The Bucs’ 2023 offensive coaching staff is quickly becoming the Panthers’ 2024 offensive coaching staff after Tampa Bay offensive coordinator Dave Canales left last week to become Carolina’s new head coach.

Canales has been busy building his coaching staff with the Panthers, and in doing so, he’s picking apart the Bucs’. Early Tuesday, it was reported that wide receivers coach Brad Idzik would be headed to Carolina as well to become the team’s new offensive coordinator.

Then, on Tuesday evening, more news dropped.

Two more Bucs assistants are following Canales and Idzik to Charlotte, as assistant head coach and run game coordinator Harold Goodwin and offensive line coach Joe Gilbert will now be donning blue, silver, and black.

The #Panthers are hiring #Bucs assistant head coach and run game coordinator Harold Goodwin to be their new assistant HC and run game coordinator working with the O-line, per me and @MikeGarafolo. A key addition to Carolina coach Dave Canales’ staff.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 30, 2024

I can confirm that both Goodwin and OL coach Joe Gilbert are joining Canales’ staff in Carolina. https://t.co/Qg0uv5B2lT

— Carmen Vitali (@CarmieV) January 30, 2024

So, whoever the Bucs hire to be their new offensive coordinator will spend the first days of their new job filling out their staff. There’s a chance, at least, that whoever replaces Goodwin as the team’s run game coordinator could be a step up. After all, the Bucs have finished dead last in rushing the last two years and never finished above 24th in the last five years.

The offensive coordinator search for Tampa Bay is still less than a week old, but with a couple of potential candidates taking jobs elsewhere before even interviewing with the Bucs, the current candidates to replace Canales are largely unproven and inexperienced, at least as play-callers. There’s a real likelihood that the team goes into 2024 with yet another first-time play-caller.

Bucs’ Super Bowl LV Coaching Staff Is Rapidly Fading Away

Bucs HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: USA Today

The coaching staff that led the Bucs to Super Bowl LV in 2020 took a hit a year ago, first when Bruce Arians retired and then when Todd Bowles fired offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich and other assistants after the 2022 season. Some assistants also retired at the time, leading to some turnover heading into 2023.

And now, with Goodwin and Gilbert leaving, there will be even fewer members of that championship coaching staff left.

Bowles is the big name remaining, and entering Year 3 as Tampa Bay’s head coach, he has some serious work to do this offseason. After being promoted from his defensive coordinator position, he began his tenure as the Bucs’ head coach with an 8-9 season that was just enough to win the NFC South. But the team would be quickly bounced at home in the Wild Card Round by the Cowboys.

Then, in 2023, Bowles did a good job of rallying the Bucs as they went from 4-7 at the end of November to 9-8 with another NFC South title. Tampa Bay then picked up a resounding 32-9 victory over Philadelphia in the Wild Card Round to presumably save Bowles’ job. And despite the loss to the Lions in the NFC Divisional Round, things were largely looking up for Tampa Bay even with some big free agents to re-sign and some big decisions to make this offseason.

But now, with Canales gone and Bowles needing to fill out almost an entire offensive staff heading into 2024, the job just got harder. The stability on offense is leaving town, and with Bowles sitting at 17-17 over his first two regular seasons, he’s staring down a significantly challenging year — one that could see him quickly back on the hot seat.