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: Hypothetically speaking … Jalon Daniels plays well vs. the Steelers and the Bucs win. The offense is flowing and now has momentum. Baker Mayfield is ready to start the next game and stinks up the joint. Is there a QB controversy?

ANSWER: Under this scenario you describe it seems unavoidable, right? If Jalon Daniels wins back-to-back games with a victory on Sunday against Pittsburgh, the Bucs would be 2-4 and still very much alive in an NFC South division that is currently led by the 2-2 Panthers, who just had their bye week. After an 0-4 start, if Daniels came in and played well enough to engineer two wins in a row for a desperate team and a desperate head coach it would be tempting to leave him under center for the following week at Carolina, right?

Whatever Todd Bowles decides about when Baker Mayfield returns – and I think he’s old school enough to believe that a starter doesn’t lose his job to injury – he needs to be right. To avoid any potential quarterback controversy whenever Mayfield takes the field again, he needs to win that game – whether it’s at Carolina, the following week against Atlanta – or even this week if he’s rushing back for the Pittsburgh game. If Mayfield loses in Carolina following Daniels’ potential back-to-back wins, fans and some in the media while lambast Bowles for not riding the hot hand.

Bucs QBs Jalon Daniels and Baker Mayfield and QBs coach Chandler Whitmer – Photo by Jeffrey Jones/PR

Even if Mayfield manages to come back to play against the Steelers and the Bucs lose, Bowles will likely draw some criticism for rushing the starting quarterback back into the lineup too soon. Yet if Mayfield comes back and wins his first start – whenever it is – any talk of a QB controversy will be squelched, especially if the Bucs are 3-4 heading into their home game versus the Falcons.

The best-case scenario for the Bucs is to just win. Win one more game or maybe two with Daniels and then win when Mayfield gets back under center. No matter what happens, Bowles will shrug off any notion of a quarterback controversy, and in reality there shouldn’t be one. Mayfield has won 28 games over four seasons in Tampa Bay. That’s 27 more than Daniels has right now. This team has committed to him via a $165 million contract extension.

Yet Mayfield needs to go out and prove that he’s worth it with better play than he showed over the first three games of the season, and of course, win.

QUESTION: Could this team be a turn-key for success for any head coach coming here next season? Similar to when Tom Brady came in 2020, all the Bucs needed was a QB and a couple of complementary pieces. This present team is loaded with young talent and solid depth. A new head coach might be all that’s needed.

ANSWER: Yes, and the fact that the Bucs have gone 7-10 in one-score games decided by eight points or less since the start of the 2025 season is quite telling. Out of the 22 games since Week 1 of the 2025 season, Tampa Bay has been engaged in 17 one-score games and has lost more than it has won. That tells me that it’s not so much a question of talent as it is questionable coaching.

Bad teams get blown out and run off the field because of poor talent and big discrepancy in that area. That’s not the case with the Bucs. I still think the Bucs have the most overall talent in the NFC South, but the team is just not playing up to its potential. That’s on the players to a degree because it’s their performance, but it’s also on the coaches. I’ve always said that coaching matters, and coaches have two basic roles.

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles and pass game coordinator George Edwards – Photo by: USA Today

First, it’s to develop schemes and plays to attack their opponents in such a manner that delivers a winning outcome. Close games are often won or lost due to play-calling in critical situations or poor clock and game management. The second job of coaches is developing players and getting them to max out their potential. This comes in practice with technique and fundamental instruction on the field as well as game plan implementation on the field and in the classroom.

I’m not overly impressed with this Todd Bowles coaching staff and think it lacks talent in some areas. He’s made some changes since he helped win the Super Bowl as a defensive coordinator, of course. But we need to remember that same coaching Bruce Arians coaching staff that won a Super Bowl in 2020 also went 7-9 in 2019. The big difference was the acquisition of Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Tristan Wirfs, Antoine Winfield Jr., Leonard Fournette and Antonio Brown – not necessarily the brilliance of coaching staff. I think Arians was a heck of a head coach and led this team with plenty of gusto and direction through his straight-talking approach.

However upon reflection, the coaching staffs that Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden were far more talented and successful than Arians’ staff – even though it won a Super Bowl. Dungy’s staff spanned head coaches in Herm Edwards, Lovie Smith, Rod Marinelli and Mike Tomlin. Gruden’s staff produced head coaches in Raheem Morris, Jay Gruden, Gus Bradley, Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan.

So yes, I do think it’s possible for a new coach and a new coaching staff to come to Tampa Bay with this existing talent and produce better results than Todd Bowles and his staff have done. Bowles is not a great game day strategist by any means, and his performance as a defensive play-caller has been inconsistent at best. The key will be to find a better head coach and a better coaching staff after the 2027 season if a change is necessary, which seems likely with this team at 1-4 after Week 5.

QUESTION: Dave Canales has got the Panthers playing like division winners. Liam Coen has the Jags playing like AFC contenders. Do we need to be concerned the Glazers don’t know what a winner looks like anymore? Why hasn’t Jason Licht stepped in already and said, “What is happening here isn’t right.”

ANSWER: It’s true that the last two offensive coordinators – Dave Canales and Liam Coen – have found success as head coaches after calling plays in Tampa Bay for just one season. Canales, who is coming off a bye in Week 5, is 15-23 overall, but is 10-11 over the 21 games, winning the NFC South title over the Bucs last year. At 2-2, Carolina currently leads the division. Meanwhile, Todd Bowles is 9-13 over the last 22 games, including a record of 3-11 in his last 14 games as head coach of the Bucs.

Coen has posted a far better record since taking over in Jacksonville in 2025. He inherited a 4-13 Jaguars team and flipped the record to 13-4 last year, winning the AFC South. This year the Jags are off to a hot 4-1 start, pushing Coen’s overall regular season record to 17-5 in his 22 games in Jacksonville.

It was one thing to let Canales leave the building, but the Glazers didn’t keep Coen after he took Baker Mayfield’s game to new heights and a Pro Bowl season while developing a top 5 rushing attack and a top 5 scoring offense. That’s more damning in hindsight, especially because of the league-wide trend of trying  to find an aggressive, successful offensive-minded head coach/play-caller and pair them with a franchise quarterback for continuity.

Bucs GM Jason Licht, co-owners Darcie Glazer Kassewitz and Joel Glazer, head coach Todd Bowles and senior football consultant Bruce Arians – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The Glazers have this strange, super strong belief in Bowles despite the fact that he had two losing seasons with 8-9 records, sandwiching 9-8 and a 10-7 seasons. Despite the league-wide trend of hiring young, offensive-minded coaches, they have decided to continue with an older, 63-year-old defensive-minded head coach because they value the high character culture in the locker room and the fact that Bowles is a great guy. That’s not a bad thing except that coaches are hired to win games first and foremost – not to just be great guys. And good locker room culture exists when teams win.

Win enough games and you get to stay. Lose too many and you get fired. Right now Bowles has a record of 36-37 in Tampa Bay, which is the definition of mediocrity, and has a 1-3 mark in the postseason.

As for Jason Licht’s role in all of this, well I’m not sure. He has seemed supportive of Bowles when he’s been asked about him, yet he doesn’t get to make the decision of who to fire and who to hire. That’s on the Glazers, as they are the owners and it’s their team. All Licht can do is make a recommendation. And perhaps he read the room after last year’s disappointing 8-9 season and understood that the Glazers were going to give Bowles, who had delivered three straight division titles, another shot in 2026, with their blaming injuries on the team’s downfall.

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

Maybe he suggested the team move on from Bowles in January. Maybe he stayed silent in the interest of job security because he didn’t want to waste his breath by going against the grain after hearing the Glazers’ desire to want to keep Bowles. I don’t know what transpired and what didn’t. But if this season continues to be filled with more losses than wins he will have no choice but to address the fact that this team needs to move on from Bowles in 2027.

Keep in mind that the Glazers have fired all three coaches – Greg Schiano, Lovie Smith and Dirk Koetter – who produced back-to-back losing seasons. With tens of thousands of empty seats at Raymond James Stadium this year because of the fans’ unhappiness over Bowles remaining as head coach, if Tampa Bay has another losing season, the Glazers have to see whatever one else sees – that this team needs a new head coach and a new coaching staff.

QUESTION: The trade deadline is coming in a few weeks. Let’s talk about rebuild. Which player should the Bucs sell? Antoine Winfield Jr.? Yaya Diaby? Chris Godwin Jr.? Someone else? And what is a realistic price?

ANSWER: I did a Pewter Pulse video on some of the potential trades that general manager Jason Licht can make to clear cap space and save cash in 2027, in addition to acquiring some extra draft capital for next April. Josh Queipo and I recorded two Cap Convo videos where Queipo discusses six trade candidates – three on offense and three defense – and what they could fetch in terms of draft pick compensation. Look for those videos early this week, with the first one being published on Monday afternoon.

I think the three logical candidates that could be moved are the three you mention – safety Antoine Winfield Jr., outside linebacker Yaya Diaby and wide receiver Chris Godwin Jr. Winfield hasn’t come close to living up to his $21 million per year salary since the Bucs made him the highest-paid defensive back in the league (for a minute) after his All-Pro season in 2023. With no guaranteed money this year or next year, Tampa Bay could save $33.36 million in cash – $13.76 million for the rest of this year, and $19.6 million next year – as well as plenty of cap space in 2027. Winfield just doesn’t make enough plays to justify his exorbitant salary.

Bucs FS Antoine Winfield Jr. and GM Jason Licht – Photo by: Scott Reynolds/Pewter Report

Due to age (30) and injuries, Godwin is incapable of being the player he once was. He’s lost half a step and can’t separate like he used to, and $22 million is too rich for a possession receiver. Godwin is under contract for next year with a $29.933 million cap hit, but he certainly won’t be on the roster without taking a massive pay cut. So trading him makes the most sense. The problem is finding a taker for an older receiver without much production. Maybe Godwin fetches a sixth- or seventh-rounder.

Diaby probably has the most trade value, but he’s mired in a disappointing, unproductive contract year, which has lowered his value. The Bucs probably don’t want to pay between $20 million – $25 million for a run-stuffing edge defender who doesn’t get to the quarterback enough to warrant a massive payday. So Tampa Bay might want to move on from Diaby now when it could get a fourth-round pick in exchange for him. David Walker looks like a future starter and he’s easily the team’s best edge rusher, so Diaby’s replacement is already on the roster.

We’ll see what happens between now and November 10, which is the NFL trade deadline. I do think Licht will move a player or two on or before the deadline – unless the Bucs go on an improbable winning streak. But if no deals happen, just remember that it takes two to tango and there has to be sufficient value received for any trade to happen.