INTRO: The 2025 offseason is here for the Bucs. A few weeks earlier than you and the team wanted it to be, I know. Now our focus here at Pewter Report turns to reflecting on how Tampa Bay can improve from its 10-7 season in 2024, any potential coaching changes on the staff, and of course free agency and the 2025 NFL Draft where the Bucs have the No. 19 overall pick.

If you were like me watching the Bucs lose to the Commanders, 23-20, in the Wild Card playoff game, and you saw NFC Defensive Player of the Week Yaya Diaby dropping in coverage against running back Austin Ekeler – and surrendering an 18-yard catch on the final drive instead of rushing the passer, which is what he does best – you too were probably thinking, “What the hell is Todd Bowles thinking?!” Well, this SR’s Fab 5 is for you – enjoy!

FAB 1. Bucs OLBs Dropped Into Coverage Way Too Much

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles, the team’s play-caller on defense, is fond of fire zone blitzes and other zone blitz concepts that oftentimes call for his outside linebackers to spot drop into coverage instead of rushing the passer, while sending a blitzing inside linebacker or defensive back in their vicinity instead.

Bucs HC Todd Bowles and OLB Yaya Diaby – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Sometimes it works out and results in a sack from the pass rush or a pressure, which leads to an incompletion. Rarely does it work out where the dropping outside linebacker actually makes a play on the ball.

Bowles needs to make some fundamental changes on defenses next year if he stays in Tampa Bay as the team’s head coach and defensive play-caller. Dropping his outside linebackers into coverage with the rate that he did in 2024 was sheer lunacy given the underwhelming results.

I don’t have the video cut-ups of the 99 times Yaya Diaby dropped into coverage instead of rushing the passer, or the 96 times Anthony Nelson and the 95 times Joe Tryon-Shoyinka did the same. I’m sure there was a sack or two from the defensive tackles and maybe a sack or a pressure by the linebackers or blitzing DBs as a result.

But what I do know is that Bowles dropped his best edge rushers into coverage far more than he needed to, and the results weren’t pretty. Out of those collective 290 pass drops between those three outside linebackers, only one pass breakup occurred, and of course, no interceptions. Quarterbacks wound up completing close to 90% of their passes when throwing in the direction of Diaby, Nelson and Tryon-Shoyinka, too.

Bowles dropped both of his leading sackers at outside linebacker, Diaby (4.5) and Nelson (4), into coverage in the middle of the field on a second-and-10 play in Week 18 and Saints rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler rifled a pass right between them to tight end Foster Moreau for a 9-yard gain. Needless to say Rattler wasn’t pressured on the play.

And on second-10 on Washington’s final scoring drive with two minutes left in Sunday’s Wild Card loss, Bowles dropped Diaby into the flat to cover running back Austin Ekeler, who hauled in an 18-yard pass down to the Tampa Bay 27. Just like that, the Commanders were in field goal range and would beat the Bucs to advance to the NFC Divisional round.

Bucs OLB Anthony Nelson – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Newsflash: neither Diaby nor Nelson are good in pass coverage.

Yet Bowles kept asking them to do things they were not good at doing – and at a ridiculous rate in 2024.

According to Pro Football Focus, Diaby was one of the Bucs’ worst pass defenders, earning a woeful 53.5 coverage grade. Out of the 571 pass plays Diaby was on the field for, he dropped into coverage 17.3% of the time and allowed quarterbacks to complete 10-of-10 passes (100%) for 105 yards during the season, including the playoff game. That’s an average of a first down every time the ball was thrown Diaby’s way.

Nelson was hardly any better in coverage, earning a 58.1 grade. He was in coverage on 22.9% of his 419 pass snaps. Nelson allowed 10-of-13 passes (76.9%) to be caught for 71 yards, according to PFF. He forced one incompletion and had one pass breakup in coverage, but also allowed a touchdown.

Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, whom Bowles labels a “chess piece” for his athleticism in coverage, was indeed the best outside linebacker in pass drops. He had a 63.3 coverage grade per PFF and dropped in coverage a whopping 24.5% of the time he was on the field during his 388 pass snaps. Tryon-Shoyinka, who had just two sacks on the season, allowed 10-of-11 passes (90.9%) to be caught for just 65 yards and forced one incompletion.

Rookie Chris Braswell was terrible in coverage, earning a 51 PFF coverage grade while dropping 34 times, which was 15.5% of his 219 pass plays. Braswell, who finished his rookie year with just 1.5 sacks allowed 5-of-5 passes (100%) passes to be caught for 41 yards.

Bucs OLB Joe Tryon-Shoyinka – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Maybe if Diaby, Nelson, Tryon-Shoyinka and Braswell didn’t drop into coverage around 20% of the time collectively they would’ve had more than a combined 12 sacks in 2024.

Bowles deserves the blame for the ineffective coverage of his outside linebackers because he was the one who called the plays to deploy them so much in the first place. But outside linebackers coach George Edwards, who I’ve gone on record as saying should be fired for his unit’s lack of overall effectiveness and development, also deserves some blame.

For the past two years, Edwards believed that Tryon-Shoyinka was this great edge rusher and great coverage linebacker – and he was neither. Instead, Tryon-Shoyinka is an athlete and a good guy who tries hard, but is too finesse and lacked instincts to be worthy of being in the starting lineup. If Edwards was doing his job, he would’ve pushed back on Bowles’ high rate of dropping his outside linebackers into coverage because that’s clearly not the forte of either Diaby or Nelson.

Edwards spends time in OTAs working on pass drops with his outside linebackers and throwing them the ball to work on their hands. But that’s just playing catch.

That’s not having them defend an actual running back in the flat or a tight end or a receiver across the middle in practice, which is what truly needs to happen for them to improve and develop a feel for coverage.

Bucs OLBs Yaya Diaby and Jose Ramirez and OLBs coach George Edwards – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

That’s the equivalent of Bucs cornerbacks coach Kevin Ross, whom Bowles should also replace this offseason, telling his players to catch 50 passes a day on the JUGGS machine to help increase their interception total.

Yeah, that worked. Tampa Bay’s outside cornerbacks had a total of three of the team’s seven interceptions in 2024.

Want to know why that didn’t work? Because JUGGS machines don’t throw passes in NFL games. Quarterbacks do.

The only way the Bucs cornerbacks are going to get better at intercepting passes is doing drills where they are actually covering receivers and picking off actual quarterbacks.

But I digress.

Just in case you’re wondering if some of the league’s top sackers drop into coverage a lot like the Bucs’ edge rushers do, here’s the answer – no.

I randomly pulled the PFF coverage drop rate for a few top NFL edge rushers so you can see for yourself.

Bengals DE Trey Hendrickson: 17.5 sacks, 550 pass plays, 36 coverage drops – 6.5% rate
Browns DE Myles Garrett: 14 sacks, 494 pass plays, 17 coverage drops – 3.4% rate
Commanders OLB Dante Fowler: 10.5 sacks, 379 pass plays, 25 coverage drops – 6.6% rate
Texans DE Danielle Hunter: 12 sacks, 538 pass plays, 7 coverage drops – 1.3% rate
Texans DE Will Anderson: 11 sacks, 402 pass plays, 10 coverage drops – 2.5% rate
Raiders DE Maxx Crosby: 7.5 sacks – 471 pass plays, 9 pass drops – 1.9% coverage rate

As you can see, the defensive coordinators for those teams have their edge rushers do what they do best – rush the passer! – not drop into coverage.

In case you are wondering why Diaby’s sacks went down from 7.5 last year to just 4.5 this year, it’s because his pass coverage rate went from 9% last year – 34 pass drops on 376 pass plays – to 17.3% in 2024. That’s nearly double – and it was unjustified because Diaby is not that good in pass coverage.

Bucs OLBs coach George Edwards and HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Opposing offenses have caught on to Bowles’ blitz-happy tendencies over the years and are taking advantage of those outside linebackers who drop into coverage by targeting them with passes when they do. That’s what Jayden Daniels did to Diaby on Sunday night, throwing that outlet pass to Ekeler on that game-changing 18-yard catch-and-run. Bowles’ zone blitzes just aren’t as effective as they used to be.

I do know why Bowles feels compelled to blitz more. He doesn’t believe he can effectively pressure the quarterback by rushing just four up front. No one will confuse Diaby and Nelson for Shaq Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul in their prime.

But if that’s the case, then Bowles needs to fire Edwards and get a better pass rush coach and actually get Diaby and Braswell to level up in 2025. Maybe getting more reps actually rushing the passer instead of dropping into coverage will result in more sacks next year?

Wild theory, I know.

FAB 2. Bucs Don’t Have Shaq Barrett, JPP In Their Prime To Zone Drop

Zone blitzes have been a part of Todd Bowles’ scheme forever it seems. And if the blitzing inside linebackers and defensive backs actually get home on those blitzes and the outside linebackers dropping into coverage actually cover, it works.

Former Bucs OLBs Shaquil Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul – Photo by: USA Today

Bowles had the luxury of having two very good, experienced, athletic outside linebackers for years in Jason Pierre-Paul and Shaq Barrett, who played together from 2019-2021 and helped Tampa Bay win Super Bowl LV and then go 13-4 the next season. So perhaps Bowles is living in the past on some of these zone blitzes given his past success with Barrett and JPP.

In 2019, which was Bowles’ first year as Tampa Bay’s defensive coordinator, Pierre-Paul missed the first part of the season recovering from a neck injury he suffered in an offseason car crash. He played on 418 pass plays and dropped into coverage just 11 times, which was a pass coverage rate of 2.6%. Pierre-Paul earned a 43.3 coverage grade from Pro Football Focus, allowing quarterbacks to complete 3-of-3 passes for 23 yards that year.

Barrett, who was a free agent addition in 2019, led the NFL with 19.5 sacks and six forced fumbles. As a result, he only dropped in coverage on 56 snaps out of the 636 pass plays, which is a modest 8.8%. Barrett, who made the Pro Bowl, allowed QBs to complete 66.7% of their passes for 76 yards in coverage with one touchdown surrendered and one interception, earning a 67.8 coverage grade from PFF.

In 2020, Pierre-Paul was the Bucs’ lone Pro Bowler and finished with 9.5 sacks. He was on the field for 832 pass plays, including the postseason, and dropped into coverage on 85 snaps, which was 10.2% of the time. Pierre-Paul allowed 9-of-13 passes (69.2%) to be completed for 111 yards. But he also forced two incompletions and picked off two passes while not allowing a touchdown. That earned him an impressive 71.4 coverage grade.

Barrett’s pass coverage percentage also climbed in 2020 with him seeing 102 pass drops out of 756 pass snaps (13.5%) he played, including the postseason. He allowed QBs to complete 17-of-17 (100%) passes for 151 yards and earned a PFF coverage grade of 62.2.

Bucs OLB Shaq Barrett: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

In their final year together, Barrett had his best coverage year yet in 2021 with an 84.2 PFF grade. He had 83 pass drops on 622 pass snaps, which was 13.3% – still a far cry from the drop percentages Bowles’ outside linebackers had in 2024. Barrett allowed 9-of-13 (69.2%) passes to be completed for 70 yards, with two pass breakups, an interception and a dropped interception.

Pierre-Paul struggled with shoulder and hand injuries in 2021, which was his final season in Tampa Bay, and dropped into coverage 55 times out of 499 pass plays, which was 11%. He allowed 10-of-10 passes to be caught for 82 yards and a touchdown.

But at no point in time did Bowles drop Barrett and Pierre-Paul anywhere close to the percentages that he dropped Yaya Diaby (17.3%), Anthony Nelson (22.9%) and Joe Tryon-Shoyinka (24.5%) in 2024. Why Bowles dropped his outside linebackers so much last year is truly baffling given their ineffectiveness in doing so.

It’s ironic that with Barrett back for the final two games of the 2024 season, including the Wild Card playoff loss to Washington, Bowles had him drop into coverage three times out of the 12 pass snaps he played, which is 25%.

Like old times, Barrett came through and actually led the Bucs with a 90.4 PFF coverage grade – albeit with an incredibly small sample size. Barrett allowed one catch on one pass attempt for two yards.

Not bad for the old man, and certainly better than the Bucs’ younger outside linebackers.

FAB 3. Do Bucs Have An In-House OC Candidate In Case Liam Coen Leaves?

Bucs offensive coordinator Liam Coen interviewed with Jacksonville to be the Jaguars head coach on Wednesday. Coen obviously is intrigued by the thought of coaching quarterback Trevor Lawrence, wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. and the running back tandem of Tank Bigsby and Travis Etienne Jr.

Bucs OC Liam Coen – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Otherwise he wouldn’t have taken the interview.

The Jaguars are interviewing other offensive-minded coaches to replace Doug Pederson, including Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken, who coached the Bucs wide receivers and called plays under Dirk Koetter from 2016-18, on Thursday.

So let’s hope that someone else gets the Jaguars job (sorry, Liam!) and that Coen can continue his ascent as one of the NFL’s top play-callers for at least one more season in Tampa Bay. It sure would be great if Coen could be Todd Bowles’ eventual successor.

Yet if Coen were to be offered the job and accept, who would Tampa Bay target to replace him? Bucs general manager Jason Licht must have a backup plan ready to go in case the team loses Coen – not that he’s shared it with me, of course.

Licht and Bowles have actually gotten pretty good at finding offensive coordinators, as they’ve spent the last two offseasons replacing Byron Leftwich with Dave Canales in 2022, and then replacing Canales with Coen last offseason when the Panthers plucked the Bucs offensive coordinator to be their head coach.

Licht and Bowles would likely open up the search to include some outside names to see who’s out there, but the Bucs do have an intriguing in-house candidate in pass game coordinator Josh Grizzard. He is super bright and widely regarded inside the halls of One Buccaneer Place.

Bucs pass game coordinator Josh Grizzard and RBs coach Skip Peete – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Grizzard was hired last year to work with Liam Coen as his right-hand man in the passing game. If Coen got the Jaguars job and didn’t take him to Jacksonville to be his offensive coordinator (in title only), Grizzard could be an option to be the Bucs’ play-caller in 2025.

Grizzard might want to be an actual play-calling offensive coordinator in Tampa Bay rather than just Coen’s game plan collaborator in Jacksonville.

Prior to coming to the Bucs, Grizzard spent five seasons with the Dolphins, working for both head coaches Brian Flores (2019-21) and Mike McDaniel (2022-23). After serving as a quality control coach in 2019, Grizzard became Miami’s wide receivers coach from 2020-21. Grizzard helped develop Jaylen Waddle, who broke the NFL’s then-rookie-receptions record in 2021 with 104. Waddle also set a current Dolphins rookie record of 1,015 receiving yards.

When McDaniel replaced Flores, Grizzard was moved back to the role of quality control coach in 2022-23 before being hired by Coen in Tampa Bay in 2024. The 34-year old Yale graduate began his coaching career at his alma mater in 2012 a grad assistant before moving on to Duke as a grad assistant/quality control coach from 2013-16.

Bucs pass game coordinator Josh Grizzard and OC Liam Coen – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Although Grizzard has never had any play-calling experience at any level, that didn’t stop Dave Canales from being successful in his first year as offensive coordinator in Tampa Bay in 2023. Coen had never called plays at the NFL level outside of a few games in Los Angeles in 2022 and two seasons at Kentucky in 2021 and 2023 as the Wildcats offensive coordinator.

Coen praised Grizzard a few weeks ago during one of his press conferences.

“I think, first of all, shoutout to Josh and really the staff in general have done a phenomenal job throughout the whole year,” Coen said when discussing the team’s success on third down, which ranked third in the NFL at 48.3% at the time. “The guys in charge of those areas – Thad Lewis is in charge of the red zone, ‘B-Mac’ (Bryan McClendon) is in charge of two-minute, and ‘Grizz’ happens to be in charge of third downs. Their ideas, plays, and thoughts and schemes is what does come to life as what you see on Sunday.”

Grizzard certainly knew what he was doing on third downs this year. Tampa Bay led the league with a 51.1% third down conversion percentage. In Sunday’s playoff loss to the Washington Commanders, the Bucs converted 5-of-9 (55.6%) on third downs. Grizzard is one to watch in the future – possibly the near future.

FAB 4. Jake Peetz Could Be An External Offensive Coordinator Candidate

If the Bucs decide to look outside the organization for Liam Coen’s replacement – should he be offered and accept the Jaguars head coaching job – well, the offensive coordinator job is a lot more attractive than it used to be.

Seahawks pass game coordinator Jake Peetz – Photo by: USA Today

Whoever would be hired to replace Coen would inherit a franchise quarterback in Baker Mayfield and some talented weapons in running backs Bucky Irving, Rachaad White, wide receivers Mike Evans, Jalen McMillan and Chris Godwin, who is scheduled for free agency but will be back (trust me). Not to mention some capable, young tight ends, and one of the best and youngest offensive lines in the league.

One external name on the short list could be Jake Peetz. The 41-year old Peetz interviewed for the offensive coordinator vacancy last year before the team hired Coen.

Peetz spent the 2024 season as the Seahawks pass game coordinator working with Ryan Grubb, who was fired after Seattle missed the playoffs. With the Seahawks looking for a new offensive coordinator, Peetz’s status with the team could be in limbo.

Like Coen, Peetz spent time with Sean McVay and the Rams. He was an offensive assistant in 2022 and then replaced Coen as L.A.’s pass game specialist in 2023 when Coen went to Kentucky to be the Wildcats’ offensive coordinator.

Peetz has one year of play-calling experience in 2021 at LSU under former head coach Ed Orgeron where he was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. That year quarterback Max Johnson, the son of former Bucs quarterback Brad Johnson, threw 27 touchdown passes, which ranks fourth in LSU history in a single season. Running back Ty Davis-Price set the single game LSU rushing record in a victory versus Florida with 287 yards and three touchdowns.

Rams head coach Sean McVay and Jake Peetz – Photo by: USA Today

Peetz has mostly worked on the offensive side of the ball in his coaching career, which began in 2006 at Santa Barbara City College. After a one-year stint as a defensive assistant at UCLA, Peetz went to work for Jack Del Rio in Jacksonville as an assistant QBs coach in 2012. He then worked for Jay Gruden with the Washington Redskins in 2014 as an offensive quality control coach.

Peetz spent three years with Del Rio again, this time in Oakland from 2015-17 where he was a senior offensive assistant, an assistant QBs coach, and a quarterbacks coach for Derek Carr. After that, he spent one year in 2018 with Nick Saban at Alabama as an offensive analyst, which was a role he also had for one season in 2013 with the Crimson Tide.

Peetz was back in the NFL in Carolina in 2019 and 2020 as a running backs coach working with All-Pro Christian McCaffrey and a quarterbacks coach in those two seasons. He also spent four years in Jacksonville’s personnel department as a scout from 2008-11.

Peetz is viewed as a young, up-and-comer just waiting for his opportunity to call plays at the NFL level. Kind of like Josh Grizzard, but also kind of like Dave Canales and Coen.

FAB 5. Pewter Report Mock Drafts – And Draft Shows – Are Coming

Nobody covers the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offseason better than Pewter Report. But you knew that, didn’t you?

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

From our inside scoop on coaching hirings and firings and the free agents the Bucs are targeting, to nailing Bucs’ Best Bets when it comes to Tampa Bay’s drafts – PewterReport.com and our PewterReportTV YouTube channel are your go-to destinations now that the offseason is here.

Our Pewter Report team will make our annual trek to both Mobile, Alabama for the Senior Bowl from January 27-30, and to Indianapolis for the NFL Scouting Combine from February 24 – March 1. We’ll have live Pewter Report Podcasts from both locations, so stay tuned for that.

Remember, our regular podcast schedule in the offseason is now Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 4:00 p.m. ET – outside of days we might be traveling, and then we’ll likely have evening podcasts.

Pewter Report’s Josh Queipo and I are working on the first of our five Bucs Mock Drafts of the year, and we’ll be debuting our first Bucs Mock Draft at 5:00 p.m. ET next Thursday, January 23 on PewterReport.com.

And be sure to join Queipo and I for a special Bucs Mock Draft Podcast at 8:30 p.m. ET next Thursday night – just hours after the release – to go over our mock draft, answer your questions and get your reactions. The Bucs Mock Draft Podcast will be broadcast live from our PewterReportTV YouTube channel as well as live-streamed on our X and Facebook channels – @PewterReport.

We will be going primetime with all of our Bucs Mock Draft Podcasts this offseason with the next one on Thursday, February 6 at 8:30 p.m. ET to discuss our post-Senior Bowl mock draft coming out at 5:00 p.m. ET earlier that day.

So make sure you subscribe (it’s free!) to our PewterReportTV YouTube channel and help us get to 17,000 subscribers. Just hit the subscribe button – we’re 70 subscribers away!

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