per game. The 2024 Buccaneers also ranked third in total yards (399.6) and fourth in points scored (29.5) per game.

One of the wilder notes about the Bucs' Baker Mayfield/Bucky Irving-led balanced attack, in my opinion, is this: The 2024 Buccaneers were the first team in NFL history to both complete 70% or more of its passes and average at least five years per carry. The specific numbers were 71.5% completion rate and 5.25 yards per carry, blowing away the team's old records of 67.3% and 4.75.

One of the more entertaining parts of this job during and immediately after a season is digging around for notes like that. In this case, I didn't come up with that one; the credit goes to the team's excellent Communications Department. I didn't doubt them, but I still wanted to look it up myself just to see it on the screen. That's a jackpot of a note: Easy to understand at first glance and a one-of-a-kind accomplishment in league annals.

How does a team in a league that is over a century old accomplish something that no other team has ever done before? Well, when you stop to think about this one a little bit more, it becomes clear that the evolution of the game, generally always toward more robust passing numbers, has only made this kind of combination of numbers feasible relatively recently.

A team averaging five or more yards per carry for an entire season isn't all that uncommon even if this was the first time for Tampa Bay; that has happened 82 times in the NFL since 1934, including 44 times since 2000. Some of that has to do with the proliferation of extremely mobile quarterbacks. There were four teams in 2024 who finished with a per-carry average north of 5.0, and three of them had quarterbacks who are considered significant running threats. That's not to say Mayfield didn't help the Bucs with his legs this past season, as he contributed a career-high 378 rushing yards and averaged 6.3 yards per tote. But Washington (Jayden Daniels), Baltimore (Lamar Jackson) and Arizona (Kyler Murray) all have passers who are purposely featured in the ground game.

But a team completing 70% or more of its passes for an entire season? That is a relatively new phenomenon in the NFL. It has happened a total of just 19 times, and 16 have occurred since 2011. The outliers were the 1994 San Francisco 49ers, led by Hall of Famer Steve Young; the 1989 49ers, led by Hall of Famer Joe Montana; and the 1982 Cincinnati Bengals, with Ken Anderson completing 70.6% of his passes in a strike-shortened nine-game campaign.

The along came the Drew Brees/Sean Payton, which beginning in 2011 started to make the 70% completion rate an annual occurrence. The New Orleans Saints, with Brees at the helm, accomplished this feat six times in a 10-year span; every other team combined to do it five times in that same span (2011-20). Then Brees retired after the 2020 season – his final game was a playoff loss to the Buccaneers – and only one team surpassed the 70% completion mark for a full season over the next three years. The 2024 season matched 2020 and 2018 with three teams finishing above the 70% mark: the Buccaneers, the Lions and the Bengals.

Finally, the Buccaneers put both of these accomplishments together for the first time in league annals. Did any other teams get close before Mayfield, Irving and company set the bar? Yes, and very recently. The 2024 Washington Commanders averaged 5.0 yards per carry and completed 69.5% of their passes. It's easy to see why some pundits believe we just witnessed the greatest rookie quarterback season ever. And in 2023, the Miami Dolphins completed 69.4% of their passes while averaging 5.1 yards per carry.

You can go the other way, too. The 2011 Saints completed 71.3% of their passes and averaged 4.9 yards per carry. The 2020 Green Bay Packers completed 70.7% of their passes and averaged 4.8 yards per carry (and lost to the Buccaneers in the playoffs).

But the Bucs made themselves one-of-one in 2024 by hitting both the 70% mark and the 5.0 mark. At least for now. With the way passing games continue to evolve, the Buccaneers could have company in that exclusive club very soon. If so, it will remind me of the time the 2020 Buccaneers became the first team ever to win or even play in a Super Bowl in their own home stadium…and the Rams promptly accomplished the exact same feat a year later. That was a bummer, but at least we were first.

Now on to your questions.

A reminder that you can send questions to me any time you want on Twitter (@ScottSBucs) and they're easier to find if you include the hashtag #SSMailbagBucs. We are also now soliciting questions each week on our Instagram page and on the Buccaneers app; look for that on Wednesdays. As always, if you want to get a longer question into the mailbag and would prefer to email your question, you can do so to tbbsocial@buccaneers.nfl.com.

We all know Jason doesn't usually trade up in the first round, is there any talent out there where he would pull the trigger to get a player he really likes in the upcoming draft?

- Ivan M. via the Bucs app

Ivan is right that Bucs GM Jason Licht doesn't usually trade up in the first round. He's conducted 11 Tampa Bay drafts so far and has only traded up once, and that was just one spot. In 2020, with the Buccaneers sweating out a run on the top offensive tackles in the class, Licht sent a fourth-round pick to San Francisco to move up from 14th to 13th and nab Iowa's Tristan Wirfs. Worth every draft-asset penny. We'll never know if Wirfs would have lasted one more pick, but Licht wasn't going to risk some other team leaping over the Bucs to get him.

And that's the point. While Licht hasn't had to move up in the first round more than that one time, he has definitely shown a willingness to do so on Days Two and Three. He clearly believes that it's worth spending some extra draft capital to make sure the Bucs land a coveted target when that player gets in range. In specific situations, he and his crew are probably using some pre-draft intel gathering to predict that one of the teams still ahead of them in the order could have interest in that targeted player.

Licht has especially leaned on the small trade up when it comes to nabbing offensive linemen in the first three rounds. In addition to the Wirfs deal, the Buccaneers also made moves up to get Cody Mauch, Luke Goedeke, Alex Cappa and Ali Marpet. Other players drafted by the Bucs after upward trades include Payne Durham, Ko Kieft, Kendell Beckwith and Kwon Alexander. Here are the particulars of all the trade-ups Licht has executed since taking over in 2014:

• In 2015, a swap of 4th-round picks with Indianapolis to move up from #65 to #61 for G Ali Marpet
• In 2015, a 7th-round pick to Oakland to move up from #128 to #124 for LB Kwon Alexander
• In 2016, a 4th-round pick to Kansas City to move up from #74 to #59 for K Roberto Aguayo
• In 2017, a 6-round pick to the N.Y. Jets to move up from #125 to #127 for LB Kendell Beckwith
• In 2017, a 2018 7th-round pick to Miami to move up from #237 to #223 for DT Stevie Tu'ikolovatu
• In 2018, a 6th-round pick to Minnesota to move up from #102 to #94 for G Alex Cappa
• In 2020, a 4th-round pick to San Francisco to move up from #14 to #13 for T Tristan Wirfs
• In 2021, a 6th-round pick to Seattle to move up from #137 to #129 for WR Jaelon Darden
• In 2022, a 6th-round pick to Buffalo to move up from #60 to #57 for T Luke Goedeke
• In 2022, a 7th-round pick to the L.A. Rams to move up from #235 to #218 for TE Ko Kieft
• In 2023, a 6th-round pick to Green Bay to move up from #50 to #48 for G Cody Mauch
• In 2023, a 7th-round pick to the L.A. Rams to move up from #175 to #171 for TE Payne Durham

Again, only one of those occurred within the first round, and that's what Ivan is asking about here, but I still think that history demonstrates a willingness to make a small but aggressive move if deemed necessary.

So what might prompt Licht to trade up in the first round this year? I think you have to look at this year's pool of edge rush prospects, which is pretty deep but also quite muddled in terms of how draft analysts have them ranked. After Penn State's Abdul Carter, a likely top-four pick, you will find the likes of Tennessee's James Pearce Jr., Marshall's Mike Green, Georgia's Mykel Williams and Jalon Walker, Texas A&M's Shemar Stewart and Nic Scourton, Ohio State's Jack Sawyer and Boston College's Donovan Ezeiruaku in many different orders from one mock to the draft.

Of course, the only thing that matters to this exercise is how they are ranked on the boards in the Buccaneers' Draft Room at the AdventHealth Training Center. I think it's fair to say that Tampa Bay would be interested in adding to its outside linebacker depth chart, particularly with Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, Anthony Nelson and Shaquil Barrett all due to become unrestricted free agents in less than two weeks. Also, during his time at the podium in Indianapolis on Tuesday, Head Coach Todd Bowles said that the Bucs have to get more pressure off the edge and have to be better at getting at the quarterback with a four-man rush. When asked what positions he was particularly interested in watching at the Combine this week, Bowles named four spots, and the first one was edge rusher.

The Buccaneers have enough flexibility that they don't have to solely target a pass rusher in Round One. Another cornerback or off-ball linebacker would be nice, and there also may be clear needs at wide receiver and guard based on what transpires with potential free agents Chris Godwin and Ben Bredeson. That makes me think it is less likely that Licht will want to move up in this year's first round; this isn't like 2020, when the Bucs so clearly needed an offensive tackle and there was a finite group of four prospects that were widely considered to be in a tier by themselves.

That said, if the Buccaneers have one or two of those edge rushers (not counting Carter) that they consider to be clearly better prospects than the other, and I either one or both gets close to the Bucs' current slot at 19th overall, a trade up of a couple of spots wouldn't be out of the question, in my opinion. I don't get to study the real draft board in the Bucs' Draft Room, which is critical here because it allows me to speculate without there be any worry that I am giving away actual inside information. Believe me, I'm not.

In my second mock draft of the year, which just went up earlier on Thursday, I had Pearce going to Atlanta at #15 and Williams going to Arizona at #16. What if those were two edge rushers the Bucs had serious interest in? I'm not sure the Falcons would be too keen on letting us trade up to get our guy, but maybe the Cardinals would listen, as they have a lot of needs on defense to address. A move up of three spots in the second half of the first round shouldn't command that expensive a pick in compensation.

How much weight do you/franchises put into the NFL Combine? I know I've seen people refer to it as the 'Pajama Olympics'...

- Elijah M. via the Bucs app

Yeah, I've always heard it as the "Underwear Olympics," but we're making the same point. It's basically shorthand for the widely-shared opinion that clocking 40 times and vertical leaps is far less instructive when evaluating players than a thorough study of game tape. Nevertheless, every team sends a legion of scouts and coaches to Indianapolis on an annual basis, and there are always players who seemingly "help their draft stock" with some eye-catching drill performance. Think of Texas wide receiver Xavier Worthy, who last year set the all-time Combine record with a 4.21-second 40-yard dash and in the process seemed to improve his chances of being drafted in the first round. Not only did Worthy go 28th overall when it was all said and done, but the Chiefs even traded up four spots to get him.

All of that said, the Combine is still very, very important for team officials, and it doesn't have much to do with the drills we watch on TV. There are two parts of the Combine that are extremely valuable: The personal interviews with dozens and dozens of prospects during the evenings and the medical evaluations.

The Buccaneers absolutely put a lot of stock in those private interviews, which they also conduct at events like the Senior Bowl and the East-West Shrine Game. By the time the team's draft board is set, it will have interviewed close to 200 players. About seven years ago, in search of a refined method to identify players in the draft who would turn into productive Buccaneers, Jason Licht and his staff came up with their "I Am That Man" approach to evaluating players. The statement is on the wall in the Draft Room and is accompanied by a silhouette of a player, who happens to be Lavonte David. Scouting each prospect's athletic abilities is obviously very important, but the Bucs put equal weight on the player's makeup. They want men like David, who approach their jobs professionally, are committed to winning and, above all, love football. Following that approach is how they have found such core players as Chris Godwin, Tristan Wirfs and – in free agency – Baker Mayfield.

And there are always players with medical question marks. For instance, Notre Dame cornerback Benjamin Morrison had hip surgery in October and Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter is dealing with a stress reaction in his foot. Both are potential first-round picks – Carter could go first overall – so interested teams are hoping to get positive medical evaluations.

Two years ago, Syracuse running back Sean Tucker had a previously-undiscovered and rare congenital heart defect discovered during his Combine medical evaluation. He went undrafted a couple months later before signing with the Buccaneers as a rookie free agent. It is widely believed that the discovery at the Combine is what kept him from getting picked during the seven rounds of the draft.

The Combine is also quite useful in that it brings so many NFL people and related personnel, like player agents, together in one location for a week. Often, teams and players who are trying to work out a new deal before the start of free agency to stay together can make real progress in Indianapolis. Maybe that will happen with Godwin and the Buccaneers this time around.

If you were to make a trade this offseason, would it be to help the secondary, get an elite pass rusher or to beef up the D line?

- Kyle C. via the Bucs app

Well, if I'm allowed to shoot for the moon, the answer is easy. If the Browns do at some point decide to acquiesce to Myles Garrett's request for a trade out of Cleveland, I would offer them two first-round picks in a heartbeat. No hesitation. (Please remember that these are my opinions and in no way are meant to reflect the thinking or strategies of Jason Licht, Todd Bowles are anyone else who would be involved in such a decision.) So I guess my answer from among your choices is "elite pass rusher."

Even talking publicly about a desire to acquire Garrett or any other player under contract is against the rules for Licht and Bowles, but it's okay for us to discuss the kind of player we're talking about here. The former first-overall pick had 7.0 sacks in 11 games as a rookie in 2017 and has since finished in double digits for seven straight seasons, including 14 or more in each of the last four. The dude has played 117 NFL games and has 102.5 sacks! I mean that's dangerously close to a sack a game. Tell me one new player adding a sack in virtually every game wouldn't totally change your defense.

Garrett has been a first-team Associated Press All-Pro four times (and second team twice), including last year. He's finished in the top five in the NFL Defensive Player of the Year voting in each of the last three seasons, winning the award in 2023. Yes, he turned 29 in December, but he's still very much in his prime. I fully expect him to be a dominant player for at least five more years. Like I said, I would give up two firsts for that in a nanosecond, especially given that creating more consistent pressure off the edge is a top priority for the team right now. Bowles said as much earlier this week at the Combine.

Now, so far the Browns have consistently said they have no plans to trade Garrett, which is understandable. And if they do change their minds at some point, there will be plenty of interested suitors and no guarantee that the Bucs would even throw their hat into the ring. Presumably, any potential trade would also include a new contract, as Garrett's current deal only runs through 2026. So there would be pretty significant salary cap ramifications as well.

Even if we're not talking about any specific players here, I would still pick "elite pass rusher" as my first choice from the options that Kyle presented. Next would be cornerback, because I've long held that's a position at which a team could reasonably add depth to in any given season, no matter who is on your depth chart. As we saw last season, cornerback depth is critical and hard to cultivate and maintain. Defensive line depth would easily be last on my list because with Vita Vea, Calijah Kancey and Logan Hall you already have a pretty nice start and the team hasn't had too much trouble finding depth at that spot in recent years – Greg Gaines, Will Gholston, Mike Greene, C.J. Brewer, etc.

What are your thoughts on mint chocolate chip ice cream?

- Kara K. via the Bucs app

I don't like mint flavor in ice cream, so I have never tried mint chocolate chip. It doesn't sound horrible or anything, but it would never be my choice. I do like chocolate chip a bit, but it's nowhere near the top of my list.

I've always been a strawberry ice cream guy, though a couple of years ago I ran into a Blue Bunny flavor that was vanilla ice cream with strawberries in it, and that was even better. And anything with caramel in it is usually pretty great, too.

By the way, whenever that hypothetical question comes up about if you could only have one type of dessert for the rest of your life, my answer is always unequivocally ice cream. And in that whole "rank ice cream, cake, cookies and pie," ice cream is the easy top choice. My ranking goes: 1. Ice cream, 2. Cake, 3. Pie, 4. Cookies. I'm not a cookie guy at all; I find them seriously overrated. Sorry, Girl Scouts.