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

QUESTION: Why do you think the national media seems to dismiss the Bucs organization so quickly and so often. First it was, “Can Baker Mayfield play well?” Now it’s, “Yeah, but can he do it again?” When will the national media give this organization its flowers?

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today

ANSWER: Well, keep in mind that during the Tom Brady years, the national media was in love with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs had an increased presence on ESPN and NFL Network on a regular basis thanks to Brady’s star power, and the Bucs became more of a national team while winning the Super Bowl in 2020 and a franchise-record 13 games in 2021. When Brady retired after the 2022 season, most in the national media thought the Bucs would go into rebuilding mode – even after the team signed Baker Mayfield to a cheap, one-year prove-it deal.

Mayfield had gone from being the face of the franchise in Cleveland to a journeyman quarterback overnight in 2022. But he revived his career with a very good year last season and the Bucs wound up making the playoffs for a fourth straight season and winning the division for the third year in a row. Mayfield has yet to put two very good seasons together in back-to-back years either due to injury or inconsistent play in the past. That’s a fact. We’ll see if he can change that narrative this season.

So why are there still so many doubters about the Bucs in the national media? First of all, Tampa Bay is a small market, so there are some natural biases towards bigger market teams and against smaller market teams. That’s why teams like Chicago are getting more hype than the Bucs in the NFC despite having a rookie quarterback and rookie wide receiver in Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze, and a team like Houston is getting more hype than Jacksonville despite the fact that the Jaguars finished only one game back in the AFC South.

Another reason is that the Bucs have clinched the last two division titles in Weeks 17 (2022) and 18 (2023) over the last two seasons. Tampa Bay has just barely made the playoffs over the past two years and has not had a double-digit winning season since going 13-4 in 2021. That, and the fact that two highly paid, prominent “name” QBs have joined the division over the past two seasons in New Orleans’ Derek Carr and Atlanta’s Kirk Cousins have the spotlight elsewhere around the NFC rather in Tampa Bay.

If the Bucs can achieve double-digit wins this year – which they should – and if Tampa Bay wins a fourth straight NFC South crown in 2024 – which it can – then I think the respect will be forthcoming during this season and beyond. Another really good year from Mayfield can help make that happen, and then he’ll get the respect he deserves, too.

QUESTION: Was Todd Bowles taking a shot at Jason Licht and the personnel staff a few weeks ago when he made comments about the team’s depth not being as good as it has been previously?

Bucs OLB Jose Ramirez – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: No, I definitely don’t think the Bucs head coach was taking a shot at the team’s general manager and the front office over the depth of the team. The term “depth” can be interpreted in two different ways. It can mean experience or it can mean talent. Obviously, it’s best when teams have depth full of experienced talent. That was the case in the Bucs’ Super Bowl season in 2020.

For example, Antonio Brown was the team’s third wide receiver that season behind Mike Evans and Chris Godwin and he had Hall of Fame credentials in terms of his career production. The Bucs had a 900-yard rusher in Ronald Jones II and a former 1,000-yard rusher behind him in Leonard Fournette. That’s a perfect example of experienced, talented depth.

The depth on this year’s Bucs team has talent, but it lacks experience. NFL coaches love talented players, and Bowles himself is no stranger to playing – or even starting – rookies. But there’s no substitute for experience. Having experienced players who are less likely to make mistakes on the field help coaches sleep better at night, and I think that’s what Bowles was suggesting when he said the Bucs didn’t have a lot of depth – he meant experienced depth.

For example, Bowles has mentioned how outside linebacker might be the deepest position on the team, but it’s incredibly inexperienced outside of Joe Tryon-Shoyinka and reserve Anthony Nelson. Yet Tampa Bay kept six outside linebackers because of the sheer talent at the position, and Bowles obviously had a say in that decision. So that’s an instance where he loves the talent, but probably wishes he had more experience at that position.

QUESTION: What letter grade do you give to Bucs management for their efforts in constructing this roster?

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

ANSWER: This is good question, yet it’s a bit tricky because I have to make a projection. Did the Bucs actually draft the right players and sign the right free agents in order to make the playoffs and perhaps win another NFC South title? Well, since I’m predicting Tampa Bay to go 10-7 this year and win a fourth straight NFC South divisional championship, I’m inclined to give Bucs general manager Jason Licht and his staff along with head coach Todd Bowles a very good grade.

Let’s go with B-plus. I think the team has leveled up to 10 wins this year in terms of the floor with a ceiling as high as 12 victories. What Licht and Bowles get credit for is foregoing the temptation to blow up an aging roster and rebuild after Tom Brady’s retirement. The two decided there was still plenty of talent to win with on the roster with several Super Bowl champions still on the team. And a quick glance around the NFC South showed – accurately – that the division was still there for the taking.

So the Bucs opted to sign a veteran quarterback in Baker Mayfield instead of drafting another quarterback in the first or second round following Brady’s departure. The fact that the team hit on a very competent replacement at QB has allowed the Bucs to transition from having one of the oldest rosters in the league in 2022 to having one of the youngest rosters in the NFL just two years later. It’s quite remarkable that Tampa Bay actually won more games with last year’s roster, which was younger and more inexperienced.

QUESTION: Mike Alstott to the Pro Football Hall of Fame – how hard is that to get done?

Former Bucs FB Mike Alstott – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: I love the sentiment, as I know Mike Alstott personally and loved covering him in his Buccaneers days, but that’s not going to happen. On paper, the legendary A-Train has a few things working in his favor. Alstott was a six-time Pro Bowler and a three-time first-team All-Pro. Those are a couple of accomplishments that even future Hall of Fame wide receiver Mike Evans hasn’t achieved yet. And like Evans, Alstott also has a Super Bowl ring, which helps his cause.

But the fact that Alstott made the Pro Bowl as a fullback all those years when he was really more than a blocker actually works against him. Alstott’s highlight reel consisted of more big runs and touchdown catches of him lining up as a tailback than the position he was listed at for the Pro Bowl and All-Pro teams. Considering he never had a 1,000-yard rushing season – although he came close in 1999 with 949 yards – also doesn’t help his cause with voters.

While Alstott had plenty of big plays and tackle-breaking runs, and even scored the first touchdown for Tampa Bay in Super Bowl history in 2002, he lacks a signature moment like Ronde Barber’s 92-yard pick-six against the Eagles in the NFC Championship Game. And Alstott never came close to winning an MVP honor like Lee Roy Selmon (1979), Warren Sapp (1999) and Derrick Brooks (2002) did.

There is a bit of an argument to be made based on his number of Pro Bowls and All-Pro selections, but knowing the biases of some of the voters for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Alstott wouldn’t stand a chance of making it to Canton. Keep in mind that the Bucs already have four members of the 2002 Super Bowl team already inducted into the Hall of Fame. And that alone is likely what will keep Simeon Rice out. For some reason, it’s just hard for Hall of Fame voters to justify putting in more than four members of any Super Bowl team.