After an offseason of being ridiculed and written off, the Bucs have started the 2023 season with three wins in their first four games. Tampa Bay beat Minnesota on the road, 20-17, in Week 1 before a 27-17 win over Chicago at home in Week 2. The team’s lone hiccup was a 25-11 loss to the defending NFC champion Eagles in Week 3, and the response to that loss was a dominant, 26-9 road win over the Saints last Sunday.

Now, the team has its early bye week to rest up and get healthy for what will be a grueling 13-week stretch to close the regular season. Head coach Todd Bowles has said he doesn’t think the Bucs are where they want to be yet, but there’s still been plenty of standout players in this four-game stretch to open the year.

So, before moving on from the team’s bye, here are the most impressive players from Tampa Bay’s first quarter of the season.

Tristan Wirfs And Luke Goedeke

Bucs OTs Tristan Wirfs and Luke Goedeke – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Given how tight they are off the field and the fact that they entered 2023 in similar situations, it feels appropriate to group  Wirfs and Goedeke together here. After three years as a dominant right tackle for the Bucs, Wirfs was asked to switch sides and play left tackle after the release of Donovan Smith. Meanwhile, Goedeke had a subpar debut season at left guard in 2022 and was moved back to right tackle – his position at Central Michigan – this offseason to fill the void left by Wirfs.

And so far, the results have been impressive.

Wirfs has been dominant in pass protection so far this year, allowing just two pressures in 149 pass blocking snaps (per PFF). He has made the transition to the left side look completely seamless, and it’s benefitted the Tampa Bay offense in a big way.

On the right side, Goedeke hasn’t been perfect, but he’s been a solid performer week in and week out. He’s drawn some tough assignments and only allowed one sack, which came as a result of Baker Mayfield backing into Danielle Hunter. His overall PFF grade of 70.0 is significantly higher than his 46.7 grade from a year ago, and he has also made jumps in terms of his pass protection grade (46.7 to 72.7) and run blocking (47.8 to 66.3). He can still improve, but behind Wirfs, Goedeke has been the Bucs’ second-best offensive lineman thus far.

Baker Mayfield

Mayfield is a player who fits the identity of this 2023 Bucs team so well, and maybe that’s why things are clicking through the first four games. The 2018 No. 1 overall pick was cast aside by the Browns after the 2021 season. He was then waived by the Panthers during last season before finishing the year with the Rams ahead of hitting free agency. The former Heisman Trophy winner was written off in a similar way as this Tampa Bay team was, and both have responded.

Through one quarter of the season, Mayfield has thrown for 882 yards and seven touchdowns to just two interceptions while completing 69.6% of his passes. He’s also had some key runs for this team so far, most notably against the Vikings and Saints.

Mike Evans

Bucs WR Mike Evans – Photo by: USA Today

It was clear during training camp that Evans was primed for a big season. The 10th-year receiver was dominant on the practice fields at the AdventHealth Training Center, and he’s carried it over to Sundays so far this season. He’s seeking to cash in on his final big-money deal in the NFL next offseason – whether with the Bucs or elsewhere – and he’s done well to build his case so far (save for a first-half exit against the Saints due to a hamstring injury).

To this point in the season, Evans has 20 catches for 337 yards and three touchdowns. He’s already halfway to his touchdown total from last year and if he can stay healthy, he’s on pace for 1,000 yards for the 10th straight year as well.

Vita Vea

After finishing as the Bucs’ leading sacker a year ago with a career-high 6.5 sacks, Vea has continued to be a major pass-rushing force in 2023. Among Bucs defenders who regularly rush the passer, his PFF pass rushing grade (76.5) is second-best. He currently leads the team with 3.5 sacks through four games, plus he has a forced fumble to add to his resume. It’s an unsustainable pace, but the big nose tackle is currently on track to blow past the 10-sack mark.

He might not get there with ease as his current pace suggests, but there’s at least a chance that he becomes the first interior defensive lineman in Tampa Bay to reach double-digit sacks since Warren Sapp notched 16.5 in 2000. Not to mention, Vea has been doing this without rookie Calijah Kancey playing next to him. Once Kancey is healthy, it could create even more for big No. 50 on the interior of the defensive line.

Antoine Winfield Jr.

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

The Bucs’ best defender through the first four games has been none other than Winfield. Back at his natural safety position this year, he has been an absolute menace all over the field for Todd Bowles’ defense. He’s the highest-graded defender on the team right now, with especially impressive pass rushing and run defense marks.

Winfield’s stats are strong as well, with a team-high 31 tackles (17 solo, also a team high), two sacks, two forced fumbles and four passes defensed.

What Winfield is doing for Tampa Bay has been outstanding, and in some ways, it’s been unprecedented. In Week 4, he became the first player since 2018 to record multiple games in a season with five-plus tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Again, he’s done that twice in four weeks (!!) and no player has ever done that three times in one season (since Pro Football Reference data became available).

Zyon McCollum

McCollum has been one of the most impressive Bucs this season while also being one of the most improved Bucs. An injury in training camp last year hampered his rookie season, but the former Sam Houston star had a good offseason and set himself up to be a valuable depth piece as the No. 3 outside cornerback in 2023. Only he hasn’t been the No. 3 so far this year – he’s been a regular starter. Both Carlton Davis and Jamel Dean have struggled with injuries, and McCollum has stepped in and stepped up.

He has a 73.0 overall PFF grade, with solid marks of 72.0, 71.5 and 65.2 in coverage, run defense and tackling, respectively. Whereas he was a liability whenever he was on the field last year, McCollum is far from that this year. He’s been huge in the absence of Davis and Dean, and it’s not unfair to say that he’s been the Bucs’ best outside corner at this point in the season.

Christian Izien

Izien, an undrafted rookie out of Rutgers, took hold of the Bucs’ starting nickel cornerback job out of training camp and has only continued to strengthen his grip on it. He has been fantastic for Tampa Bay so far, serving as a guy who the ball just seems to find. He came through with a clutch goal-line interception to keep the Vikings out of the end zone near the end of the first half in Week 1, ripping the ball right out of K.J. Osborn’s hands. Then, he intercepted Justin Fields to close out a Week 2 win.

On a defense starving for ballhawks, Izien has been just that. He’s tied with Dee Delaney for the team lead in interceptions, and he’s just been an all-around solid addition. His ability to lock down that slot cornerback position has allowed Todd Bowles to keep Antoine Winfield Jr. at his safety position like he wants to.

Chase McLaughlin

Bucs K Chase McLaughlin – Photo by: USA Today

The Bucs released the reliable Ryan Succop this offseason after three seasons in search of a kicker who could connect on field goals from 50 yards and beyond. That was something Succop couldn’t do anymore, and it was McLaughlin and Rodrigo Blankenship who battled it out to replace him. McLaughlin ran away with that competition in the preseason and has been rock-solid through the team’s first four games.

He’s 7-of-8 on field goals – with the lone miss being a blocked kick – and 7-of-7 on extra points. He’s made some long, clutch kicks as well, nailing a 57-yarder to beat the Vikings and Week 1 before connecting on a 51-yarder in the fourth quarter of the Bucs’ Week 4 win over the Saints.

Jake Camarda

Camarda was solid as a rookie in 2022 and entered 2023 with the potential to build a Pro Bowl case. He’s done well on that front so far, winning NFC Special Teams Player of the Month honors for September. Through four games, the former Georgia Bulldog has an average of 53.2 yards per punt, plus he’s had nine of his 18 punts downed inside the opponent’s 20-yard line. His longest punts each week have been 63, 72, 74 and 63 yards, respectively.