Bucs WR Mike Evans – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Managing your family’s wealth means more to Amuni Financial than simply allocating your assets. It means legacy planning, brokerage & advisory services, retirement accounts, college savings accounts and insurance services. With 40 years of experience, let Amuni Financial help you plan ahead and stay ahead.

Call Amuni Financial at (800) 868-6864 or visit Amuni.com.

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

QUESTION: Mike Evans testing free agency has Bucs fans on pins and needles. Rumors are rumors, but why should going to a team like the Bills be justified as ring chasing when prior to this season the Bucs were tied with the Bills for second most playoff wins in past 5 years?

ANSWER: Well, in the last six years, Buffalo has won 11 games or more, including finishing 13-4 in 2024 and 12-5 last year. The Bills won their division for five straight years before New England finished ahead of Buffalo this season. The Bills have just been a better football team than the Bucs and were knocked out of the playoffs four times by Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City over those six seasons.

It’s not just Buffalo that will come calling for Mike Evans’ services. I expect Kansas City, Houston, New England and perhaps San Francisco to inquire, too. All of those teams except for the Chiefs made the playoffs last season. The big question for Evans is how much does he want to chase the chance to win another Super Bowl ring versus the legacy of potentially playing his career wire-to-wire in red and pewter? It should be noted that Houston is just one hour away from Evans’ hometown of Galveston, Texas.

Bucs WR Mike Evans and Texans CB Derek Stingley Jr. – Photo by: USA Today

And he’ll have to ask himself how close he feels the Bucs are to getting back to winning the division and being a legit Super Bowl contender. Is Tampa Bay closer to being the team that started 6-2 before the bye week? Or was that smoke and mirrors with several last-minute wins, and the real Buccaneers are closer to the team that finished 2-7?

General manager Jason Licht, new offensive coordinator Zac Robinson and quarterback Baker Mayfield will all give their best sales pitches to try to get Evans to remain a Buccaneer. But my guess is that Evans wants to hear from head coach and defensive play-caller Todd Bowles – and Licht – how Tampa Bay plans to upgrade the defense this offseason. While the Bucs offense is good enough to compete for a Super Bowl, the defense is not. It’s in the bottom half of the league in numerous categories.

Having a plan is one thing, but executing is another. If I’m Evans and I’m willing to give the Bucs a chance to improve their roster first, I’m waiting a day or two into free agency before re-signing with Tampa Bay or signing with another team to see if Licht can actually sign who he intends to target and make any trade he’s thinking about making. If Licht and the Bucs have a successful start to free agency, maybe that sways Evans to stay.

Or maybe Evans just wants the chance to finish his career with another team for that experience. After all, he personally witnessed Tom Brady end his NFL career with Tampa Bay, winning a seventh Super Bowl and creating a mini-legacy with the Bucs and their fan base. Brady was the missing piece to deliver a Lombardi Trophy to Tampa Bay. Perhaps Evans thinks he can be that for another franchise over the next season or two.

QUESTION: I understand Todd Bowles is not Mike Vrabel or Mike Macdonald, but nobody had New England and Seattle pegged in the Super Bowl before last season. What are the odds Bowles and Jason Licht listen to their veterans on where the team needs help and hopefully keep Mike Evans in the building?

ANSWER: I don’t think Jason Licht and Todd Bowles necessarily need to listen to their veterans about where the team needs help in terms of roster construction. They have eyes, just like everyone, and can see the current holes in this roster.

On defense, Tampa Bay needs a starting outside linebacker to replace Haason Reddick, two inside linebackers – one to potentially replace 36-year old Lavonte David, who probably needs to retire, and another to compete with and possibly unseat SirVocea Dennis. The Bucs could also use another defensive tackle to start in the base 3-4 defense to replace Logan Hall if he’s not re-signed, and at least another one to upgrade the talent of the depth.

Bucs HC Todd Bowles and GM Jason Licht – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The defense also needs two more cornerbacks to replace Jamel Dean and Kindle Vildor, who are expected to depart in free agency. So that’s four new starters – assuming Hall leaves, David retires, Dennis is beaten out and the team moves on from Reddick. The plan is to have Benjamin Morrison, last year’s second-round pick, replace Dean as a starting cornerback. Can the Bucs hit on all of those needs and find four new starters between free agency and the draft that are in fact upgrades? It’s a tall task, but it’s possible.

On offense, the Bucs’ needs are fewer. If Cade Otton is not re-signed the team will need to acquire a starting-caliber tight end, as neither Payne Durham nor Devin Culp is ready to be an every down tight end capable of blocking and being a viable receiver. Tampa Bay would also need a No. 2 running back to replace Rachaad White unless the team feels that Sean Tucker could fill that role and he’s re-signed this offseason. Tucker is a restricted free agent.

Of course the big question is whether or not wide receiver Mike Evans is re-signed. Evans is the team’s only true X receiver (split end). Jalen McMillan can fill that role, but is probably better suited to be a Z (flanker). Yet Tampa Bay has plenty of Z receivers in Tez Johnson and Emeka Egbuka, who can also play in the slot like Chris Godwin Jr.

If Evans isn’t re-signed, the Bucs could probably get by for a year with McMillan, Egbuka, Godwin and Johnson before investing a high draft pick in another X. Unless the team prioritizes keeping the receiver arsenal stocked for Baker Mayfield, then Tampa Bay could use a draft pick this year replacing Evans. But that would come at a cost of possibly not filling a need on defense, as the majority of the team’s seven draft picks should be spent addressing that side of the ball.

QUESTION: Sonny Styles seems to potentially be a generational type player. I would rather trade up for him than trade picks for Maxx Crosby. Thoughts?

ANSWER: That’s an interesting premise for sure. It would cost multiple picks to acquire either player. Trading for Raiders Pro Bowl edge rusher Maxx Crosby might cost two first-round picks – or at least a first- and a second-rounder. Whereas trading up for Ohio State All-American linebacker Sonny Styles might only cost a first- and a third-rounder, depending on how high Tampa Bay needs to go up to get him.

The Bucs have the 15th overall pick and many mock drafts have Style coming off the board to the Cowboys at No. 12. It might only take a first- and a third-rounder to trade up four spots with Miami at No. 11 to secure him ahead of Dallas. That seems worth it for a generational talent and fills a huge need at middle linebacker for Todd Bowles’ defense – even though the Bucs could also use that third-round pick because of multiple needs that must be addressed.

Ohio State ILB Sonny Styles – Photo by: IMAGN Images – Adam Cairns

The big question in this hypothetical exercise is which is more important for the 2026 Buccaneers? Addressing the outside linebacker position with a proven Pro Bowl edge rusher with plenty of experience and an alpha mentality in Crosby? Or getting an elite athlete and playmaker in the middle of the defense, even though he’ll be a rookie?

In terms of the investment, Styles is just 21 and won’t turn 22 until November, whereas Crosby is 28 and turns 29 in August. Really interesting question and it would be fascinating to know which way Bowles and general manager Jason Licht would go in this scenario. Perhaps we’ll find out.

QUESTION: Scott, you’ve mentioned Boye Mafe and Joey Bosa as potential OLB options for the Bucs. What about Odafe Oweh? He’s younger and has an alpha personality. His play reminds me a lot of Jason Pierre-Paul and he’s coming off a streak where he had seven sacks in 12 games.

ANSWER: Well, I’ve mentioned Boye Mafe in the sense that I’m not sure he would be an ideal fit in Tampa Bay because he’s too much like Yaya Diaby in terms of being a power rusher – just not as productive. I’ve seen Mafe’s valuation in free agency land anywhere between $12.2 million to $16.3 million per year, which seems a little rich for a Diaby-like player. And remember that Diaby will likely command between $18 million – $20 million per year for his extension, which could be coming this offseason or in 2027 after his contract year.

At age 27, Mafe will command a multi-year deal, whereas signing 30-year old Joey Bosa to a one-year deal worth $11 million might be a better fix in 2026, especially if the Bucs are expecting to use a premium pick – a first- to third-rounder – on a starting-caliber edge rusher. Then that draft pick could rotate in with Bosa this year to gain experience before replacing him in 2027, and not face the pressure of being an immediate starter.

Bills DE Joey Bosa and Falcons QB Michael Penix Jr. – Photo by: IMAGN Images – Dale Zanine

Bosa was coached by new defensive line coach Marcus West in Buffalo last year, so the Bucs could gain some real insight and intel into how much he has left in the tank. Bosa did have 54 pressures, five sacks and five forced fumbles last year for the Bills and had an 88.7 pass rush grade per Pro Football Focus while staying healthy for the first time in a long while.

As for Odafe Oweh, he certainly put up some good sack numbers over the last two years between the Ravens and the Chargers. But why on earth did Baltimore trade a former first-round pick on a rookie deal coming off a 10-sack season in the first place? That is concerning. Oweh is expected to fetch between $19 million to $21 million per season on a multi-year deal. Not sure the Bucs have the budget to afford two high-priced edge rushers in Oweh and Diaby over the next couple of seasons.

QUESTION: How good can David Walker be if he stays healthy and has another great camp? Could he be the answer on one side as a starting edge?

ANSWER: The truth is no one really knows. Right now outside linebacker David Walker has loads of promise and potential, but the word “potential” is the most dangerous word in the NFL. There were high hopes for last year’s fourth-round draft pick, who flashed some serious pass rush ability in the offseason prior to tearing his ACL in the third training camp practice and being lost for his rookie season.

We haven’t even seen Walker in full pads yet, and football is not a game played in helmets, shorts and jerseys. As a result, the Bucs can’t necessarily count on him being a solution to their problem at edge rusher. Instead, Tampa Bay should consider him to be a “bonus Buccaneer,” as I suggested in a recent Pewter Pulse video.

I had the opportunity to interview Walker last week for Friday’s SR’s FAB 5 column. He’s incredibly excited about returning to action in 2026 and making up for lost time. If he would have stayed healthy last year I think he could have moved up the depth chart to the OLB3 role and maybe even supplanted Haason Reddick as the starter once Reddick went down with a sprained ankle in the Week 7 loss at Detroit.

I’m excited to see what Walker can do this year and he should be medically cleared to participate in OTAs after the draft. I’m not alone, either. Head coach Todd Bowles and general manager Jason Licht were stoked after drafting him and remain very high on Walker’s ability as a pass rusher and backfield disruptor in the run game.