SR’s Fab 5 is a collection of reporting and analysis on the Bucs from yours truly, Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds. Here are four things that caught my attention this week, plus some random tidbits in my Buc Shots section at the end. Enjoy!

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FAB 1. Inside Dave Canales’ Offensive System

The Bucs’ new offense will closely resemble what the Seahawks have run over the last couple of years under Shane Waldron and Darrell Bevell, specifically. Here’s what Bucs fans can expect to see from Dave Canales’ system.

Motion, Misdirection, Play-Action Will Be Staples In Bucs New Offense

Bucs fans were clamoring for more motion and play-action last year when it came to the passing game. And there will be more motioning receivers to get open, in addition to telling the quarterback if the defense is in man or zone coverage. The Bucs will do more play-action, as well. Not only does that help the passing game, but it also aids the running game.

“You’ve got to have a great system, great coaching up front to just get the play started,” Canales said. “And a lot of what you do with having the play actions, the boots, the keepers [is] it just slows down the backside just enough to give a great player space and then ‘see you later.’”

There will also be more bootlegs and QB waggles to create some misdirection and keep defenses guessing. Kyle Trask has enough mobility to pull it off to have it in the playbook. But if the Bucs get a more mobile quarterback, they’ll use bootlegs and QB keepers far more often because they’ll be more effective.

No Synonyms – Everyone Will Speak The Same Language

Bucs OC Dave Canales – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

To help simplify the installation of the playbook and instruction for the players – not to mention their recall – Canales is creating a language that will condense the play-call verbiage into one word. All the verbiage – whether it’s using the term “high and tight” to describe how to hold the ball – or the plays themselves will be uniform in nature.

“‘No synonyms’ – let’s use the same language, let’s teach the coaches the language, let’s teach the players the language and let’s all use the same words,” Canales said. “Let’s make everything look the same – the way we lined up, the way we put our inside foot or outside foot back. We got feedback from across the league as we meet people at the Combine and they would say, ‘We could never tell what you guys were doing because Marshawn [Lynch]’s feet were always matching the tackles, so it looked like run or pass.’”

Canales’ offense will consist of running different plays – multiple runs and multiple passes – out of the same formations with the same personnel groupings. That helps disguise the offense’s intentions and eliminates predictability. That’s why there has to be uniformity in the language the coaches use to teach and the language the players learn.

“The hardest part about this job is creating a culture, creating a language, teaching my coaches what the system is so they can give me good information and then teaching them how to communicate it to the players making sure that our language stays consistent – no synonyms,” Canales said.

A Commitment To Running Game

This will not be Dungyball. Don’t let any fools suggest otherwise. Canales doesn’t want to establish the running game. He’s just committed to running the ball to make the offense more balanced. Look no further than Seattle, which threw the ball 573 times with Pro Bowler Geno Smith and ran the ball 425 times. The Seahawks only threw the ball 148 more times than they ran it.

Conversely, the Bucs ran the ball just 386 times and threw 751 passes. That’s 365 more passes than runs in Tampa Bay last year. Canales believes the Bucs could have been much better running the ball last year, but they abandoned the run too early and too often under former offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich.

“Knowing when to just pour it up in the dark crease and get that ugly two and three [yards] early on, and that becomes four and five, and then it becomes 12,” Canales said. “Being dogged in your commitment to being able to run the ball in any given situation and any given personnel.

“That being said, if the runs [are] not working, we’re going to throw it a little bit more, [and] if the pass isn’t working we’re going to run it a little bit more. There will be days, [where] if they’re not fitting the runs right, we’ll run the ball 40 times and there will be days where you’ve got a matchup outside with Mike [Evans] or Chris Godwin and we’re blocking them pretty [well] and we can throw for 400-plus yards.”

Dave Canales Brings A QB-Friendly System To Tampa Bay

Bucs QB Kyle Trask – Photo by: USA Today

The Pete Carroll offensive scheme of having a QB-friendly system dates back to his days at USC. Regardless of who the coordinator is, Carroll’s offense has always allowed the quarterback to thrive. That’s why Russell Wilson made so many Pro Bowls with the Seahawks but then flopped in Denver last year in his first season with the Broncos. And it’s why Geno Smith, a long-time backup, became a Pro Bowler last season while replacing Wilson.

“That’s where the system has proven itself,” Canales said. “It’s a style of play. If I go back to ‘SC’ (University of Southern California) for a bit, you just start rattling off the quarterbacks that came out of there – going back to Carson Palmer, you had Matt Leinart, then here comes John David Booty and then Mark Sanchez. Matt Barkley falls into that category, as well.

“One guy after the other – highly-touted, gets a lot of accolades, when really it’s a system that is friendly for the quarterback. Drilling that timing of getting the ball out and then having the balance of the run game.”

Whether it’s Kyle Trask, a rookie QB or a veteran journeyman under center in Tampa Bay, Canales’ offense should be much easier and quicker to learn than Bruce Arians’ more complex scheme, which featured option routes. Those option routes – or choice routes – relied on the QB and the receiver to read the coverage the same way and make route adjustments accordingly after the snap. Canales system is simpler to understand and operate.

FAB 2. Insight Into Canales’ Coaches

Not only will Dave Canales, who has never called plays before at the college or NFL level, be allowed to run the offense in Tampa Bay, he was also allowed to hire his own staff. Canales had a hand in hiring former Seahawks assistant receivers coach Brad Idzik and former Cowboys running backs coach Skip Peete, and he had a part to play in promoting Bucs assistant receivers coach Thad Lewis to coach quarterbacks. Tampa Bay retained tight ends coach John Van Dam, run game coordinator Harold Goodwin and offensive line coach Joe Gilbert.

WRs Coach Brad Idzik Will Be Canales’ Right-Hand Man

Canales said that the one coach he absolutely had to have with him in Tampa Bay was wide receivers coach Brad Idzik, who was an assistant receivers coach with the Seahawks. Idzik has been groomed to be Canales’ right-hand man since 2019 back in Seattle.

Bucs WRs coach Brad Idzik – Photo courtesy of Seahawks

“Brad Idzik, five years at Stanford as an assistant and then four years in Seattle, QBs and receivers,” Canales said. “The thing that I’ll say about Brad, there’s two reasons, really, why I had to have Brad – number one, you look outside after any practice, he’s out there with somebody working, or two or three guys. He was always that safety net – just kind of catching guys. If you had 12 guys in a receiver room, he’s working with the bottom half. If we brought a free agent in who needed help transitioning into a new system, Brad’s right there early, [then] afterwards, ‘Here’s the plan, here’s how we package these things, here’s how to block this guy right there.’”

“That’s going to be really important with Mike [Evans] and with Chris [Godwin]. For him to be the bridge for those guys and to this new system. That’s going to be a really important task of Brad’s. He was mentored by Sanjay Lal in the receiver room, some of you might not know him, [but] he’s regarded as one of the best receiver coaches out there. He trained Brad and so Brad’s going to be able to employ some of those study film, different techniques and all that he’ll bring.”

Canales will call plays from the field to communicate with the quarterbacks and the players on the sidelines. Idzik will be up in the box serving as Canales’ eyes and ears with the bird’s-eye view of the field and communicating what defenses and personnel groupings the Bucs are facing.

Skip Peete Brings Experience And Excellence To RB Room

The Bucs’ ground game is going to be more of a focal point in Canales’ offense, just like it was in Seattle. Having a more experienced coach on the offensive staff like the 60-year old Skip Peete will provide someone the inexperienced play-caller can lean on.

“Skip Peete is going to be our running backs coach – [Dallas] had zero fumbles lost last year from the running back,” Canales said. “He could have started that interview with that, dropped the mic and he would’ve been hired.”

He’s coached the likes of Tony Pollard and Ezekiel Elliott in Dallas, Todd Gurley in Los Angeles, Matt Forte in Chicago and Charlie Garner in Oakland. I think Rachaad White and Ke’Shawn Vaughn appear to be in very good hands with the experienced Peete.

Harold Goodwin, Joe Gilbert, John Van Dam, Thad Lewis Stay On

Bucs OL coaches Joe Gilbert and Harold Goodwin – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Both Canales and head coach Todd Bowles wanted run game coordinator Harold Goodwin and Joe Gilbert to stay on. The Bucs offensive line was a team strength in 2020 and 2021, but injuries to Ryan Jensen, Tristan Wirfs and Donovan Smith hurt the unit last year, as did the retirement of Ali Marpet.

The Bucs running game struggled mightily last year. But Canales believes it was more on the lack of runs called and when they were called (predictability) than it was the actual run plays or schemes that Goodwin designed.

Canales likes tight ends coach John Van Dam, and the tight ends will be a part of the offense in the run game and the pass game. Tampa Bay could be using a lot of 12 personnel (two tight ends), as Seattle did last year. Canales is fond of Cade Otton and Ko Kieft based on the film he’s watched so far.

Thad Lewis has a history with Seattle quarterback Geno Smith and Canales moved Lewis from assistant receivers coach to quarterbacks coach. Todd Bowles is very fond of Lewis and thinks he’s one of the most intelligent coaches on the staff. Between Canales and Lewis, Kyle Trask should be in good hands as he enters his third year in Tampa Bay.

FAB 3. Bucs Personnel Usage Under Dave Canales

Dave Canales’ offense has its roots in Seattle, L.A. (from Sean McVay) and USC, and it’s different from Bruce Arians’ offense in many ways. It’s going to require different kind of personnel and different usage from Tampa Bay’s existing players.

Canales Wants Violent Runners

Bucs RB Rachaad White – Photo by: USA Today

Two of the running backs Canales rattled off who had success in Seattle were Chris Carson, a seventh-round pick, and Thomas Rawls, an undrafted free agent. Of course, the Seahawks also invested a first-round pick in Rashaad Penny a few years ago, but Canales’ offense will center around toughness rather than sheer talent.

Canales wants angry, violent runners (think Marshawn Lynch) and those types of runners could be had on Day 3 of this year’s draft (think Minnesota’s Mohamed Ibrahim). Rachaad White and Ke’Shawn Vaughn have the right kind of running style to be a fit in Canales’ scheme. Being a pass-catching back was a pre-requisite of Arians’ offense, but it’s not the case now.

“Oh yeah, what shocked me about that was the toughness in the style that he ran because I saw him as this versatile guy who you could run routes with him out of the backfield, split him out wide and do some things like that, plus the run game,” Canales said about White. “But then you see his attitude in person in Germany, just see the style that he ran downhill, he was aggressive, the violence that he played with and you go, ‘Wow, this guy could be special.’ He’s got some great skillset that really fits into our system.”

Canales Wants Maximum Effort

Players often take on their coach’s personality in football. While the perception is that Todd Bowles is a sleepy, no-energy coach, that actually isn’t the case. His defensive players love playing for him. And while not perfect, the Bucs defense wasn’t the problem in Tampa Bay last year. The offense was, which is why Canales has replaced Byron Leftwich as the team’s offensive coordinator.

If you think Bowles is low energy, Leftwich’s excitability meter wasn’t any higher. But that will change with Canales, who is a high-energy guy – a younger Pete Carroll. Canales will demand high effort from his players right from the start.

“The attitude – it starts with effort. I go back to Pete, from day one – the very first day of spring and the very first day of camp, we critique effort first,” Canales said. “We’re looking for people trying really hard. We will get the how to, but we’ve got to get the how much and how fast going before we can really take a step from there.”

Lazy Bucs won’t be tolerated on offense under Canales and will be shown the door.

Chris Godwin Will See More Time Out Wide

Mike Evans will continue as mostly a split end (X) receiver and play the D.K. Metcalf role in Canales’ offense, while Chris Godwin will take on the Tyler Lockett role as the flanker (Z) receiver. That’s not to say that neither Godwin nor Evans won’t see time in the slot. But Godwin won’t live in the slot like he did in Arians’ offense.

Bucs WRs Mike Evans and Chris Godwin – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“I would say, specifically, they just do so many good things outside the numbers with the one-on-one matchups,” Canales said. “That will definitely be a part of what we do. And then, moving the receivers to gain access – you can release easier if you move your receivers around, so we have a simple system that allows us to be able to do that, to give them access into the secondary. And when you get a big sucker like those guys with a free run, where they’re not having to face press all the time – and they’re both magnificent versus press, that’s the cool part.

“Anytime you reduce football to just being mano-y-mano ball, it’s just not smart football. So, anything you can do to get a matchup, an advantageous matchup or to move a gain-to-gain access, we’ll do those things. And we definitely use our receivers in the run game, so having two big guys who can do that is awesome.”

Per Pro Football Focus, Godwin played 576 snaps in the slot last year and just 291 snaps out wide. Quite a bit of those wide snaps came on wide receiver screens, which weren’t really effective. Those numbers should flip for Godwin this year.

FAB 4. Will Trask Be The Bucs’ Starting QB This Year?

The one player who hasn’t been mentioned yet, but figures to play an integral role in Dave Canales’ offense this year is Kyle Trask. The former second-round pick is entering his third year in Tampa Bay with very little playing experience outside of two preseasons and about eight minutes of action in the 2022 season finale loss at Atlanta.

Canales spoke glowingly about Trask, whom he liked coming out of Florida, in his initial press conference. But some of that was by default, as Trask is the only quarterback under contract right now.

Will the Bucs be after a more experienced veteran journeyman to compete with Trask in a QB like Baker Mayfield or Jacoby Brissett? Did Seattle backup Drew Lock impress Canales enough to want to bring him to Tampa Bay in free agency? Will the team draft another quarterback for Canales in April? Or is the plan to just roll with Trask as the starter to see what the Bucs have in their young signal caller?

NFL Network’s Jeff Darlington spoke with the Bucs’ brass, presumably general manager Jason Licht, and stated that he believes Trask will be the starter in 2023.

The Bucs clearly wanted this information out in the public, and it could serve two possible purposes. First of all, it could puff up Trask and pump him full of confidence as he heads into offseason training full of purpose. But it could also be a smokescreen if the team wanted to draft a quarterback this year and disguise its intentions.

The Bucs pulled the same type of maneuver in 2009, signing veteran QB Byron Leftwich prior to the draft where Tampa Bay traded up to get Josh Freeman in the first round. Leftwich started the season and produced a losing record with a bad supporting cast before turning the reins over to Freeman midseason.

Bucs QB Kyle Trask – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Regardless of whatever the Bucs’ plan at QB is for 2023, Trask will see the field at some point this year. Whether it’s a veteran starting the year first to give Trask time to acclimate to the new system, as was the case in 2009 with Leftwich and Freeman, or just starting Trask from the beginning.

“Right now, I’ve got one Buccaneers quarterback – it’s Kyle Trask,” Canales said. “I can talk about Kyle for a second here. I really liked him coming out [of college]. If you look at some of the skill position players that he had there: Kyle Pitts, Kadarius Toney – he had the big return in the Super Bowl – and then you have Dameon Pierce [who] was another guy, right? Well, he was able to distribute.

“The thing that we’re going to help Kyle continue to build on here is to just be a point guard. Point guards don’t have to be the one to score all the points – you just distribute. Play on time, get the ball out of your hands, life is better that way when you do that. You’ve got these bears chasing you and if you don’t like bears chasing you, get rid of the ham – and that’s the football, right? So just teaching him those principles, allowing him to be a distributor.”

Trask took a while to learn Bruce Arians’ more complex offense. So, we’ll find out soon enough how QB-friendly Canales’ system is, and how quickly Trask can absorb it.

Either way, the early offseason praise by Canales and Licht via Darlington doesn’t hurt Trask. It only helps his confidence, which isn’t a bad thing.

FAB 5. SR’s Buc Shots

• CANALES WANTS TO DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO WIN: New Bucs offensive coordinator Dave Canales wants a balanced offense, but will do whatever it takes to win. Oh, and ball security is super important, too.

• CANALES’ COACHING TIP OF THE DAY: New Tampa Bay offensive coordinator Dave Canales starts off Friday with some motivation for the Twitter feed.

• RACHAAD IS READY TO ROLL: Bucs RB Rachaad White is training hard and is fired up for a larger role in Tampa Bay’s new offense in 2023.

THIS WEEK’S PEWTER REPORT PODCASTS

• REACTION TO DAVE CANALES’ HIRING ON THE PEWTER REPORT PODCAST: The Pewter Report Podcast is energized by CELSIUS and broadcasts four live episodes each week. We’re in the offseason now, so PR Podcasts will be featured on Mondays and Tuesdays at 4:00 p.m. ET and Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:00 p.m. ET. Subscribe to PewterReportTV on YouTube and click on notifications and you’ll be informed about when the next podcast will be broadcast.

Matt Matera and Scott Reynolds discuss which Bucs will benefit from the hiring of Bucs new offensive coordinator Dave Canales.

Matera and Reynolds end the speculation – the Bucs are not going to trade Mike Evans or Chris Godwin this offseason.

Matera and Reynolds give their reaction to Dave Canales’ initial press conference as the Bucs new offensive coordinator.

On Thursday, Matera and Adam Slivon offer further reaction to Dave Canales’ initial press conference in Tampa Bay.

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