A new Pewter Report Roundtable debuts every Tuesday on PewterReport.com. Each week, the Pewter Reporters tackle another tough Bucs question. This week’s prompt: The first thing Bucs offensive coordinator Zac Robinson must do is…

Scott Reynolds: Convince Bucs To Pursue RB Tyler Allgeier In Free Agency

With Rachaad White’s imminent departure via free agency, and some uncertainty about the future of restricted free agent Sean Tucker in Tampa Bay, new offensive coordinator Zac Robinson needs to convince general manager Jason Licht and head coach Todd Bowles to pursue Falcons free agent-to-be Tyler Allgeier. I’ve thought highly of the 5-foot-10, 225 pound running back since his playing days at BYU, and he topped 1,000 yards as a rookie, including 24 carries for 135 yards versus Tampa Bay in the 2022 season finale.

Falcons RB Tyler Allgeier – Photo by: USA Today

Allgeier has rushed for a workmanlike 366 yards on 97 carries (3.8 avg.) and caught six passes for 66 yards (11 avg.) in his eight games against Bowles’ defense. He’s been a tackle-breaking force that has thrived in pass protection on passing downs, and has been a short-yardage and goal line hammer in Atlanta, scoring 18 touchdowns for the Falcons, including a career-high eight this season.

Allgeier has played second fiddle to Bijan Robinson over the last three years in Atlanta, and probably would like to see more carries and catches elsewhere. Robinson knows how to utilize his skills the best, and that familiarity, in addition to running behind a better offensive line this year, could lure him to Tampa Bay to replace White.

Bucky Irving is the starter in Tampa Bay, but given his 5-foot-10, 192-pound frame, he can’t be a high-volume back due to the injury risk and wear-down factor. So there is a greater need for a durable No. 2 back that can form an effective 1-2 punch in Tampa Bay’s backfield. Allgeier has missed just one game in his four years in Atlanta, and none over the past three seasons. Getting an anvil like Allgeier would lessen the blow of losing White and really solidify the Bucs’ ground game heading into the 2026 season.

Matt Matera: Fix Bucky Irving

Through the four years that the Bucs have had different offensive coordinators, they were at their best in 2024 when they had a running game led by Bucky Irving. Tampa Bay needs to get the 2024 Irving back – not the 2025 version that missed several games and didn’t look like himself when he returned.

Bucs RB Bucky Irving – Photo by: USA Today

Irving’s ability to make opponents miss tackles and rip off explosive runs takes the Bucs offense from a good unit to a great one. He’s become a better receiving running back too, giving Zac Robinson more to work with. It’ll ultimately come down to how Baker Mayfield plays, but Mayfield has always been better when the running game is doing its thing.

Robinson got the most out of Bijan Robinson in Atlanta, and hopefully he can do so with Irving in Tampa. Its almost unbelievable that Irving had just one rushing touchdown last season. Irving needs to be the catalyst for this team on the ground and allow the offense to open up with heavy play-action usage, then letting Irving do what he does best. The 2026 season needs to see Irving be a top five player at his position in the league.

Adam Slivon: Find A Way To Maximize All Of The Bucs WR Talent

My above statement for this week’s PR Roundtable does hinge some on the Bucs re-signing Mike Evans. While reports have said Evans could head elsewhere, I would put my money on M1K3 staying in Tampa Bay should he elect to play a 13th NFL season. Assuming he sticks around, Zac Robinson has his work cut out for him trying to find a way to get the most out of Evans, Chris Godwin Jr., Emeka Egbuka, Jalen McMillan, and Tez Johnson. The most challenging part is the fact there is only one football for Baker Mayfield to throw.

Bucs WRs Jalen McMillan, Chris Godwin, Tez Johnson, Sterling Shepard and Emeka Egbuka – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Still, Robinson needs to look at and learn from what became predecessor Josh Grizzard’s downfall in not scheming up ways to get the ball into their hands enough. To that end, Tampa Bay’s new play-caller delivered an impressive introductory press conference last week where he spoke about the receiving core.

“The receivers speak for themselves, you’ve got a number of guys that can do a number of different things, and their skillsets all match up really well,” Robinson said before going on. “I don’t look at it as a challenge, just really a blessing to be able to have that amount of talent that is at your disposal.”

Evans still commands plenty of defensive attention, remaining a savvy route-runner with big-play ability in his 30s. Godwin will be another year removed from his dislocated ankle injury suffered in 2024 and showed in spurts the receiver he was before. Egbuka was a rookie sensation out of the gate and developed quite a connection with Mayfield before slowing down mightily in the second half.

McMillan missed most of last season but looked just as dynamic as he was during his rookie year, especially when he had a seven-catch, 114-yard performance in Week 17. Even Johnson had his moments in the passing game as a seventh-round pick, recording five touchdowns.

There are a lot of pieces for Robinson to utilize, but luckily for him, none of these wide receivers have an ego about them. He can scheme up ways to spread the love on a weekly basis depending on matchups. With this much talent, he must prioritize how to have success with it.

Bailey Adams: Get Baker Mayfield On Track To Being 2024 Baker Mayfield

As important as it is to pitch Mike Evans on returning to Tampa Bay and as much as it would help to get the run game back to the levels it reached in 2024, this offense runs through quarterback Baker Mayfield. So, for new Bucs offensive coordinator Zac Robinson, the first order of business has to be finding a way to get Mayfield back on track toward becoming the quarterback he was in 2024 again in 2026.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today

Literally, that obviously means pouring over tape from both 2024 and 2025 and designing a system that creates opportunities for Mayfield to be more of the quarterback he was under Liam Coen and less of the quarterback he was under Josh Grizzard. That’s not to say there aren’t any elements of what Grizzard did that should be included in the offense Robinson runs in 2026.

But this is a situation where doing more of what Coen, a fellow Sean McVay product, was doing two years ago when Tampa Bay averaged nearly 30 points per game and Mayfield threw for 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns. From what we heard in Robinson’s introductory press conference, it sounds like the Bucs could be in store for more of what they saw under Coen in terms of schematics and play designs.

Robinson, coming from the same background as Coen out in Los Angeles under McVay, seems to have a similar philosophy offensively. And I loved the confidence he spoke with regarding Mayfield’s play and his ability to distribute the ball to the weapons they have on offense. It sounded to me like Robinson already has plenty in mind for his quarterback and offense to ensure that it returns to the highest of highs we saw a couple of years ago. And that’s exciting to think about.

Josh Queipo: Establish A Successful Run Plan

The Rams led the NFL in outside zone runs in 2024. They led the league again in 2025. Robinson is a well-known outside zone disciple. In order for him to re-establish Baker Mayfield he is going to have to marry his passing concepts to his run game. To do that, he is going to have to establish a run philosophy.

Bucs RB Bucky Irving – Photo by: IMAGN Images – Nathan Ray Seebeck

We watched in 2023 as former offensive coordinator Liam Coen continually banged his head against the wall trying to establish a mid-zone running game. It didn’t work. For whatever reasons, the Bucs backs, offensive line and tight ends couldn’t get on the same page to execute a zone-based ground attack. They finished the year last in rushing yards per game and yards per rush and 27th in EPA/rush.

In 2024, we again watched as former offensive coordinator Liam Coen tried unsuccessfully to establish a zone-based run game for about five weeks. Coen, unlike Canales, opted to pivot midseason and embraced a pull-heavy, gap-based scheme. This unlocked Tampa Bay’s run game, pushing them to be one of the most dangerous rush attacks in the NFL. It helped their play-action game and led to one of the best offensive seasons in Bucs history.

Will Robinson attempt to move the Bucs back to a zone scheme? If he does will he be able to succeed where Coen and Canales failed? Or will he decide that he’d rather do what has worked for his players previously and redefine his approach? I honestly don’t know. But that is going to be the crux from which all of the offensive rivers flow. The under-center play action game needs to be built on the run concepts, so what those run concepts are matters considerably.

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