Bucs HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

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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: Is it time for a big change? We need consistency to grow, and you can’t do that starting from scratch every year. It feels like the Bucs are stuck in mediocracy. Is it time to be bold and make some significant changes with so many assistants leaving?

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles and safeties Antoine Winfield Jr. and Mike Edwards – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: As Todd Bowles said back in December, if other teams are interested in your coaches that’s a sign that you’re doing something right. Losing assistant coaches is nothing new for winning teams. Look at the Detroit Lions, who were lucky to keep offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn for as long as they did before losing both to becoming head coaches this offseason.

I remember when former Bucs head coach Tony Dungy lost assistant head coach and secondary coach Herman Edwards as well as linebackers coach Lovie Smith in the 2001 offseason. Edwards became the head coach of the New York Jets and Smith became the defensive coordinator of the St. Louis Rams. Yet Dungy and defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin wound up replacing those veteran coaches with actual upgrades in secondary coach Mike Tomlin and linebackers coach Joe Barry. Although not always ideal, sometimes change can be a very good thing, as Tomlin and Barry helped the Bucs win Super Bowl XXXVII in their second season in Tampa Bay.

The Bucs have had their last two offensive coordinators, Dave Canales and Liam Coen, leave for head coaching jobs. That’s certainly not ideal. But Canales proved to be an upgrade over Byron Leftwich and Coen proved to be an upgrade over Canales. The fact that Coen helped the Bucs achieve a Top 5 offense in several categories will make it harder for his replacement to truly level up the offense because there’s not much more room to grow in the league rankings – but it’s not impossible. Remember that Bowles and general manager Jason Licht hired both men, so maybe they are getting really good at picking offensive coordinators.

Defensive line coach Kacy Rodgers has worked with Todd Bowles for 17 years, but he likely has play-calling aspirations and that won’t happen working for Bowles, who will always serve as Tampa Bay’s defensive play-caller as long as he’s here. You can’t fault Rodgers for wanting to advance his career, just like you can’t fault Coen for wanting a massive pay raise and to join the elite fraternity of NFL head coaches, of which there are only 32. Of course the manner in which Coen left Tampa Bay can fall under scrutiny, but not the ultimate decision to level up his career.

Bowles is a defensive-minded head coach and this cycle of having to find new offensive coordinators is quite cumbersome and ultimately will not change until the Bucs hire an offensive play-caller to replace Bowles. But Bowles is 62 and won’t coach forever, so fans will get the change they’re seeking in time. The Bucs view Bowles as a very good leader of men and a culture-builder. That is an incredibly important trait that winning organizations have. He has his faults with some of his defensive schemes, which we’ve documented here at Pewter Report, in addition to clock/game management issues. But team chemistry and camaraderie is at an all-time high, and Bowles deserves credit for that.

QUESTION: Might we see any further goofy situations with assistant coaches like the Liam Coen saga?

Bucs OL coach Kevin Carberry – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: With Liam Coen now in Jacksonville as head coach, he can only take one Bucs assistant with him as his offensive coordinator if he wants to. NFL assistant coaches can’t make lateral moves, so if he wants to bring someone it would be as a promotion to the offensive coordinator role in title only, as Coen will call plays on offense.

The new offensive coaches that were hired last year – offensive line coaches Kevin Carberry and Brian Picucci, tight ends coach Justin Peelle and wide receivers coach Bryan McClendon – all signed two-year deals. If I had to guess which assistant could go with Coen it would be Picucci, who coached at UMass when Coen was a quarterback, and also at Kentucky where he was an offensive quality control coach. Carberry, who coached with Coen in Los Angeles, could also be an option. Or Coen could go in a different direction and hire someone else from the staff or look outside the Tampa Bay organization instead.

Kacy Rodgers left for Detroit to become the Lions defensive line coach, which is a good move for him as he’ll have Aidan Hutchison and Alim McNeill to work with. But Detroit went in a different direction at defensive coordinator, so there is a chance that inside linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator Larry Foote returns. We’ll see as I believe he’s a free agent this offseason.

QUESTION: Does Jason Licht get any blame if the Bucs go 5-12 next season and Todd Bowles falls off a cliff? I think Bowles is okay as a coach, but he’s shown he has limitations. Wonder if ownership would be disappointed that our G.M. didn’t make a case to change him out for someone younger and better?

Bucs GM Jason Licht, co-owners Darcie Glazer Kassewitz and Joel Glazer, head coach Todd Bowles and senior advisor to the G.M. Bruce Arians – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: I didn’t get the feeling that the Glazers were comfortable making Liam Coen the head coach after one year in Tampa Bay and firing Todd Bowles to make that happen. If the Bucs didn’t make the playoffs that scenario could have happened, but there were some concerns about Coen that I addressed in my recent Pewter Pulse video on our PewterReportTV YouTube channel.

I think the Glazers were hoping that the tandem of Bowles and Coen could work together for one more season in 2025 in their respective roles and then figure out what Bowles wanted to do at age 62. And I think general manager Jason Licht might have felt the same way, but any opinion he had about the matter would likely only be shared with the Glazers.

To answer your question, everyone is going to undergo scrutiny if Tampa Bay has a disastrous season by going 5-12, as you suggest in your hypothetical. I think general manager Jason Licht would get the benefit of the doubt and stay on, but would also have to shoulder some of the blame from a personnel standpoint if the team went from 10 wins last year to five wins in 2025, especially while only facing just five playoff teams from this season – and with just one of those teams, Philadelphia, on the home slate.

The Pewter Report staff came out with its early prognostication for the team’s 2025 season. It seems logical that if the Bucs find the right offensive coordinator that Tampa Bay could win 11 games this season and continue to level up in the regular season win column.

QUESTION: Curious as to what to expect for draft season with John Spytek gone?

Bucs directors of player personnel Rob McCartney and Mike Biehl – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: Well, John Spytek probably has a good idea of who the Bucs liked in the early scouting process, and Jason Licht also has a good idea of who Spytek might draft out in Las Vegas this year. Without Spytek it’s one less scout in Tampa Bay’s front office to do some of the heavy lifting in terms of watching film, attending pro days and interviewing players at the Senior Bowl, the NFL Scouting Combine and the Top 30 visits.

At the same time, Licht has a deep and talented depth chart in the personnel department. Directors of player personnel Mike Biehl and Rob McCartney are still around and very capable. Biehl works on the college scouting side with senior personnel executive Byron Kiefer, assistant director of college scouting Tony Hardie and the team’s college scouts. Losing one key member of the front office is totally survivable given how many Bucs scouts have worked for Licht for years and know what type of players the team is looking for.

This will be a defensive draft for the Bucs for sure, but free agency is up first, starting on March 10 when the open negotiating period begins. Spytek was involved in that too, of course. But McCartney, director of pro personnel Shane Scannell and assistant director of pro scouting Sean Conley along with Licht will have all the bases covered when it comes to targeting the right free agents.

QUESTION: Who are the players at the Senior Bowl you are most looking forward to seeing on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball? Which would be best fits for the Bucs?

Marshall edge rusher Mike Green – Photo by: USA Today

ANSWER: Let’s start on defense, as the Bucs have a lot of needs on that side of the ball. Marshall edge rusher Mike Green, who led the nation in sacks with 17 sacks and 23 tackles for loss, is at the top of my list because he didn’t face the toughest competition yet dominated who he did play. Green is the first-round pick for the team in our first seven-round Bucs mock draft. I’m also excited to see Boston College edge rusher Donovan Ezeriuaku, Ole Miss edge rusher Princely Umanmielen and Michigan edge rusher Josiah Stewart. Kentucky defensive tackle Deone Walker is worth taking a look at due to his Vita Vea-like size.

UCLA linebacker Carson Schwesinger, Georgia linebacker Smael Mondon Jr.and Oregon linebacker Jeffrey Bassa are some potential targets. In the secondary, we have Cal cornerback Nohl Williams in our mock draft, so he’s on my list. Ole Miss cornerback Trey Amos, Florida State cornerback Azareye’h Thomas and Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts also have my attention.

On offense, I’m intrigued by Iowa State wide receivers Jaylin Noel and Jayden Higgins, Stanford wide receiver Elic Ayomanor, as well as Illinois wide receiver Pat Bryant and TCU wide receiver Savion Williams. I know the Bucs have three quality tight ends in Cade Otton, Payne Durham and Devin Culp, but Bowling Green’s Harold Fannin Jr. is intriguing.