The Tampa Bay Buccaneers finished 29th in the NFL in pass defense in 2024, allowing 243.9 yards per game and surrendering 27 touchdown passes while picking off only seven passes. That didn't stop the Buccaneers from winning a fourth straight division title, but as they look for ways to push even farther into the postseason in 2025, it stands to reason they would be looking for some help in the secondary.
Tampa Bay did add former Detroit Lions cornerback Kindle Vildor in free agency, and they re-signed Bryce Hall, who was ticketed to be their third corner last year before he suffered an ankle dislocation in the season opener. They have also been linked to the cornerback and safety positions in the first few rounds of the upcoming NFL draft. However, the Buccaneers believe they've already made one very significant acquisition to help the secondary in 2025, and he doesn't play corner or safety.
That would be edge rusher Haason Reddick, the team's biggest outside addition in free agency in 2025 thus far. Reddick had a lost season in 2024 after a trade from Philadelphia to the New York Jets and a lengthy contract dispute, but from 2020-23 he was one of the most productive edge rushers in the NFL. His total of 50.5 sacks in that span ranked fourth among all NFL defenders behind only T.J. Watt, Myles Garrett and Trey Hendrickson, and he hit double digits in sacks in each of those seasons. In contrast, the Buccaneers' last 10-sack season by an individual player was by Shaq Barrett in 2021.
Head Coach Todd Bowles believes the addition of Reddick to the defensive front will allow the team to more frequently rush the passer with only four players, which obviously would leave more defenders in coverage. That is an issue Bowles has brought up multiple times since the end of last season.
"Like I said last year, we need to rush better four, and I think he's a great addition to help us rush with four so we can cover more," said Bowles. "We'll still [blitz] pressure some, but hopefully it won't be as much as last year. [We blitzed] because we had to, instead of because we wanted to. I think he brings that to the table."
Indeed, Tampa Bay's defense had the second-highest blitz rate (meaning five or more defenders going after the quarterback) in the NFL last year behind only the Minnesota Vikings and hyper-aggressive coordinator Brian Flores. The Bucs' blitz rate of 38.9% wasn't exactly out of character for Bowles, who is one of the best in the game and scheming up unexpected pressure packages, but it was more than he wanted. While bringing an exotic blitz at a key moment will probably always be a part of his play-calling DNA, being able to spend more time in four-man rushes has obvious advantages behind that defensive front.
"It gives you extra droppers, so when you play man now they can have some safety help at times," Bowles explained. "Whether it's quarters-man or whether it's two-man, you can have safety help or in-and-out double help. It gives you a chance to play man but also double their top receivers and take those guys away from an aggression standpoint, and it gives you a chance to switch up coverages and make the quarterback hold the ball longer. If you can do that and still mix in a few [blitz] pressures here and there, I think it will be a better defense."
Sending extra pass rushers makes it harder to effectively play man coverage in the secondary, which takes away some of Bowles' play-calling options. Tampa Bay's defense employed zone coverage on 84% of its opponents' drop-backs last season, the second-highest rate in the NFL. Contrast that with Bowles' Super Bowl defense in the 2020 season, which played zone on 71.2% of opposing dropbacks and famously swamped the Kansas City Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes with a blitz-free approach in Super Bowl LV.
That defense frequently got great pressure off the edges from Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul. Tampa Bay's two top sack producers in 2024, in contrast, were interior linemen Calijah Kancey and Vita Vea. Bowles believes that pairing Reddick with third-year player Yaya Diaby at the top of the team's edge rush rotation will create a much more formidable problem for opposing blockers.
"We knew he was a heck of a pass-rusher [and] we needed a pass-rusher," said Bowles. "We knew he started halfway through the season, so I would consider last season a wash for him. We expect him to be his old self with us. He can do a lot of things, but most importantly he can rush the passer. When we've got guys that can rush the passer, we let them rush the passer."
