While all eyes are set on the 2023 season, Pewter Report is taking a look at the Bucs in 2023 and into the future. Going position by position, we’ll provide a three-year outlook to get an idea of what the 2024 and 2025 Bucs might look like — and how 2023 may impact those future teams.

Quarterbacks 
Running Backs 
Wide Receivers 
Tight Ends 
Offensive Line
Defensive Line

Today, we continue with the outside linebackers.

*Note: OLB and ILB will all be broken down individually — The three-year outlook for the ILB position will drop in the coming days. 

Bucs Outside Linebacker Contracts

Bucs OLB Anthony Nelson – Photo by: USA Today

Heading into 2023, the Bucs’ top edge rusher is, of course, Shaquil Barrett. The veteran is in an interesting spot, as he is coming off a torn Achilles that he suffered in Week 8 of last year. Not only that, but he will turn 31 in November. He signed a four-year deal with the Bucs after their Super Bowl season, so his contract runs out after the 2024 season.

Joe Tryon-Shoyinka is set to start on the other side for Tampa Bay, and he’ll be in year three of his rookie deal. He will be around for 2024 as well, but whether or not the team picks up his fifth-year option for 2025 remains to be seen.

No. 3 on the depth chart is Anthony Nelson, who just signed a two-year extension with the Bucs this offseason. His cap hit is low in 2023 thanks to void years, and he’s signed through 2024.

Beyond the top three, the rest of the projected outside linebacker group includes guys on their rookie deals. YaYa Diaby and Jose Ramirez look to be OLB4 and OLB5, respectively, after being drafted by the Bucs back in April. Both have contracts through 2026, though the team has less invested in Ramirez, a sixth-round draft pick.

Charles Snowden, Hamilcar Rashed, Brandon Bouyer-Randle and Markees Watts are all potential practice squad candidates heading into training camp. Perhaps one can steal a roster spot if they shine on special teams and/or Ramirez falters.

How This Year Impacts 2024 & 2025

Bucs OLB Shaq Barrett – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

This year will go a long way in telling the Bucs what the future of the outside linebacker position should look like. It starts with Barrett, who is a big question mark as he comes off an Achilles tear. Those are tough injuries to come back from, especially for players like him who rely on their get-off.

Barrett’s 2023 performance will guide the Bucs’ next step with him. If he beats the odds and recovers from the Achilles injury enough to still be effective, perhaps he’ll play out his contract year in 2024. But if he struggles to return to form or simply doesn’t look like a guy worth $16.25 million next year, Tampa Bay could cut him next offseason and save around $7.5 million in cap space.

By not restricting his deal to create space this offseason, the Bucs made sure Barrett’s dead cap hit for 2024 would not increase. Not only that, but they went ahead and double-dipped at the position during the draft. Those two moves combined seemed to signal that the team’s decision-makers have some reservations about Barrett’s future.

At the very least, they were able to protect themselves with a potential out next offseason. Diaby and/or Ramirez bursting onto the scene as rookies — combined with an ineffective season from Barrett — could force Tampa Bay’s hand next spring.

The other interesting case to follow in 2023 is that of Tryon-Shoyinka. Everyone knows the story. In the first two years of his career, he’s missed as many sacks as he’s made. And while his pressure numbers are good, he needs to get to the quarterback more in his third season. Whether he takes the next step this year is bound to decide whether the Bucs exercise the fifth-year option in his rookie contract.

With Barrett and Tryon-Shoyinka’s futures uncertain (albeit for different reasons), there’s a chance for Nelson, Diaby and Ramirez to work themselves into Tampa Bay’s long-term plan in a bigger way with a high level of play in 2023. Then again, if none of them impress and it still looks like Barrett and Tryon-Shoyinka won’t be in the long-term plans, that could also tell the Bucs that they need to invest even more heavily in their pass rush next year (and they’re already bound to invest in the position anyway).

Three-Year Outlook: Bucs Outside Linebackers

Bucs OLBs YaYa Diaby and Jose Ramirez – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

There’s a significant chance that this offseason only signaled the beginning of a major shift in the Bucs’ outside linebacker room. Barrett could be gone as soon as 2024, while there’s no guarantee that Tryon-Shoyinka is around in 2025.

Re-signing Nelson this offseason helped keep some depth intact for 2023 in 2024, but that’s a contract that essentially covers what could be a transition period for the outside linebacker room in Tampa Bay. The former Iowa Hawkeye has put together a pretty solid career so far after being drafted in the fourth round of the 2019 Draft, but he’s a limited-ceiling player who will likely find himself as a strong rotational option rather than a true week-in-week-out starter.

Heading into both 2024 and 2025, the Bucs will likely find themselves in a place where they need to rebuild their pass rush. They’ve started that process by tearing the defensive line more toward rushing the passer in the last couple of offseasons, plus they spent two draft picks on the outside linebacker spot this year. The work has begun, but continuing to revamp on the outside will be a big priority in the coming years.

Three-Year Outlook Summary

Tampa Bay’s pass rush was really bad for a long while before Jason Pierre-Paul and Shaq Barrett turned things around. Those two were key in the Bucs’ Super Bowl run, but Pierre-Paul is gone and Barrett’s career in red, white and pewter could very well be winding down soon.

Tryon-Shoyinka and Nelson are no guarantees to be long-term fixtures in the room either, so while Diaby and Ramirez are new faces this year, there’s bound to be another wave of new pass rushers coming to Tampa in the next couple of years. This is a group that will look very different three years from now.