Bucs Mailbag: Questions About Todd Bowles, Bucs Roster

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Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds answers your questions from the @PewterReport Twitter account this week in the Bucs Mailbag. Submit your question to the Bucs Mailbag each week via Twitter using the hashtag #PRMailbag. Here are the Bucs questions we chose to answer for this week’s edition.

QUESTION: Where would you rank Todd Bowles among the coaches the Bucs face this year? Would including the staffs as a whole change the rankings?

ANSWER: I think Todd Bowles made some strides as a head coach last year, and the fact that the Bucs were able to overcome a 4-7 start and finish 5-1 down the stretch and capture a third straight division title is something that he should get credit for. Bowles also whipped up a couple of great game plans in back-to-back games at Carolina in the season finale and versus Philadelphia in the Wild Card playoff win. The Bucs beat the Panthers, 9-0, in Week 18 and then trounced the Eagles, 32-9, at home to start the postseason.

This is a difficult question to answer because I think Dan Quinn is a very good head coach, but Washington’s roster is not up to snuff just yet. Detroit’s Dan Campbell and his Lions went 2-0 last year against Bowles and the Bucs, while Bowles and Tampa Bay is 0-2 against San Francisco and Kyle Shanahan over the past two seasons.

Andy Reid and the Chiefs offense has gotten the best of Bowles and his defense in two out of three meetings since 2020, but Tampa Bay won when it counted the most in Super Bowl LV. Bowles and the Bucs have had more success against the Saints than even Bruce Arians did in his three years as Tampa Bay’s head coach.

Instead of ranking Bowles and his staff against other teams’ coaching staffs, which is very difficult to do due to a multitude of variables, I’ll just say that he’s a better coach in 2024 than he was in 2022 when he took over for Arians. How much more will he improve this season remains to be seen, but I’m hopeful. I really like the new assistants he’s brought in, and a head coach is usually as only good as his staff. I think new offensive coordinator Liam Coen has the chance to be better than Dave Canales, and that was Bowles’ most important hire of the offseason.

QUESTION: On a scale from 1-10, how are you feeling about this Tampa Bay training camp roster so far?

ANSWER: I would give the Bucs roster heading into training camp a strong 7.5 right now – perhaps an eight. Bucs general manager Jason Licht and his personnel staff did a great job with the draft once again, and all of the free agents the team wanted to re-sign this offseason returned to Tampa Bay. So the foundation is there to once again compete for another NFC South divisional title and build upon last year’s nine-win season.

I think the big keys to this season from a roster standpoint lie on the revamped offensive line and the rebuilt secondary. Tampa Bay will have two new starters along the offensive line – Graham Barton, who will likely supplant Robert Hainsey at center, and a guard to replace the combination of Matt Feiler and Aaron Stinnie from a year ago.

The Bucs have three additional newcomers along the interior offensive line to choose from to fill that role in Sua Opeta, Ben Bredeson and Elijah Klein, the team’s sixth-round pick. The retooled interior offensive line will play a large role in not only protecting Baker Mayfield and strengthening the pocket for the passing game, but also paving some holes for the league’s worst-ranked rushing attack.

Tampa Bay’s secondary should have three new starters this season. Jordan Whitehead returns to man the strong safety spot after two years with the Jets, while Zyon McCollum replaces Carlton Davis III at outside cornerback. Tykee Smith, the team’s third-round pick, will compete with newcomer Tavierre Thomas to unseat last year’s starter Christian Izien at nickelback. This group needs to produce more takeaways and reduce the amount of yards gained through the air.

Also, finding two capable, starting-caliber edge rushers out of a group that includes YaYa Diaby, Randy Gregory, Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, Chris Braswell, Anthony Nelson, Markees Watts and Jose Ramirez is paramount. If this Bucs do this during training camp, and the secondary and interior offensive line come together, Tampa Bay’s roster will be much improved over last year and could even become a dark horse Super Bowl contender.

QUESTION: Are there any players you guys have noticed around the building who look like they’ve had a body transformation in the weight room? Guys like Cody Mauch, Robert Hainsey, SirVocea Dennis in particular.

ANSWER: We’ll find out on Tuesday as that is the first opportunity for the media to view OTAs at the AdventHealth Training Center. We’ve had very limited player availability the last few months in terms of player interviews, so it’s been hard to gauge body transformations thus far. We had SirVocea Dennis on the Pewter Report Podcast a few weeks ago and he looked slightly bigger, which is natural for second-year players who are in the Bucs’ strength and conditioning program full-time for the first time.

Robert Hainsey was briefly shown in a video welcoming Graham Barton to the team facility the day after the draft. Hainsey and Tristan Wirfs met Barton in the team cafeteria and Hainsey looked like he had added some necessary size in the weight room. Meanwhile, Wirfs looked as big and as strong as ever.

We’ve heard that defensive tackle Vita Vea has lost some weight this spring and reported to the offseason program in the best shape he’s been in during this time of year. Vea is one of the players who we are eagerly waiting to see during Tuesday’s open OTA workout. Logan Hall told me that Vea is noticeably thinner, but didn’t know how much weight he’s lost.

Speaking of Hall, he told me he’s added about 10 pounds of muscle and size this offseason and he’s up to 295 pounds. It will also be interesting to see him, in addition to guard Cody Mauch, who told me during locker clean-out in January that he wants to add more strength and size to his lower half and look more like a guard than a tackle this season.

QUESTION: Are the creamsicle uniforms returning this season?

ANSWER: That’s a good question, and one that the Bucs haven’t exactly committed to just yet. Pewter Report asked Bucs co-chairman Joel Glazer if there was going to be a Bucco Bruce throwback game again this season at the NFL Annual Meeting in Orlando in March and he was non-committal.

It’s hard to imagine the Bucs not having a game featuring the creamsicle throwback uniforms after how well last year’s game was received by the fan base. There are some fans who don’t like the old orange and white uniforms because they are synonymous with losing as they were worn from 1976-1996 during a very dark time in franchise history. Of course, it didn’t help that the Bucs lost the throwback game, 20-6, to the Lions last year, and the team’s record in the creamsicles since their return in 2009 is now 1-4.

The NFL schedule just came out on Wednesday, May 15, so the Bucs will likely meet to discuss which game makes the most sense to wear them this season. That’s why no announcement was made during the schedule reveal last week. My guess is the Eagles game in Week 4, as Tampa Bay’s first ever playoff game – and postseason victory – came against Philadelphia at Tampa Stadium back in 1979 after the Bucs won the NFC Central division. That game has some historical relevance, and takes place at 1:00 p.m. ET on September 29.

The other game that might be interesting would be later in the season against the Raiders in Week 14 on December 8 at 1:00 p.m. ET. The Raiders have a pirate mascot featured on their helmet, and the Bucs would too with the Bucco Bruce pirate decal. A late-season pirate clash would be fun to see.

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