The Bucs will not only use the 2024 offseason program to work on the players getting bigger and stronger in the weight room as well as getting faster, but also to improve in certain areas. While head coach Todd Bowles will be installing some new wrinkles on defense and new offensive coordinator Liam Coen and his new assistants will be installing a new playbook, each Bucs player will be tasked with honing their skills and working on some individual weaknesses.

With input from the Tampa Bay coaches and front office members, as well as my own analysis and observations, I’ve come up with one specific area for each player to work on heading into training camp and the 2024 season. I’m only evaluating players who saw true playing time last year in Tampa Bay and leaving rookies and newly acquired free agents that played elsewhere out of the equation.

This is the eighth part of an eight-part series that will examine a position group or two of Bucs players. Today, it’s Tampa Bay’s safeties to finish the series.

Where Each Bucs Player Can Improve: QB, RBs

Where Each Bucs Player Can Improve: WRs, TEs

Where Each Bucs Player Can Improve: O-Line

Where Each Bucs Player Can Improve: D-Line

Where Each Bucs Player Can Improve: OLBs

Where Each Bucs Player Can Improve: ILBs

Where Each Bucs Player Can Improve: CBs

Where Each Bucs Player Can Improve: Safeties

S Antoine Winfield Jr. – Keep Filling The Stat Sheet

Bucs FS Antoine Winfield Jr. – Photo by: USA Today

What can Winfield do for an encore? After all, he posted 122 tackles, six tackles for loss, six sacks, 12 pass breakups, three interceptions, six forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries last year. Those are career highs in every category and could be nearly impossible numbers to replicate again after a magical, All-Pro season in Winfield’s contract year. The Bucs would love to see that type of production on an annual basis, especially after making Winfield the highest-paid defensive back in NFL history at over $21 million per year.

But the way Winfield can improve in 2024 is to live up to the standard he set as a playmaker who fills out the stat sheet. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a league-leading six forced fumbles or six sacks, which was more than all but outside linebacker YaYa Diaby last year. But Winfield needs to continue to be a defensive back who is capable of creating turnovers at a high clip and getting to the quarterback while still being a tackling machine and a pest in coverage.

Even if Winfield’s numbers dip to 100 tackles, four tackles for loss, four sacks, nine pass breakups, a pair of interceptions, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries, that would still be a heck of a season for the fifth-year safety. Bucs head coach and defensive play-caller Todd Bowles wants to see Winfield be a multi-dimensional player in the clutch who can affect offenses in multiple ways. Winfield can’t go back to the player he was in 2022 when he had just one interception, one forced fumble, four sacks and three pass breakups. He proved last year that he was more than capable of filling up nearly every box on the stat sheet.

S Kaevon Merriweather – Be The Enforcer

Saints TE Taysom Hill and Bucs S Kaevon Merriweather – Photo by: USA Today

The team really liked Merriweather, an undrafted free agent out of Iowa, last year and felt he was a real steal. The 6-foot, 207-pound defensive back brings good size to an undersized – yet physical – safety room in Tampa Bay. Iowa has a knack for producing tough, physical safeties, and Merriweather showed flashes of being that kind of player in the offseason, training camp, preseason and behind the scenes in practice, as well as on special teams last year.

Merriweather was not known as a ballhawk for the Hawkeyes during his college career, but did erupt for three interceptions, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery for a touchdown as a senior. That helped put him on Tampa Bay’s radar as an undrafted free agent. But what he is known for is being a big hitter, and that needs to be on display when the pads come on in training camp and the preseason. He started two games on defense last year down the stretch and notched 21 tackles and had a pass breakup.

The good news for Merriweather is that Tampa Bay didn’t re-sign Ryan Neal or Dee Delaney from last year and only added Tykee Smith through the draft – and he’s expected to primarily play nickel cornerback and cross-train at strong safety. The lack of proven depth behind starters Antoine Winfield Jr. and Jordan Whitehead will help Merriweather’s cause, as he’s the only other returning safety from a year ago. Merriweather stands a good chance of making the team again, but he needs to make his presence felt more on defense when called upon – especially since he knows the scheme now.