Bucs GM Jason Licht – Photo by: Jeffrey Jones/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: It seems like we have a ton of holes to fill on this roster. Will the Bucs realistically be able to fill those holes and improve overall depth without pushing too much on the future? It seems like too many holes to fill for the amount of picks and money we have to work with.

ANSWER: Yes, the Bucs have a lot of holes to fill, primarily on defense. Todd Bowles’ unit could at least two more starting-caliber inside linebackers, especially if Lavonte David isn’t re-signed, plus a new starting outside linebacker to replace Haason Reddick. The Buccaneers could also use two cornerbacks to replace free-agents-to-be Jamel Dean and Kindle Vildor, in addition to another defensive tackle to replace Logan Hall, who is expected to depart via free agency, and possibly 31-year old Greg Gaines, too.

That’s four starters, as Hall is a starter in the base 3-4 defense, and at least three other depth pieces. Second-year cornerbacks Benjamin Morrison and Jacob Parrish are expected to compete to replace Dean in the starting lineup.

Bucs ILBs Lavonte David and SirVocea Dennis – Photo by: USA Today

On offense, Tampa Bay isn’t expected to re-sign starting tight end Cade Otton, and might not be able to retain starting wide receiver Mike Evans. The Bucs will need to replace Otton, but could get by with Jalen McMillan playing the X receiver role in place of Evans for a year. The team is flush at wide receiver with McMillan, Emeka Egbuka, Chris Godwin Jr. and Tez Johnson, but losing Evans, who is their top receiver, would be a big blow.

Tampa Bay has about $50 million in cash to spend in free agency, and that could go rather quickly, especially if wide receiver Mike Evans is re-signed for between $16 million – $20 million per year this offseason. The Bucs currently have just under $21 million in salary cap room, according to OverTheCap.com, but could create about $40 million more with contract restructures for left tackle Tristan Wirfs, right tackle Luke Goedeke and safety Antoine Winfield Jr.

Tampa Bay is also armed with only seven draft picks. So, the Bucs will not truly have enough draft picks and cash/cap resources to find top-level starters in just one offseason. The team might have to get by at a few positions for 2026 and then look for upgrades in 2027.

Sentimentality for Evans and David aside, the priorities this offseason need to be bolstering the inside linebacker corps, finding a dominant edge rusher than help Tampa Bay’s mediocre pass rush and fortifying the defensive tackle position with Calijah Kancey being oft-injured and Vita Vea entering a contract year at age 31. Even though he would be more expensive, I would prioritize re-signing Evans over David because Evans is still playing at a higher level.

QUESTION: This is probably wishful thinking but if I’m Jason Licht I’m selecting the defensive players that I think this team needs not what Todd Bowles thinks will fit his system. Too many system-type players (starters not stars), and I partially blame Bowles for “okaying” the selections as well.

ANSWER: There is no doubt that general manager Jason Licht and head coach Todd Bowles work hand-in-hand when it comes to drafting players. Licht is a big believer in drafting players that fit what the coaches want to do schematically, and I fully support that practice. Any time a G.M. drafts a player that a coach or coordinator doesn’t want it never ends well. The coaches involved in those scenarios are unhappy from day one and the player’s career can suffer as a result.

Having said that, Licht has whiffed on some defensive players up front in recent years. Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, the team’s first-round draft pick in 2021, severely underwhelmed as an outside linebacker. The same could be said for defensive tackle Logan Hall, the team’s top pick at No. 33 overall in 2023. Outside linebacker Chris Braswell, the second-round pick in 2024, also looks like a bust with just 2.5 sacks in two seasons.

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles and GM Jason Licht – Photo courtesy of the Buccaneers

Yet Bowles signed off on every one of those draft picks, and must take some of the blame for those players’ shortcomings, too. Again, Licht is not going to draft a defensive player without Bowles’ seal of approval. I think the Bucs have relied too much on drafting athletes rather than tough, hard-nosed football players with great instincts.

My hope is that Tampa Bay’s scouting department focuses more on drafting players with proven production, instincts and real physicality. I think – and I hope – that Licht began to see the light on his previous failures with the recent selections of safety Tykee Smith and outside linebacker David Walker. Smith and Walker are two very physical, tough, instinctive players who had a ton of production in college.

QUESTION: With the coaching changes that have been made so far, how much will those changes truly move the needle? Or were the changes we saw just some form of fan appeasement?

ANSWER: Todd Bowles didn’t fire his assistant coaches to appease the fans. Coming off a surprising and disappointing 8-9 season, those changes were warranted, especially on defense. Bowles fired long-time secondary coaches Kevin Ross and Nick Rapone because of their ineffectiveness and wanted younger assistants Rashad Johnson (cornerbacks) and Tim Atkins (safeties) to take over. Bowles also chose to go younger at defensive line coach where he brought in 42-year old Marcus West to replace 65-year old Charlie Strong.

The word I keep hearing in the building about these young coaches is “energy,” and that’s something that Bowles, who turns 63 this fall, lacks himself. So surrounding himself with younger, more energetic coaches should help his defense, which has too often started games too flat.

Bucs CBs coach Rashad Johnson – Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Fans haven’t been too impressed by the fact that Bowles promoted two in-house “yes men” to full-time assistants and only brought in one outside voice in West. But as I’ve said before, this is Bowles defense and he believes he has all the answers. He’s not looking for new ideas or fresh perspectives. He wants his players to be coached up better and perform better as a result.

I’m okay with that, too. Bowles isn’t going to coach forever and he’s entering the 2026 season on the hot seat. If all these coaches do this year is develop their respective players, so be it.

I would love to see Johnson unlock Zyon McCollum and get him to live up to his vast potential and continue to coach up Benjamin Morrison and Jacob Parrish. I would love to see Atkins develop Tykee Smith into becoming a Pro Bowler, continue to get big plays from Antoine Winfield Jr. and take J.J. Roberts’ game up to that of a starter level. I want to see West develop Calijah Kancey into a Pro Bowler, squeeze as much production out of 31-year Vita Vea and take Elijah Roberts’ game up to the next level.

QUESTION: I’ll leave the draft speculation and free agency to the experts – you all. Who do you think will be next in the Bucs Ring of Honor? My picks Gene Deckerhoff because of his age (so he’s here to enjoy it) and James Wilder because he is long overdue.

ANSWER: I would love to see Gene Deckerhoff inducted into the Bucs Ring of Honor, and I’m surely not alone in that sentiment. Deckerhoff just retired after 37 years of calling Tampa Bay games for the Bucs Radio Network and was an excellent broadcaster who became a fan favorite. Given the fact that Deckerhoff will turn 81 in May, I too would like to see him inducted into the Bucs Ring of Honor as soon as possible.

The Glazers inducted Bruce Arians into the Ring of Honor in 2022, which was the same year he abruptly retired from coaching at the age of 69. And the team wisely inducted legendary Monte Kiffin into the Bucs Ring of Honor at the age of 81 in 2021 just a few years before he passed away at the age of 84 in 2024.

Former Bucs MLB Hardy Nickerson – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The other Bucs legend who needs to be inducted right away is former middle linebacker Hardy Nickerson, who is long overdue. Nickerson was the team’s first big-time free agent signing and played a huge role in changing the culture in Tampa Bay with his arrival from Pittsburgh in 1993. That year he set a franchise record for the most tackles in a single season with 214 – a record that still stands today.

Nickerson become a Pro Bowler that year and went on to make the Pro Bowl five times in Tampa Bay during his span with the team from 1993-99. He also was a two-time first-team All-Pro (1993, 1997) and a two-time second-team All-Pro (1996, 1999), as well as being a member of the NFL’s All-Decade Team in the 1990s.

Nickerson was an excellent player in Monte Kiffin’s defense and his leadership helped groom the Buccaneers’ young stars in the 1990s, including safety John Lynch, linebacker Derrick Brooks, defensive tackle Warren Sapp and cornerback Ronde Barber. The fact that the Glazers haven’t inducted Nickerson, who also served the team as the radio color analyst in 2006 and linebackers coach from 2014-15, into the Ring of Honor yet is a real head-scratcher.

As for running back James Wilder, who is still the franchise’s all-time rushing leader, I have been a long-time proponent for his inclusion in the Ring of Honor. However, sources have told me that his induction is not likely to occur for reasons I am not going to make public. Part of it has to do with the fact that he just made one Pro Bowl in his time in Tampa Bay, but there are some other reasons as well. Perhaps the Glazers will change their mind, but I doubt it.