Former Ravens HC John Harbaugh and Bucs HC Todd Bowles – Photos by: IMAGN Images and 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: Could Bucs still be in on John Harbaugh? Something doesn’t add up. The Glazers see what we do. There are too many issues with Todd Bowles as head coach that aren’t even X’s & O’s-related. For me it’s, simple. This is a 12-win team being coached into 8-10 wins. Why wouldn’t they try to get better?

ANSWER: There is no question that John Harbaugh is a more experienced, proven coach than Todd Bowles. He had a 180-113 (.614) record in 18 seasons with the Ravens, including 13 winning seasons. Harbaugh has also won a Super Bowl and has a 13-11 (.542) record in the playoffs.

By comparison, Bowles has a 61-74 (.452) record in nine seasons as a head coach, including four years with the Jets and three games as an interim head coach with the Dolphins in 2011. Bowles has a 35-33 record (.515) in four seasons with the Bucs, including a 1-3 (.250) playoff record. In his eight years as a full-fledged head coach, Bowles has three winning seasons, including two in Tampa Bay.

Former Ravens HC John Harbaugh – Photo by: IMAGN Images – Jeff Hanisch

To answer your question, could the Bucs still be in on Harbaugh? The conspiracy theorist in me says maybe. According to reports, Harbaugh took the weekend to assess the openings and possible openings – Green Bay is reportedly deciding whether to keep Matt LeFleur after losing the Wild Card game to Chicago. He has yet to interview for any coaching positions and the expectation is that will start this week.

Could the Bucs be one of those teams that will request a stealth interview with Harbaugh behind Bowles’ back? The Glazers own the Bucs and have the prerogative to do whatever they want to do. Remember, the Glazers have done this before, speaking with Bill Parcells down the stretch of the 2001, trying to line him up as Tony Dungy’s successor while Dungy was still coaching Tampa Bay into the playoffs.

They admitted that in their own Raise The Flags docuseries, as well as admitting to using the media with false information that the team was poised to hire Steve Mariucci because they wanted to pressure Al Davis into trading Jon Gruden to Tampa Bay. I’m not criticizing them for doing it, just pointing it out.

If the Glazers were interested in speaking with Harbaugh, they wouldn’t necessarily want to fire Bowles first just in case Harbaugh wanted to coach elsewhere. Keeping Bowles could be plan B if plan A – luring Harbaugh to Tampa Bay – didn’t work out. I just don’t know because the Glazers are incredibly tight-lipped. Until Harbaugh lands elsewhere, it is fair to say that there is a chance the Bucs could be interested because the Glazers have not put out a statement definitively saying that Bowles will coach the team in 2026.

The Glazer family with Bruce Arians – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Remember, the Glazers love to make a splash. They traded for Keyshawn Johnson in 2000. They signed Brad Johnson and Simeon Rice in 2001. The traded for Jon Gruden in 2002. Even though it didn’t work out, signing Lovie Smith to coach the Bucs was big back in 2014. The Glazers and general manager Jason Licht lured Bruce Arians out of retirement in 2019. The Glazers and Licht signed Tom Brady in 2020. Landing a proven winner like Harbaugh would be another big, splash move for the franchise.

I’ve been told that some media reports suggesting that Harbaugh’s expected price tag of around $15 million to $20 million is not a reason why the Glazers would not be interested in the former Ravens coach, nor would the Glazers keep Bowles just because they signed him to a contract extension prior to the 2025 season. Remember, they fired general manager Bruce Allen and head coach Jon Gruden months after giving both a three-year contract extension in 2008.

Also, Licht and Harbaugh are very close from their time together working in Philadelphia. Reports that Harbaugh would possibly want to hire his own general manager and that’s why the Bucs appear to be out on Harbaugh because they might have to part ways with Licht also aren’t true.

We’ll see what happens, but I’m not terribly excited about any of the early offensive coordinator interviews. Are you? Were the first couple of interviews actually legitimate? Or were they done to appear busy at finding Josh Grizzard’s replacement while waiting over the weekend to see if the Bucs were in on the Harbaugh sweepstakes?

QUESTION: Isn’t the captain of the Titanic – Todd Bowles – just rearranging the deck chairs by hiring different coaches, much like he did last season? Please explain to us how this is going to change the results.

ANSWER: Well, it remains to be seen if any of the new coaches Todd Bowles hires are actual upgrades over the ones he just fired. The only way to truly know that is to let it play out in 2026 and gauge the results.

There were some coaches who definitely needed to be fired, including secondary coaches Kevin Ross (cornerbacks) and Nick Rapone (safeties). Rapone, who turns 70 this year, opted to retire rather than be fired, much like former special teams coach Keith Armstrong and former quarterbacks coach Clyde Christensen did a few years ago to save face, which is their prerogative.

Bucs defensive pass game coordinator George Edwards and HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

I am surprised that defensive pass game coordinator George Edwards survived the purge as I don’t think he’s a good coach. He wasn’t a good outside linebackers coach in 2024, and I don’t think the secondary played much better when he took on his new role in 2025. There were still too many costly coverage busts last year.

But he’s a cerebral, thinking man’s coach like Bowles is. So I can see why he would like to have a like-minded coach like Edwards on his staff. We’ll see who Bowles hires for not only offensive coordinator, but also for the Bucs secondary.

I’ve heard that Bowles is strongly considering promoting Tim Atkins to safeties coach and Rashad Johnson to cornerbacks coach. Atkins has worked with Rapone and the safeties for years and Johnson has been in charge of coaching the team’s nickelbacks over the past few seasons where Tykee Smith (2024) and Jacob Parrish (2025) both had very good rookie seasons in the slot.

Bucs NCB coach Rashad Johnson and CB Josh Hayes – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

QUESTION: Do think there would be any interest in Joe Judge for special teams coordinator? He has a lot of experience on offense and on special teams in his background and is currently in the college ranks.

ANSWER: Joe Judge was the former Giants head coach in 2020-21 after spending the 2012-2019 seasons coaching special teams with the Patriots. Judge was then hired again by New England to coach quarterbacks in 2022 and then became the Patriots head coach in 2023.

He’s currently the quarterbacks coach at Ole Miss after joining the Rebels staff under Lane Kiffin as a senior analyst in 2024. I’m not sure what is in Judge’s future and whether that will be at the NFL level or the college ranks, but given his extensive experience with special teams, he seems like someone worth interviewing if he has any interest.

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles and former ST coordinator Thomas McGaughey – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Keep in mind that it may be difficult for Todd Bowles to find high quality assistants with him being on the hot seat after going 8-9 last year. A lot of coaches don’t want to relocate for what could be a one-year coaching stint, as another losing season in Tampa Bay could signal the end of Bowles’ tenure with the Bucs.

The hiring of Thomas McGaughey proved to be disastrous, as the Bucs special teams were awful last year. How much confidence should we have in Bowles to get this hire right? I just don’t know.

QUESTION: I genuinely want to know how the heck did Larry Foote survive when he was coaching probably one of the worst pass rushes in the NFL. And what is supposed to change next year with Todd Bowles still calling plays? Is this the definition of insanity?

ANSWER: I had high hopes for Larry Foote coaching the outside linebackers last year and applauded Todd Bowles for replacing George Edwards with Foote in that role. It’s a fact that the outside linebacker room was a disappointment last year. Outside of another good season from Yaya Diaby and his uptick in sacks from 4.5 in 2024 to seven last season, sacks were hard to come by from this unit.

Haason Reddick was a major disappointment as a free agent signing, and Chris Braswell looks like a second-round bust after not making any strides in his second season in Tampa Bay. Anthony Nelson did what he usually does – he flashes in a few games and gets a couple of sacks as a reserve. Nelson wound up with three, which is in line with his career average.

Bucs OLBs coach Larry Foote and OLB Yaya Diaby – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The loss of David Walker, this year’s fourth-round pick, is hard to quantify because he tore his ACL the first week into training camp. He flashed in shorts, a jersey and a helmet, but we have no way of knowing if he would’ve been a 1-2 sack guy like Braswell as a reserve, a potential starter with 7-10 sacks as a rookie – or somewhere in between.

I like Foote and he has some value on the coaching staff because he brings a lot of energy. He’s a truth-teller as a straight-shooting coach, which I appreciate. I think the Bucs chalked up his first year back at outside linebackers coach to not having a lot of talent to work with in the end.

Diaby continued to play well and is an ideal OLB2 who would likely be even more productive playing opposite an alpha edge rusher on the other side. Diaby is like Greg Spires back in the days of Tampa Bay’s first Super Bowl, and needs a Simeon Rice-type to play opposite from.

Bucs OLB Haason Reddick and Eagles QB Jalen Hurts – Photo by: USA Today

Reddick, who finished with 2.5 sacks, is washed up at age 31 and is the guy he was last year with the Jets when he had one sack in 10 games rather than the double-digit sack guy he was in Phialdelphia in 2023 at age 28. Braswell clearly lacks instincts and a great get-off, and is not a lock to make the team in 2026. Nelson is what he is, and Markees Watts has proven to be a special teams-only guy.

I wouldn’t be opposed to the Bucs bringing in another, better pass rush coach like Kansas City defensive line coach Joe Cullen, who was on Lovie Smith’s staff in Tampa Bay from 2014-15. He received rave reviews from helping develop Pro Bowl defensive tackle Gerald McCoy, who had back-to-back 8.5-sack seasons, and defensive end Jacquies Smith, who had 13.5 sacks in two seasons. Bowles could name Cullen defensive coordinator in title only to lure him from the Chiefs while still calling plays and have Cullen coach the D-line as he did in Tampa Bay, Baltimore and Kansas City over the last decade.

Chiefs DL coach Joe Cullen – Photo by: IMAGN Images – Orlando Ramirez