With roster cutdown day happening across the league this past week, this is the final weekend before the 2026 NFL season kicks off. At this point, we know as much as we can about where the Bucs stand heading into the year, but the results will soon begin to reveal themselves.

Much of the focus throughout Tampa Bay’s offseason was on how the team would approach improving the defense, from coaching changes to the veterans and rookies brought in as reinforcements. Given that this is a squad led by defensive head coach Todd Bowles, there is no excuse for this to be an average unit again.

In this week’s Slivon’s Slant, I wanted to explain why it is worth believing in the group this time around. After watching the Bucs up close throughout the summer at training camp and in the preseason, the defense already appears to have turned a corner across the board. In fact, I believe Tampa Bay has a legitimate chance to field a Top 10 defense in 2026.

Bucs Front Seven Is Deeper, More Experienced And Loaded With Potential

Examining the Bucs’ defense, it is clear that the biggest step taken to get the group back on track is the front seven.

Breaking it down by position group, there are plenty of new additions set to make an impact this season. Between defensive tackle A’Shawn Robinson, inside linebackers Alex Anzalone and Josiah Trotter, and outside linebacker Rueben Bain Jr., Tampa Bay has added four new starters along the front lines of defense.

Together, they represent a significant investment in fixing the front seven, combining veteran experience with the upside of two of Tampa Bay’s top draft picks. It was a wise decision to invest resources into the group after last season showed that there were cracks in the foundation.

The defensive line was without Calijah Kancey for much of the year, forcing Vita Vea to play a career-high number of snaps. Logan Hall and Greg Gaines, two players who have since signed elsewhere, did not bring enough juice or toughness as opponents had success running the football and having time in the pocket. A notable difference has already been seen upfront — even with Vea holding in for much of training camp.

Much has been made about Robinson and Nunez-Roches adding a nasty edge, and that translated to the defensive line shutting down the Bucs’ offense during practice for much of August. In keeping seven defensive tackles on the 53-man roster, it is clear that it is one of the team’s deepest positions. One of the biggest calling cards of Todd Bowles’ defense over the years has been stopping the run, and that looks to once again be the case in 2026.

What offers the most hope for how well the defense can play is how the revamped pass rush has looked. Even though he has not played in an NFL game yet, Bain already looks like the real deal with No. 1 pass rusher potential.

Bucs OLB Rueben Bain Jr. – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Between his pass-rushing moves and unteachable work ethic, it is only a matter of time before he begins to put the league on notice as an NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year candidate.

Tampa Bay mustered just 37 sacks in 2025, and that put even more strain on the secondary to hold up for longer. It prevented Bowles’ scheme from functioning at its best, which is when the pass rush and coverage work in-sync and provide the freedom to use exotic blitz packages (more on that below). Between Bain, Walker, and Muhammad, they inject havoc-wreaking prowess and give Tampa Bay its deepest stable of outside pass rushers in years.

That is the domino effect Tampa Bay did not have consistently enough last season. The pass rush doesn’t just need to produce sacks; it needs to speed up quarterbacks enough to make life easier for the secondary, which in turn should give Bowles more freedom to pressure offenses in different ways.

Rounding it out behind them are the inside linebackers. Anzalone brings quality leadership and experience, shoring up what has been a position of need for a while. He has looked the part in camp, serving as a jack-of-all-trades linebacker who can provide above-average coverage skills as well as blitz and clog run lanes.

Bucs ILB Alex Anzalone – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Trotter can do much of the same, even if his coverage skills are still a work in progress. He has looked far better than expected, drawing rave reviews from Bowles all throughout the summer. Asking the defensive play-caller about Trotter back in early August, this quote stood out:

“He’s almost like a new-school linebacker in an old-school body, and he really knows how to play the game, and he really plays with intent to do serious harm,” Bowles said.

Add all of these parts together, and what do you have?

A more physical front seven set to impose its will and set the tone when it comes to stopping the run, pressuring the quarterback, and forcing drives to stall out. While only the preseason, the defense recorded 10 sacks, three interceptions, and allowed no more than 19 points in a game. If they can produce at a similar level throughout the year, it would be a significant improvement and make life easier on the secondary.

Bucs Secondary Has Been A Pleasant Surprise As CB Room Stabilizes

Yes, there are reasons to be concerned about the Bucs secondary. I will not sugarcoat how the cornerback room has long-term question marks surrounding Zyon McCollum and Benjamin Morrison.

Bucs CBs Benjamin Morrison and Zyon McCollum – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

McCollum taking a step back in 2025 after getting a three-year, $48 million contract extension has raised doubts about him being the No. 1 cornerback for years to come. While possessing all the physical tools to be elite, the results have not been there consistently for an entire season. There is not much time left for that to completely translate, however; he played better in camp, recording several interceptions.

Morrison had an up-and-down rookie year, with injuries keeping him from hitting the ground running during each of his offseasons in Tampa Bay. He did not come out victorious in claiming the No. 2 cornerback job, but he did flash promise in the preseason finale and the jury is still out on what kind of player the 22-year-old will develop into.

On the flip side of addressing the secondary, what I will say is that the rest of the back end offers stability and has had a couple of surprise standouts. Moving Jacob Parrish to the outside has been a revelation, as one can argue that he is already the team’s top cornerback. Parrish might not have McCollum’s size, but he uses every bit of his 5-foot-10 and 205-pound frame as a physical tackler and is aggressive breaking up passes. After projecting to be one of the biggest position battles, there ended up not being a battle at all as he rightfully claimed it based on his play and not just the fact Morrison has been injured.

The cornerback room is more than just these three players, though.

Ayden Garnes had one of the best performances of anyone in camp and the preseason. His 47-yard pick-six in the preseason opener was the biggest example and what many have seen, but he took the phrase “stacking days” literally with how he recorded interceptions and regularly broke up passes in scrimmage work. If not for Morrison’s draft pedigree, Garnes has a strong case to be considered the third-best cornerback on the roster. Time will tell how he develops, but the undrafted free agent from Arizona has played better than anyone expected.

Throw in fourth-round pick Keionte Scott, who takes over for Parrish as the nickelback. Similar in stature, he plays the game like a linebacker and had five sacks at Miami last season. Scott is versatile and checks a lot of boxes for what he brings as an NFL-ready guy.

Supporting the cornerbacks is one of the best safety rooms in the league in Antoine Winfield Jr. and Tykee Smith.

Bucs Ss Antoine Winfield Jr. and Tykee Smith – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

While each of them has proven to be a quality starter, there is reason to believe each have another level to unlock this season.

For Winfield, that would be returning more to the player he was as an All-Pro in 2023. Even if that is an unattainable peak, having more versatile pieces around him will give him and Todd Bowles more freedom deploying him all-around the defense, from playing as the free safety, dropping down into the box, to being a centerfielder given the leeway to go for the football. Smith enters his third year coming off a 100-tackle season. Not only has he taken steps as a leader, but he also plays very similar to his safety counterpart.

We will know quickly how well they hit the ground running, given that they will face Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and the Bengals in Week 1.

Todd Bowles Has Made Coaching Changes, But Will The Bucs’ Defense Change?

Bucs Hall of Fame cornerback Ronde Barber joined us on the Pewter Report Podcast on Thursday, but Barber also had on Todd Bowles as a special guest on The Rondé Barber Show on Wednesday. If fans ever wanted to see Bowles in a non-press conference setting, this is the interview to watch.

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

Rather than giving short, vague answers, this was a more personable version of the 62-year-old who has been around the game for over 40 years. With ownership giving him another year to right the ship, he decided to overhaul the coaching staff with younger voices. Gone are Charlie Strong, Kevin Ross, and Nick Rapone, who were replaced by Marcus West, Rashad Johnson, and Tim Atkins. Each of those moves is about a 20-year age difference, and that has helped bring heightened energy to practice with coaches who can better relate to players.

From a schematic standpoint, Bowles mentioned which five players he needs to have to operate a high-level defense.

“The outside ‘backers have to set the edge, I need a dominant nose tackle, and I need two corners who can really play,” Bowles said. “Those are the five pieces in a 3-4 defense that I need to play.”

Barber probed him about how modern NFL offenses challenge that with the way the game has evolved.

“They make it more difficult because the ball is coming out quicker and it’s becoming a perimeter game,” Bowles added. “They’re trying to take away your nose; Vita is one of those guys who can play all three downs, he’s not your typical Casey Hampton-type of nose where he is just a first and second-down guy. He can actually move… Vita can run from sideline to sideline. You need quicker inside ‘backers to get to the sideline, and you need guys who can set the edge.”

The encouraging part is that Bowles’ five essential pieces are no longer hypothetical. He has an established anchor in Vea, two ascending edge rushers in Bain and Diaby, and what he hopes are two legitimate starting corners in McCollum and Parrish. With those five pieces in place and based on what Bowles has seen from the rest of the group, he believes he has fewer weaknesses to mask from a talent perspective.

Bucs DTs Calijah Kancey, Rakeem Nunez-Roches and Vita Vea – Photo by: IMAGN Images via Reuters Connect

“If you got talent, you can just line up and say, ‘Go get ’em.’ You don’t have to worry about it. When you’re missing some things and you’re missing some pieces, you have to build around [that]. First, you want to see what you can do and who you can hide while trying to expose their weaknesses… You have to move the strengths around, you don’t have everybody over there.

“This is probably the most complete defense we’ve had in a couple of years. I feel very good about that, but you move the strengths around. I feel like trying to confuse the offense without getting ourselves lined up and protected and who needs to be protected, then you worry about the other stuff.”

No longer does there appear to be a glaring weakness that the Bucs cannot potentially overcome.

This is not to just sell optimism for the sake of doing so, but it does feel like Bowles finally has his kind of defense. Much of the old guard he inherited is gone, but he has played a hand in selecting and developing much of the current defense. Now it is time for it to come together.

Closing Slant

When comparing the additions and subtractions to the Bucs defense, it is hard to say that the unit did not improve over the offseason. But improvement cannot simply be measured by being better than the 2025 defense. The question is whether Tampa Bay has done enough to become a legitimately good defense.

I believe it has.

The Bucs do not need every player to have a career year for this group to take a major step forward. They need the defensive line to continue playing with the physicality it showed in camp, they need the pass rush to generate more than the 37 sacks it had last season, and they need the secondary to take advantage of the added pressure up front.

If those things happen, I think this can be a Top 10 defense in the NFL. Not because every position group is suddenly elite, but because the Bucs finally appear to have enough strength across the defense that one weakness does not have to sink the entire unit.

That is a bold statement considering where this unit was a year ago, but there is considerably more evidence behind it than blind optimism. The Bucs have more depth, more versatility, more experience and more young talent than they did a year ago. They have a defensive line that can stop the run, a pass rush that finally looks capable of consistently affecting quarterbacks, athletic linebackers who can run sideline to sideline and a secondary with enough talent to make plays on the football.

Most importantly, Todd Bowles finally appears to have the kind of defense he has been trying to build in Tampa Bay.

Now comes the hard part.

The preseason can give us hints, but it cannot provide all the answers. Those will come against Joe Burrow and the Bengals, and then against the rest of the NFL. Should the Bucs’ defense carry the physicality, depth and playmaking ability it showed this summer into the regular season, it could become the biggest reason Tampa Bay is playing meaningful football in January.

I have seen enough this offseason to believe the Bucs can have a Top 10 defense.

Now it is on Todd Bowles and his players to prove me right.