Bucs OLB Chris Braswell – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

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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: What are you liking and disliking about this Bucs roster?

ANSWER: There is a lot to like about the Bucs’ 2025 roster, starting with four stellar draft classes from 2022-25 that have added a bunch of talented players to the roster. A total of 12 players from those draft classes – an average of three per year – will be starting for Tampa Bay in its Week 1 game at Atlanta. That number would be 13 if wide receiver Jalen McMillan were healthy enough to play. That’s just incredible drafting by general manager Jason Licht, head coach Todd Bowles and the team’s scouts and personnel executives.

I also really like the veteran depth that the team has acquired this offseason. Players like quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, offensive tackle Charlie Heck, cornerback Kindle Vildor, linebacker Deion Jones are some nice additions, as well as Licht doing some big game hunting in free agency with starting outside linebacker Haason Reddick to bolster the team’s pass rush from the edge.

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles, WR Emeka Egbuka and GM Jason Licht – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Tampa Bay has the most talent in the NFC South and is one of the most talented teams in the NFL this year. The Bucs’ running back room is literally four-deep with Bucky Irving, Rachaad White, Sean Tucker and promising rookie Josh Williams. No other team in the league has as much talent at running back. The receiver room is the envy of the league, going strong six deep if you include the injured McMillan to the likes of Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Emeka Egbuka, Sterling Shepard and Tez Johnson.

On defense, the defensive tackle room is loaded with stars in Calijah Kancey and Vita Vea and capable reserves Logan Hall, who is in a contract year and made a big leap last year, and Greg Gaines. Elijah Roberts, the team’s fifth-round pick, shows a ton of potential as a wave pass rusher, too. The Bucs also have four defensive lineman on their practice squad, including massive 6-foot-6, 335-pound rookie nose tackle Jayson Jones. That’s a ton of depth.

What I don’t like is the depth at outside linebacker, and I have some questions about the safety room. Reddick and Yaya Diaby should be studly up front along the starting lineup. But the second line is concerning with Chris Braswell and Anthony Nelson. Both are mediocre pass rushers at this stage. Nelson is a backup who is capable of getting between 3-5 sacks a season. But can Braswell do that, too? I’m not sure. He’s coming off a 1.5-sack rookie season and didn’t show a lot of production and promise in the preseason.

Bucs SS Tykee Smith and OLB Chris Braswell – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

I still have faith that outside linebackers coach Larry Foote can still get something out of Braswell, who is only entering his second year, but losing rookie pass rusher David Walker to a torn ACL will prove to be a big blow. Markees Watts’ progress as a pass rusher seems to have stalled out and he’s made the team as a special teams ace. Perhaps edge rusher Mohamed Kamara, a newcomer to the practice squad, can show enough to be elevated to the active roster at some point.

At safety, the Bucs have a bonafide star in Antoine Winfield Jr., and I like the move of Tykee Smith from nickelback to safety, but I prefer Smith as a strong safety in the box rather than a single high safety where his lack of speed can get him exposed. Christian Izien is a versatile stud as a reserve, but Kaevon Merrriwather and Rashad Wisdom are just adequate. If the starters can stay healthy and Smith can make a successful transition to safety the Bucs should be fine. If we see some of the reserve safeties on defense rather than on special teams that’s far from ideal.

QUESTION: When are the Pewter Reporters coming out with their 2025 season predictions for the Buccaneers?

ANSWER: I came out with my 2025 Bucs season predictions in last Friday’s SR’s FAB 5 column on PewterReport.com. You can check it out here. I predicted the Bucs to go 11-6 this season, which is a one-win improvement over last year. Todd Bowles has won one more game each year since going 8-9 as the team’s head coach in 2022. I also did a game-by-game win-loss prediction for the season that you can read in my SR’s FAB 5, as well as predicting who the team’s MVPs, Pro Bowlers and most improved players will be in 2025.

Bucs WR Mike Evans, RB Bucky Irving and QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today

As for the rest of the Pewter Report staff, Matt Matera, Adam Slivon, Bailey Adams and Josh Queipo will all be making their predictions in Tuesday’s Pewter Report Roundtable column on PewterReport.com. So be on the lookout for that. Last year was the first year in my 30 years of Bucs coverage where my entire editorial staff came up with the same prediction, which was 10-7. And we actually nailed it, as Bowles and the Bucs finished the regular season 10-7.

No one at Pewter Report thought the Bucs were serious Super Bowl contenders last season, but I think this year is different. I believe this is a Super Bowl-caliber roster if Tampa Bay can stay healthy. I’m not necessarily predicting that the Bucs will make it to the Super Bowl, but I’m not ruling it out, either. I do expect that the team goes further than just the Wild Card round. Anything less than the NFC Divisional round would be considered a disappointment in my mind – and probably the team’s as well.

QUESTION: Did Pewter Report ask why Jalen McMillan started two meaningless preseason games? Was he not a starter with Chris Godwin Jr. out? Not pointing fingers, but injuries are big. It seems Todd Bowles has a problem with minimizing risk by sitting players for meaningless situations. See Godwin last year vs. Baltimore.

ANSWER: I hear what you’re saying, but Todd Bowles can’t play scared. Football is a collision sport, but sometimes injuries can happen that are truly accidental. Sometimes just planting a foot wrong in a non-contact situation can result in a torn Achilles tendon or a torn ACL. Jalen McMillan’s neck injury was kind of fluky as he went up for a pass and was upended by Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. while making the tackle. That caused him to land awkwardly on his neck.

McMillan suffered a severe neck strain and it’s a blessing that his injury wasn’t worse to the point where it was a permanent debilitating injury, thus a potential career-threatening injury. Thankfully, McMillan will return to action later this season after a stint on injured reserve.

Bucs WR Jalen McMillan – Photo by: USA Today

So why was McMillan playing at Pittsburgh in the second preseason game? There are two reasons. First, both he and rookie Emeka Egbuka played the first series of the first preseason game because there was a rash of injuries at wide receiver in the preseason. Trey Palmer, Kameron Johnson and Tez Johnson were out and Mike Evans didn’t play. So the team was down at least four receivers for the Titans game, and that’s why McMillan played. And of course Egbuka needed to get his feet wet in the preseason.

The starters – outside of Evans, quarterback Baker Mayfield and linebacker Lavonte David – all played a few series in Pittsburgh. Again, it was just an unfortunate incident that happened – just like Chris Godwin Jr.’s ankle injury in the final minute of the loss to Baltimore last year. Thankfully the Bucs are loaded at wide receiver and will be heading into Atlanta with Evans, Egbuka, Tez, Johnson, Sterling Shepard, Kameron Johnson and Ryan Miller. Throw in tight ends Cade Otton, Payne Durham and Devin Culp and running backs Bucky Irving, Rachaad White and Sean Tucker and Mayfield will have plenty of weapons to work with.

QUESTION: Multiple times in the preseason the Bucs won the coin toss and elected to receive instead of defer to the second half. Do you expect that to continue in the regular season?

ANSWER: I’m not sure what Todd Bowles is going to do. I don’t study the coin toss too much and I’m not sure if Bowles elected to receive first or defer to the second half. And whatever he did last year might change this year with the addition of Zach Beistline, the team’s director of football research.

I think weather conditions, wind direction, the opponent and how the offense or the defense is trending will all play a factor in Bowles’ decision when it comes to receiving the ball first or deferring to the second half if Tampa Bay wins the coin toss. And that’s completely understandable. In some games he might want to try to score first and send the offense out first with the hopes of getting an early lead.

Bucs HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: USA Today

Of course that can still happen deferring to the second half if his defense can get a stop on the opponents’ first series. In fact, forcing an opponent to go three-and-out can result in Tampa Bay’s offense starting near midfield after the punt.

There is also some value to getting a score right before halftime to either increase the lead, take the lead, tie the game or shorten the deficit and then have the opportunity to score again coming out of halftime. That was something that Bill Belichick was famous for doing in New England. If the Patriots were leading by seven points and added a field goal on the final drive right before halftime and then opened the third quarter with a touchdown, a three-point lead ballooned into a 17-point lead before the opponent touched the ball in the second half.