Young Bucs Discuss Playing In New-Look Offense

One common sentiment shared in yesterday’s press conferences is that the young Bucs on offense are excited to play under new offensive coordinator Dave Canales and what his system means for them.

Tristan Wirfs is excited about being able to take the next step in terms of his leadership and learning the offensive philosophy and playbook. Rachaad White’s mentioned the offense being on the same page as he looks to have a second-year breakout. In Kyle Trask’s case, he hopes to make the most of his opportunity of competing for the starting job.

Each of these young Bucs is going to be playing under Canales this season, and each expressed their initial thoughts so far to this point.

Bucs T Tristan Wirfs Is “Excited” To Play In New System

Beginning with Tristan Wirfs, he was visibly pumped up to begin working under Dave Canales after hearing him mention his offensive philosophy. Wirfs does not need to compete for touches or an opportunity, as he has solidified himself as one of the best offensive linemen in the NFL. Still, he seemed ready to run through a wall in discussing his new offensive coordinator.

Bucs RT Tristan Wirfs and Panthers OLB Brian Burns – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“I think Coach Canales is awesome,” Wirfs said. “Today was really the first time I got to hear – all of us really got to hear him kind of talk. Today we really just went through our offensive philosophy, just what we want to do as an offense and how we want to get it done.

“I’ve had a couple of conversations with him – I’ve been here all off-season training, just bumping into him in the hallway, but he’s awesome. It’s going to be great, I’m really excited. All of us, the [offensive] line is really excited to get cracking on the playbook.”

It will especially be a playbook that looks to re-emphasize the run. As a team, the Bucs only had 1,230 rushing yards from their running backs last season on 343 carries, equating to just under 3.6 yards a carry. Compare that to the Seahawks’ 1,676 yards from their backs on 350 carries (about a 4.8 yards per carry clip); you see a much more efficient running game.

Wirfs and the rest of the offensive line will aim to create running lanes for Rachaad White, Chase Edmonds, Ke’Shawn Vaughn, and whomever else totes the rock next season.

“I think all offensive linemen want to run the ball,” Wirfs added. When a guy comes in and says, ‘This is what we’re going to do – this is going to be our identity. We’re going to base things off the run game, and get our explosive [plays] off of that, and tie everything up,’ it’s going to be good. I’m excited. We got a little taste of it today. I don’t even know anything, and I’m excited. I just saw the philosophy thing and was ready to go.”

Bucs RB Rachaad White Looking To Take Next Step In New Offense

Running back Rachaad White’s play during the rookie year led him to not only get more touches throughout the season but also meant that the Bucs were more than comfortable moving on from Leonard Fournette. In a move to get younger and save some salary, White enters next season as the presumed starter unless the team spends a premium pick on a back. For him, he already senses the energy dynamic and the team’s ability to perform when they are clicking.

Bucs RB Rachaad White – Photo by: Matt Matera/PR

“I’m very excited. Coach Canales has great energy, so that’s a big thing – when you sense and feel great energy around you, it makes you excited,” White said. “That’s a big thing. Just having conversations with him today and us going over a lot of things – it’s going to be great to see kind of what our offense is made of and what we can accomplish when we’re all on the same page.

“Being able to run the ball and understanding that football is a physical game. A lot of things that we’re going to do set up other things that we want to do. He spoke on it today – we want to do everything well and be very balanced.”

General manager Jason Licht recently called him a “stud” and it is fair to assume he will have the lion’s share of touches in the backfield. In more of a wide zone running scheme, the goal for the offense will be to have that balance as well as sprinkling in fresh concepts.

Tristan Wirfs is already familiar with this philosophy and what it entails, as he ran it plenty during his time at Iowa.

“We ran a ton of outside zone at Iowa. We didn’t come off it a whole lot, but we ran a ton of outside zone at Iowa. It’ll be fun to get back to what I came from almost. From the small glimpse of what we saw today, there’s going to be a lot of good stretch and – trickery’s not the right word, but it’s just very offensive line friendly. That’s a good way to put it, it’ll be really nice for us and it’ll just help us out a lot.”

Bucs QB Kyle Trask: “It’s A Very Quarterback-Friendly Offense”

The running game will not be the only thing that the offense focuses on, of course. The passing game in today’s game is what moves the ball downfield and puts the points on the board. Driving the ship for the Bucs at the most important position is likely to be Baker Mayfield or Kyle Trask. One of them will look to replicate Geno Smith’s year-ten breakout in Seattle in 2022, a season where he completed 69.8% of his passes for 4,282 yards and 30 touchdowns to 11 interceptions. It was unexpected of him to be anything more than a game manager, but he had a Pro Bowl season.

Expectations from the outside are similarly low on both Mayfield and Trask for 2023. Mayfield will be on his fourth team since 2021 in Tampa Bay, while Trask has had very limited NFL action and enters year-three looking to live up to his draft status and mentorship from a veteran quarterback room featuring the greatest of all time.

Bucs QB Kyle Trask – Photo by: Matt Matera/PR

Despite the external pressure, there is internal optimism within the Bucs’ building. Kyle Trask added to it while discussing Dave Canales and the newfound youth of the team.

“I’m very, very excited about this new offense,” Trask said. “I’m loving every part of it so far, and if you look back to what they were able to do in Seattle last year, it’s a very quarterback-friendly offense. They do a great job of tying the run and the passing game together, putting themselves in the best position possible.

“I think that’s going to be very good for the people in this building. I noticed this morning it’s going to be a very young team with a lot of new faces, so it’s going to be very important for us to have, not necessarily a simpler system, but a system that allows us to play fast and play confidently.”

For the Bucs to continue their dominance in the NFC South, it will mean that the offense needs to be on the same page and breakout, much like the Seahawks did last season on a surprising playoff run. It starts at all levels on offense, and with Canales leading the way, excitement, like the springtime flowers, may very well start to bloom. It already has for the players who got a glimpse into the future on Monday.