While several NFL power rankings and NFL oddsmakers have the Bucs at or near the top as Super Bowl LVII contenders, that’s not the case with NBC Sports’ Peter King.

In 2020, King correctly predicted the Bucs winning the Super Bowl. This year, he has the Bucs as the No. 6 team in the NFL, and as the third-best team in the NFC.

King has three AFC teams at the top of his list – Buffalo at No. 1 followed by the Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City. The next three teams are NFC teams in the Los Angeles Rams at No. 4, then Green Bay and Tampa Bay.

This is what King has to say about the 2022 Bucs in Monday’s Football Morning In America column.

I could have put the Bucs ahead of Green Bay. Maybe I should have. I just don’t take for granted that 45-year-old Brady will just pick up where he left off. Even with bottom-feeders Carolina and Atlanta to get fat off, the Bucs will be seriously challenged by the Saints (4-0 versus Brady and Tampa in the regular season in the last two years) for division supremacy, even post-Payton. It worries me, too, that both starting guards, Ali Marpet and Alex Cappa, left in the offseason. Brady’s a statue, and anything that affects his protection is an issue. Career backup Aaron Stinnie and ex-Pat Shaq Mason have big jobs to do at left and right guard.

Have you noticed a trend in the NFC? Every top contender is somehow diminished. The Rams without Von Miller and maybe Beckham. The Packers without Davante Adams. Dallas without Amari Cooper and Randy Gregory. The Saints without long-time coach Sean Payton. Arizona without Chandler Jones, Christian Kirk and, for a six-game suspension, DeAndre Hopkins. The Bucs are part of that trend. They’ve got two new guards protecting Brady, Rob Gronkowski’s future is uncertain, and they might be without Chris Godwin — recovering from Jan. 3 ACL surgery — at the start of the season.

King Is Concerned About Godwin And Gronkowski

King continues about Godwin’s knee surgery, and is rightfully concerned about his availability in early September. He’s also worried about Gronkowski possibly not returning to play in 2022.

The Bucs scored 30 points a game last year, thanks in large part to the chemistry between Brady and Chris Godwin. In his last two full games last season, Godwin was targeted 32 times by Brady and caught 25 passes. We’re all used to Brady figuring it out with whoever he has to catch the ball, and he’ll still have Mr. Reliable, Mike Evans. But if Gronk and Godwin are missing in September … yikes. The Bucs open at Dallas, at New Orleans, Green Bay home and Kansas City home. Not too friendly.

It’s impossible to not like Tampa Bay. The Bucs are 30-9 since Brady walked on campus, and he’s still here, coming off leading the NFL in passing yards. I doubt the coaching change to Todd Bowles will be much of a factor. The schedule might be the biggest factor of all. Other than four against the Panthers and Cards and one against Seattle, I don’t see any fluff.