The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won 10 games and their fourth straight NFC South title in 2024, and they took the Washington Commanders down to the wire in the first round of the playoffs. They have made a successful transition from the "all-in" salary cap-stressing days of the Tom Brady era to a roster that ranks as the fourth-youngest in the NFL, and they didn't have to bottom out to do so. Just as when the decision was made to sign Brady in the early months of 2020, the Buccaneers feel like they are poised to compete in 2025.
Obviously, however, the Buccaneers didn't go as deep into the playoffs as they hoped to in 2024 and, like every team, they have issues to address in this new offseason to remain a contender and take another step forward in 2025. Statistically, it would appear that more help is needed on one side of the ball than the other.
Tampa Bay's offense was the only one in the NFL in 2024 to finish in the top five in both rushing and passing, and it was the first one ever to complete more than 70% of its passes and averaged more than 5.0 yards per carry. Other than the midseason injury to Chris Godwin and the shorter injury absences of Luke Goedeke and Cade Otton, there wasn't much that went wrong on offense last season.
The Bucs' defense, on the other hand, had some issues, particularly in slowing down opposing passing attacks. Tampa Bay ranked 29th in both passing yards allowed per game and interception percentage, some of which can be attributed to a long string of injuries that tested the depth of the secondary. Tampa Bay is also facing a list of potential free agents that includes three outside linbackers, three off-ball linebackers, three cornerbacks and a safety.
Will this imbalance pull the Buccaneers in one direction or the other in the 2025 NFL Draft? The league has convened in Indianapolis this week for its annual Scouting Combine, and Buccaneers Head Coach Todd Bowles said on Tuesday that he is eager to get a look at several position groups on defense when the workouts begin on Thursday. Of course, defense is Bowles' area of expertise, so he likely focuses on those players at every Combine.
"For me, I'll be very interested in looking at a lot of guys on defense," he said. "Obviously, the edge rushers, the corners and the inside linebackers for me, which I'll be looking at. I'm really interested in the wide receivers as well."
That last part hints at the Bucs not necessarily focusing solely on defense in the early rounds. How much interest the team has in the top tier of receivers could be heavily influenced on the outcome of contract talks with Chris Godwin, but the team also has a need on the offensive line if Ben Bredeson departs and always wants more young skill position players to develop.
"I don't think it's a secret [that] we need to get some help in a lot of areas – particularly defense," said General Manager Jason Licht, who is also in Indianapolis. "It's not as easy as some people might think. The answer isn't always just throwing a lot of money at positions. You've got to be smart about it, because as happy as we are with the offense, we also want to continue to enhance there, too. We need some help in a lot of areas, which, in some ways, is exciting for me, because we could go any which way in the draft and it would help our team."
The majority of the analysts posting mock drafts in the lead up to the Combine read the tea leaves represented by the defensive issues noted above and paired Tampa Bay with an edge rusher, a defensive back or a linebacker. Last year, the Buccaneers did largely go chalk on the first two nights of the draft, hitting positions that were largely considered areas of immediate need at center, edge rusher and wide receiver. Even if the Bucs end up operating in a similar fashion in this year's draft, there are opportunities for Licht and company to go in a lot of directions on Day Three.
"[It's a] good O-line draft," said Licht. "It's a good running backs draft like I said. There's some good interior defensive linemen, but there's always some guys that we've identified as potential sleepers on Day Three and those are the ones that – we're as excited about the first round pick as anybody, but those are the ones that kind of my staff has been making their bread and butter."
Whichever positions the Buccaneers end up targeting this April, Licht hopes they have as much success picking the right players from each pool of prospects as they did in 2024. Center Graham Barton, safety Tykee Smith, wide receiver Jalen McMillan and running back Bucky Irving all contributed significantly to the team greatly exceeding national expectations and staying atop the NFC South.
"It was outstanding," said Licht of the Bucs' 2024 draft. "My staff and the coaches, they hit it out of the park. We're looking forward to riding the coat tails and doing it again this year, hopefully. It's not every year you do that. You strive for it, but it's going to go down, when it's all said and done, when I'm sitting on a beach somewhere retired, I'll think about this class and how excited I was about it."
