The Bucs have dug themselves an early hole at 0-3, and now they are asking an undrafted rookie quarterback to help pull them out of it.

Tampa Bay spent the offseason preparing Jalon Daniels to be its No. 3 quarterback behind Baker Mayfield and Jake Browning. Then he played well enough to beat out Browning to become No. 2. Now, three games into the season, they are asking him to become the starter.

It is a tall task for anyone, especially for someone set to make his first NFL start. In this week’s Slivon’s Slant column, I wanted to profile Daniels a bit more to explain how the offense could look around him. That includes insight from offensive coordinator Zac Robinson during his Thursday press conference and from talking with left tackle Tristan Wirfs in the locker room.

Bucs Bet On Jalon Daniels Before They Knew They Would Need Him

The Bucs thought highly enough of Jalon Daniels to keep him as their No. 2 quarterback after a strong training camp and preseason that saw him outperform veteran Jake Browning. Admittedly, making such a move was a risk in potentially trusting someone who has never played an NFL snap to keep the ship afloat in the event Baker Mayfield went down.

With Mayfield set to miss several weeks with a dislocated right thumb, it is Daniels’ time to shine.

Tampa Bay’s interest in Daniels was real even before the 2026 NFL Draft began. The team flew him in for an official 30 visit back in mid-April. After seeing him go undrafted, they were quick to sign him to a three-year, $3.125 million deal with $272,500 guaranteed, including a $25,000 signing bonus. He then proved the investment worthwhile, displaying a strong grasp of offensive coordinator Zac Robinson’s offense in rookie mini-camp.

Bucs QBs coach Chandler Whitmer, QB Jalon Daniels and OC Zac Robinson – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

When the Bucs reached the dog days of training camp, Daniels quietly turned it into a quarterback competition with Browning. The veteran was expected to be the top backup for months given his experience, but the former Kansas signal-caller consistently outplayed him throughout the preseason and ultimately won the QB2 job. So, what’s next for a team desperate to get into the win column?

The vibes are off in Tampa Bay, as a sluggish start has coaches, executives, and players feeling the heat.

Todd Bowles’ defense has its own issues, but the offense has been the bigger problem through three games. Robinson has been out-coached early on, most notably by Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores this past Sunday. The unit has looked predictable, one-dimensional and increasingly incapable of staying ahead of the chains, while penalties and turnovers have compounded the problem.

Zac Robinson Can’t Put It All On Jalon Daniels

When it comes to situational football, the Bucs are bad.

Like, really bad.

They were 2-17 on third down against the Vikings in Week 3, and currently they rank 30th in the NFL with just 30% of red zone drives resulting in touchdowns. Chase McLaughlin is one of the biggest reasons Tampa Bay has stayed in games. Credit ‘Money McLaughlin’ for doing his part as a bright spot, but seeing him make nine field goals in three games is an indictment of the offense’s struggles.

Bucs OC Zac Robinson – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

To give Daniels a platform to be successful, it starts with the play-caller fixing what has gone on around the quarterback.

The offensive line, especially along the interior, must clean up its technique. For as skilled as Bucky Irving is, he can’t be run into the ground. Utilizing offseason addition Kenny Gainwell more makes sense, as does rotating in Sean Tucker. When it comes to the wide receiver corps, the conversation has mainly been how deep and talented they are. Yet it was tight end Cade Otton who led the team in receiving last week.

No offense to Otton, but that should not be the case. While Robinson discussed how defenses are dictating what the offense is doing throughout the game, Otton’s production is symptomatic of the offense not dictating terms themselves.

Ted Hurst III caught a 40-yard touchdown and disappeared, while Chris Godwin Jr. and Emeka Egbuka look like background characters and not co-stars.

Why do I bring all of this up?

If nothing changes on any of these fronts, the Bucs will only make Daniels’ job harder as he tries to pull off a Week 4 win and keeping them competitive while Mayfield is out. Robinson seemed to recognize his own mistakes when I asked him about how the group can make strides in situational football in order to control the time of possession and finish drives with touchdowns rather than field goals.

Bucs OC Zac Robinson – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“I think it goes back to all 11 [players] playing as one – you know, the execution over everything in all these situations,” Robinson said. “There are a few calls a game that I’m like, ‘Man, I put the guys in a bad spot.’ We’re in a wide zone in the second half of the game, they slanted into it. ‘Hey, man, that wasn’t a great call – we had a minus-one, you know?’ So, there are things that of course, us as play callers, we want to do better. Then, as far as a player standpoint, we’ve had a lot of opportunities to take advantage of some of those.

“Obviously, we’ve had some situations where we’ve been kind of, ‘Hey, one step forward, two steps back.’ I think it’s, more so than anything, applicable to the situational [football]. Some of those are first and second down that put us in those tough situations. We had so many third-and-longs last week that we’ve got to clean those up to be efficient on first and second down… We’ve got to clean all those things up. Really, those situations that those are coming up [in] are products sometimes of the first and second down and putting us in some tough spots.”

Jalon Daniels Gives Bucs An Opportunity To Change Their Offense

With Baker Mayfield failing to put it together in the first three games of the season, the offense is in an interesting spot as they lean on Jalon Daniels to get the job done. Given that both quarterbacks have some similarities in play style, perhaps the operation won’t look entirely different. There is even a glimmer of optimism, based on what the rookie showcased throughout the preseason.

He does bring a legitimate “it” factor, with noticeable poise, command of the offense, and the ability to make plays with his legs.

He needs to bring all of “it” to Raymond James Stadium on Sunday.

Bucs OC Zac Robinson – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Offensive concepts will be scaled back to a degree, but this is not uncharted waters for Robinson. He had to navigate a tricky situation changing the Falcons’ offense as they rotated between Kirk Cousins and Michael Penix Jr., which he also discussed on Thursday.

“We kind of were back and forth for two seasons there at the end of ‘24 and then throughout last season in ‘25, and you just learn what they’re comfortable with,” Robinson said. “Maybe you’ve got to simplify some things from a schematic standpoint. As long as they’re comfortable with the plays, we can draw up whatever we want, but it’s their comfort with it that’s all that matters. I was able to learn through some experiences. I would look back even in the offseason and say, ‘Hey, how could I have helped Mike [Penix] last year in some of those instances?’ You try to simplify things so they can play with a clear mind on Sunday.”

The goal should not be to turn Daniels loose and see if he can win the game himself. The goal should be to put him in as many situations as possible where he can make the game easier for everyone else.

The Packers defense is missing Micah Parsons, and they have been exposed in allowing 39 points to a Carson Wentz-led Vikings squad in Week 1 and getting embarrassed by Penix on Thursday Night Football in a 35-14 Week 3 loss. Green Bay needed a fourth-quarter comeback to beat the Jets in Week 2, otherwise they too would be 0-3.

Daniels will likely see plenty of blitzes to rattle his cage, but there are opportunities to attack a Packers defense that has shown some vulnerability. With that, there should be a renewed emphasis on establishing the run and divvying up touches to all three running backs. From there, No. 10 just has to play within himself. There must be a level of innovation in play design and personnel usage, including ways to take advantage of his mobility and attack the middle of the field.

Bucs QB Jalon Daniels – Photo by: IMAGN Images via Reuters Connect

To that point, I spoke with left tackle Tristan Wirfs about what he saw from a Daniels-led offense in practice this week.

“He just came in with confidence in his preparation,” Wirfs said. “Came in, got the play call out fast with confidence, popped out of the huddle, made some checks. I think that’s just where it starts. He’s a young kid making his first start and we all got to rally around him. Stuff’s not going to go right all the time, and that’s okay. We just got to keep moving forward, he’s popped in and out of the huddle, done his best to take command and it’s been awesome. We’re all going to rally behind him.”

In last week’s Slivon’s Slant column, right tackle Luke Goedeke shared with me just how much he wants to see the run game get established. Wirfs echoed a similar sentiment and how that can ease the burden on Daniels needing to come in with a cape and save the day.

“I’d love to get some more runs off, that’d be great,” Wirfs said. “Take a little off his plate, but we’ve got to make the runs go that are called in order to get more. As much as we want more, we’ve got to make it happen. That’s on us up front, we’ve got to execute our combinations and everyone being on the same page.”

Closing Slant

The focus of this week is obviously on Jalon Daniels and the job he does in his first NFL start. I give Daniels credit for being confident despite the circumstances around him not being optimal. This would be a different story were the Bucs 2-1 or 3-0 right now. Instead, he is tasked with lifting up an offense, and there is reason to believe he can pull off the improbable.

As Zac Robinson stated, all 11 guys really do need to play as one. It is early, but the offense has not played complementary football for the defense, or even for themselves. There are a lot of mistakes to clean up, but there is no doubt Daniels changes the equation. Robinson’s offensive gameplan should revolve around high-percentage throws and find a way to build up the quarterback’s confidence quickly.

Robinson should not ask him to play like Baker Mayfield. He should ask him to play like Jalon Daniels.

If they do that, things can get a little sunnier in Tampa Bay, even if just for a week.

For more insight about where the Bucs stand entering Sunday’s Week 4 tilt with the Packers, I joined Pewter Report’s Matt Matera and Bailey Adams to go over the layers to the team’s next game on the latest Pewter Report Podcast on our PewterReportTV YouTube channel.