This is where the pessimism of our fans loses me.
yep
But a trade and free agency help is the answer for defense this year.
If that type of help doesn’t come, we’ll be seeing a complete overhaul next offseason.
This is part of why I said "neither" to climbing or descending.
Say whatever anyone will about Bowles, but its the owners that have the Bucs in this unusual position. The owners must be behind that dead cap clearing over talent on the filed approach that has dominated this stretch and they are certainly behind the "half measure" of firing everyone but Bowles. It might work, but if it does not then what? If they used 2026 to "trade and free agency" that would have done so for a HC and a defense that would no longer be here,
Glazers may have some responsibility, but this is 100% Bowles. Bowles just does not develop players. How many years and "communication" is still the excuse with players. This should not be happening. If the stories about all of the walk through practices are true....how can players develop and learn to "communicate" with walkthrough practices. Also blitz as the default with Edge players constantly dropping in coverage is maddening. Dropping into coverage is fine, but it is done way too much in this system and mix that in with "communication" and you have Edge players covering WRs downfield.
100% Bowles.
I definitely get the frustration and thought Bowles would be fired this offseason, but it cant really be "Bowles 100% because:
1) there is a a world of difference between the way the 2025 Bucs team was assembled and the way either SB team was assembled, and
2) if you just use 2020 as an example, the Bucs have two All-Pros and a Pro Bowler -- an OLB and two inside LBs. And that is then added to by having Suh and AWJ playing lights out and of course Barret on a franchise tag The defense was top 10 in multiple categories. Barrett, White and JPP were probably the best sack trio in Bucs history. This season would be Diaby, Reddick and SVD? um . . .
Obviously the Bucs go cheap in outside FA land, so much so that I would not be surprised to learn the Jay Glazers report that the owners "just love" Todd Bowles stems, at least in part, by his willingness to "make due" (Licht's words). That does not absolve Bowles by any means. It just says that saying tis 100% Bowles is pretty hard to defend when you look at the total picture.
