I think the Bucs have not done enough in the off season to improve significantly. I believe they have not improved that much, because of three main reasons: First, they did very little to bring in impact talent through free agency. Instead, they opted to bring in stop gaps players that in some case are sidegrades. Second, they failed to recognize the existing talent on the team and are trying to fit a square peg into a round hole with the new defensive scheme. And finally, the NFC south rivals have improved way more relative to the Bucs, and they all had higher talent bases to begin with.The free agents the Bucs signed are sidegrades, or even in some instances downgrades in some aspects. More specifically, Ayers is simple a rotational guy that doesn’t solve the main issue the Bucs had last year. Howard Jones was a better rotational guy than Ayers on a per snap basis. Gholston is better at the point of attack than Ayers, and with way better upside. Next, the addition of Grimes simply slows down the bleeding but it is still a downgrade by losing Moore which may haunt the Bucs down the road. The other CB’s are not even worth mentioning as they ae dime candidates at best, and are not really better than JAB. But Banks has no chance of winning a starting spot given he doesn’t have the skill set for what Smith asks on defense as Banks has clear and obvious limitations. Adding Daryl Smith slows down the bleeding as well, as he is better going downhill, but he isn’t going to replace Lansanah’s side line motor given his age. On offense, the Bucs stopped the hemorrhaging by re-signing Doug Martin (it should have never reached that point). But Sweazy is a massive downgrade compared to Mankins, and honestly Gilkey, yes Gilkey (the guy I hate with a fiery passion of a thousand Suns) has a better shot of winning the spot than Sweazy. But it is possible that Sweazy is handed the spot even if he is terrible, and there is no true competition for the spot. Run blocking is way down the priority list for a G when pass protecting your QB from taking bone crunching hits from the blindside is way more important. There is a reason why the Seahawks didn’t bother bringing back Sweazy, as he was more of the problem than a solution in Seattle. It seems that the Bucs have tunnel vision if they are going to settle on Sweazy as this is bringing up shades of the 2014 off season where OG was ignored completely, and only knee jerk decisions were made (eg trading for Mankins). The best player added by the Bucs this off season was Bryan Anger…yes the punter. That is not a ringing endorsement that a team is in need of serious talent injection.The current talent of the team is geared toward being dominantly a 4-3 single gap defense that flies to the ball. The defensive hybrid system being talked about doesn’t work when you don’t have an elephant pass rusher as an example or even a joker. The closest to that is Howard Jones, but he is a tweener more suited using his speed to exploit gaps and he isn’t the power guy needed to run as a joker or as an elephant pass rusher. McCoy will have less opportunities to shoot a gap which defeats the entire point of having LB’s flow the ball with the LB’s cleaning up. The only upside to this defensive system is players like Howard Jones will continue to produce as well as J. Smith. On the back end the Bucs lack the rangy safety play needed to make Mike Smith’s aggressive style of defensively play work. Bucs lack of a safety with range is going to be a huge liability and obvious one as the season plays out. And finally, the Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints, and Atlanta Falcons all did more to improve in the offseason than the Bucs. How can this happen as the Bucs were the rebuilding team from last year of the NFCS division and are still in rebuilding mode? Panthers signed DT Solial and OC Gino Gradkowski. The Saints signed TE Coby Fleener and DT Nick Fariley. The Falcons signed WR Sanu, OT Compton and acquired OC Mack. Bucs best counter? Old man Grimes and a punter in Anger? Really?I like the young collection of talent the Bucs have as many of them showed they have the potential or are already there to be average or above average NFL level starters. Having NFL level starters that are young, and cost effective bodes well for the future of the team. So, with the recent draft additions of 2016, along with the retuning draft class of 2015, the Bucs are positioned to be a competitive squad for 2017 for sure (especially when the 2017 class is added into the mix)However, this off season the expectations for a rebuilding team like the Bucs are unrealistic and people are setting up a rookie and newly minted green Head Coach like Koetter for failure. Koetter is a year 1 coach with a team that is only in year 2 of rebuilding and is still in a state of transition, because once again the team is changing systems (mostly defensive side of the ball). Bucs had rookies start 69 games last year which was the most in the NFL last year by far and that isn’t even close with the next second closest team. People talk of the Bucs as 2016 playoff contenders or winning the NFCS division this off season when the division features the defending NFC champs Panthers, the high flying Saints and the upstart Falcons that will rebound. In short, the window lickers/autistic spectrum of the red board don’t realize the gravity of the situation and allow knee jerk emotions to tug them along like a woman being upset by the sight of rain. In truth, this team is still in rebuilding mode and if people are not patient with a noob like Koetter than no coach can succeed in such a situation in Tampa Bay. And if this team isn’t in rebuilding mode why are they dragging their feet in free agency to upgrade this team? No one is asking for Licht to blow his wad on overpaying for players, but there were clear upgrades out there and with clear needs. Even if there were not clear cut needs, there definitely was opportunity to stockpile talent at bargain prices. But the Bucs instead opted to snub their nose at those upgrades. The Bucs don’t have the option of being ultra selective and elitist given that they are facing an uphill climb in the vastly improved NFC. I project the Koetter’s Bucs to finish with a strong, and respectable 5-11 record in the 2016 football season. The pivotal year will be the 2017 season where the Bucs add a third draft class to round off, and finish the rebuilding efforts that started in 2015. Winston will be heading into his third year as a starter, and the Bucs defense will be in year 2 of Mike Smith’s defense. On a final note, Winston will progress and grow as a player, but he can’t carry a team with mediocre talent as last season showed. Talent to me is everything in the NFL and that is what separates most of the good teams from the bad IMVHO. Not even the much respected Jon Gruden could have led last year’s team to a winning record and Gruden is known for taking teams with little talent and overachieving with them.
