A lot is riding on the 2026 season for Todd Bowles and the Bucs. A 6-2 start went to waste in 2025 thanks to a 2-7 finish over the second half of the season, and as a result, Tampa Bay missed the playoffs for the first time since 2019.

The 2025 season, the Bucs’ 50th as an NFL franchise, not only saw the NFC’s longest active playoff streak end at five seasons, but it was also the end of Tampa Bay’s four-year reign atop the NFC South.

So now, in 2026, the Bucs are looking to get back on track. Bowles is bound to start the season on the hot seat, and he’ll need a pretty significant turnaround to get the fans back on his side, much less keep his job.

Bucs HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

But might Bowles and the Bucs have an extra distraction to deal with ahead of this next season? Could they deal with an in-season distraction?

You saw the headline: Could the Bucs be featured on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” in 2026?

Bucs Among 16 Teams Eligible For HBO’s “Hard Knocks”

As NFL Nerd (@NerdingonNFL) pointed out on Twitter/X Monday afternoon, 16 teams are eligible to be chosen as the featured team on HBO’s training camp edition of “Hard Knocks” in 2026.

The Bucs are among them.

And if the Bucs aren’t chosen for the training camp version of “Hard Knocks,” it’s possible they could be featured on the in-season version of the show along with the rest of the members of the NFC South, as that’s one of the divisions eligible.

Of course, if the NFC South is chosen for the in-season “Hard Knocks” series, the Bucs can’t also be showcased on the training camp version.

Tampa Bay was last featured on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” for training camp ahead of the 2017 season. The team was coming off a 9-7 season in Dirk Koetter’s first year as head coach only to fall to 5-11 in 2017.

Bucs Have Storylines, Characters For “Hard Knocks”

If the Bucs do get selected for “Hard Knocks” in either manner, there’s no doubt that this is a team that would be plenty entertaining to watch from a behind-the-scenes perspective.

Tampa Bay will have storylines all over the place in 2026. Is Todd Bowles on the hot seat, and is he feeling the pressure? How will the offense adjust to its fifth coordinator in five years? Could this be Mike Evans’ final season, and could it be the historic finish he deserves? Will the Bucs be without Lavonte David for the first time since 2011, and how will the team and linebacker room handle that? Can this Buccaneer team turn things back around and get back to the playoffs after a one-year hiatus?

Bucs LT Tristan Wirfs and QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

On top of the storylines, this is a Tampa Bay roster full of interesting personalities that you could easily picture HBO’s crew spending some time on. Whether it’s Baker Mayfield, Emeka Egbuka, Tez Johnson, the duo of Tristan Wirfs and Luke Goedeke, Vita Vea or even general manager Jason Licht himself, there would be plenty of characters worth profiling either within the halls of One Buc Place or outside of football.

Now, would it be ideal for the Bucs to have cameras and added distractions around while they’re looking to get right in a crucial 2026 season? No, you would suspect that Tampa Bay doesn’t want to be selected.

But would it be entertaining for Buccaneer fans and football watchers everywhere? Chances are, it would be.