INTRO: I think I’ve been pretty fair to Todd Bowles over the past three years that he’s been the Bucs head coach. Based upon the feedback you’ve given me in my columns and stories on PewterReport.com and during my appearances on the Pewter Report Podcast, half of you think I’m a Bowles apologist and half think I’m out to get him. That tells me I’m doing my job. Hey, I’m bullish on Bowles this offseason based upon what he’s said – and done – so far in 2025. Read today’s SR’s FAB 5 and see if you agree. Enjoy!

FAB 1. Todd Bowles Is Winning The Offseason

Todd Bowles is winning the offseason.

The Bucs head coach is saying all the right things and doing the right things so far.

Not to mention that his team is coming off a successful round of free agency, re-signing the likes of wide receiver Chris Godwin, inside linebacker Lavonte David and left guard Ben Bredeson, while adding pass rusher Haason Reddick and some quality veteran depth on both sides of the ball.

Bucs HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Matt Matera/PR

Bowles will speak to the media again on Tuesday at the NFC coaches breakfast at the 2025 NFL Annual Meeting in West Palm Beach, Fla. But so far, he’s done everything right and I’m hoping I leave The Breakers resort with the same feeling I had when Bowles spoke to the media at the NFL Scouting Combine almost a month ago.

I did a Pewter Pulse video on that and how I absolutely loved everything Bowles said in Indianapolis.

Perhaps more than anything, I liked how Bowles was saying things. He’s full of confidence – and he should be.

Bowles has plenty of swagger right now heading into the 2025 season and it’s refreshing to see.

He got the ultimate vote of confidence from general manager Jason Licht and the Glazers when they had the chance to potentially switch him out for offensive coordinator Liam Coen, who was on his way to take the head coaching job in Jacksonville. Given how that transpired, that was certainly the right call by the Bucs.

Instead of choosing Coen, Licht and the Glazers valued Bowles’ track record as someone who helped the franchise win a Super Bowl in 2020 and then won three straight division titles in his first three years as Tampa Bay’s head coach. They valued Bowles’ key trait as a leader of men over Coen, the shiny new toy of an offensive coordinator who helped the team score 30 points per game in his first season with the team.

And they looked at last season objectively – a season in which Bowles’ side of the ball suffered a slew of injuries, including a ton in the secondary, and surmised that played a big role in Tampa Bay’s slump defensively, especially in pass defense. Bowles can’t be faulted for injuries. No coach truly can be.

Licht and the Glazers also realized that it was the entire offensive coaching staff that helped produce 30 points per game, and that Bowles made the correct call to promote pass game coordinator Josh Grizzard to replace Coen.

Bowles has made all the right moves this spring, and I’m going to document them in this week’s SR’s Fab 5. The latest of which was the hire of a game management assistant in Zach Beistline, whose official title is director of football research.

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles – Photo by: USA Today

Pewter Report has confirmed that Beistline, who spent 12 years in Jacksonville working as a football analyst and director of game management, will be assisting Bowles from the press box with strategic in-game decision-making.

Bucs general manager Jason Licht talked about how Bowles is aiming to improve his game management this year after some questionable timeout usage and decisions last season. Those included not going for two points at Kansas City and attempting to win the Monday Night Football game rather than going for the tie, and Bowles’ decision to kick a field goal deep in Washington territory to tie the game at 20-20 instead of going for it on fourth-and-short and potentially a go-ahead touchdown in the Wild Card loss to the Commanders.

“He’s very transparent about wanting to improve on those things,” Licht said. “I remember when I was working for the Eagles back in 2003-07, the same criticism was on Andy Reid. And he is one of the best coaches of all-time. The good ones adjust, and the good ones know when to look [for help] and how to improve themselves. And I think Todd’s no different.”

We’ll see if Bowles actually listens to Beistline’s input on the headset on gamedays or if the 61-year old head coach chooses to stick to his gut instinct in certain situations. But the fact that he’s getting some real analytical help to determine the best course of action is encouraging.

Bowles is also examining going for it on fourth downs more often in 2025 after being victim to the Commanders converting 3-of-5 fourth downs, including a go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter, in the 23-20 playoff loss in the Wild Card round.

“I thought I got better this year going for it on fourth down,” Bowles said. “It wasn’t fourth-and-6 or 7 as much as it was fourth-and-1 or 2 – or more fourth-and-1.”

Nope. Sorry, Coach.

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles and former OC Liam Coen – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The Bucs actually attempted the second-fewest fourth down conversions in the NFL last year with just 14. Tampa Bay converted nine of them for a favorable 64.3% conversion rate, which was good. That was actually four fewer attempts than 2023 when Bowles went for it 18 times, converting 12 of those for a 66.7% rate.

The Commanders led the league during the regular season in fourth down conversion rate in 2024 at an astounding 87% (20-of-23), followed by the Bills at 72.7% (16-of-22). The Browns attempted the most with 44, converting 24 of those for a 54.5% conversion rate.

Bowles does plan on being more aggressive in this area in 2025 after seeing the top four remaining teams in the playoffs – Washington (87%), Buffalo (72.7%), Kansas City (70.6%) and Philadelphia (70.4%) – also lead the league in fourth down conversion percentage.

“That starts out in the spring when you get the guys in,” Bowles said. “It’s more of an aggression-type of thing depending on how the game is going. I don’t think you do it every time when you’re getting your butt kicked.

“But there are chances and quarterbacks you are going against where you want to go for it on fourth down when you don’t want them to have the ball in their hands at the end of the ball game. That’s definitely something we have on our docket and that’s definitely something I have looked at myself.”

The NFL is an adapt-or-die league and it certainly seems like Bowles is trying his damnedest to adapt, which is a very promising sign.

FAB 2. Todd Bowles – Offensive Mastermind?

Bucs OLBs coach Larry Foote, ILB Lavonte David, DB Tykee Smith and HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

I’ve given Todd Bowles kudos for making some very necessary coaching changes this offseason. Returning inside linebackers coach Larry Foote to the outside linebacker room to replace George Edwards was absolutely huge, as was re-hiring Mike Caldwell to take over the inside linebacker room. Those two coached those positions from 2019-2021 as the Bucs won the Super Bowl in 2020 and went 13-4 the next season.

Foote, who is also the team’s run game coordinator, got the best out of edge rushers like Shaq Barrett, Jason Pierre-Paul and Carl Nassib during his time as outside linebackers coach, and Caldwell got the best out of Lavonte David and Devin White during Tampa Bay’s Super Bowl run. Edwards, who is now the pass game coordinator, is more of a strategist than a position coach, and his cerebral approach will greatly help Bowles in that capacity as the head coach spends far more time with the offense this offseason.

Wait a minute? Isn’t Bowles supposed to be a defensive mastermind – not an offensive mastermind?

Bowles will be spending an inordinate amount of time this offseason helping to develop new offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard, who will be a rookie play-caller in 2025. He did the same thing with Dave Canales during his first season as a play-caller in Tampa Bay in 2023.

“With Kacy [Rodgers] leaving, it was important for me, with ‘Grizz’ (Josh Grizzard) as a young [offensive coordinator], to try and spend some more time on offense,” Bowles said. “Making George the pass game coordinator will take a lot of things off my plate that way. With Caldwell coming back, having been in the system and being available, it does a heck of a job for us keeping all of the guys intact as far as schematics.

“Then, putting Foote back on the outside – he was on the outside before, before we moved him inside. He did a hell of a job there. Between those three, we’ve got three good guys right there that are also coordinators that can really help out. The smarter we are on defense as a coaching staff, the better we are.”

Bucs OC Josh Grizzard – Photo by: Matt Matera/PR

Once again Bowles plans on having plenty of call-it periods during the OTAs, mini-camp and training camp to help prepare Grizzard for the season opener, which is just six months away.

“Situationally, we’ve done a good job of getting guys ready to call plays,” Bowles said. “We understand Dave didn’t call plays [before] he was here, so I’ve got to do a heck of a job making sure ‘Grizz’ is ready and making sure all that stuff is taken care of from an offensive standpoint. Not that I’m going to be inserting myself into the offense but from a practice schedule standpoint and situations that we work on, I have to make sure he goes through everything possible before we get to Week 1.”

With Bowles spending more time shadowing Grizzard in the spring and summer, Edwards and Foote will be calling the defense in practice during the offseason. Bowles will instruct his coordinators to throw the kitchen sink at Grizzard and quarterback Baker Mayfield in the practices leading up to Week 1.

“This will be Josh’s first year calling them and he’s got a lot of confidence like Canales had in him from that standpoint,” Bowles said. “And we’ll get him ready, calling plays in practice and we’ll probably show him every defense in the book and show him everything, so the first game won’t be his first time. But it’s my job as a coach to make sure he’s ready to do that. So it helps out to have George and Larry and Caldwell back over there on the defensive side of the ball so I can really help out trying to get him in the right direction that way.”

Bucs pass game coordinator George Edwards and head coach Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Edwards underwhelmed as a pass rush coach, as the outside linebackers combined for just 12 sacks last year. But the 58-year old Edwards does have nine years of NFL defensive coordinator experience, including six years in Minnesota from 2014-19, to draw from as he helps assist Bowles with game-planning. Bowles is not sure if Edwards will be on the sidelines this year or if he’ll move to the press box for a bird’s eye view.

“That part has yet to be determined,” Bowles said. “But from a practice standpoint, getting the front and the ‘backers and the DBs on the same page – I thought there was some miscommunication a year ago. Getting those guys on the same page in the same coverage, and as far as how we want to play things and do things.

“I can’t be in every meeting so he’ll be running some of those meetings as well. Larry will be doing the run game meetings. So it helps to have a guy that can mitigate the two and with an open mind and see everything, and kind of knows what I want. Because him and Larry kind of know what I want – and with Caldwell coming back that’s three guys that can do both, but they’re also closing positions and he’s not. So he gets a chance to be running a lot of those meetings to get them on the same page.”

The Bucs pass defense ranked 29th in the league last year, allowing an average of 243.9 yards per game. Tampa Bay’s secondary was riddled with injuries and produced just six interceptions in 2024. We’ll see if Edwards can be a difference-maker in his new role as Bowles helps Grizzard with his new role as Tampa Bay’s offensive coordinator.

FAB 3. Todd Bowles (Thankfully) Recognizes The Need For Ballhawks

Bucs DB Tykee Smith – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

It was refreshing to hear Todd Bowles state the obvious – the need for ballhawks on defense – in his interview with the media at the NFL Scouting Combine. But the fact that he did so with a sense of urgency was music to my ears.

“I want ballhawks,” Bowles said. “Whether that’s a down guy, a defensive lineman – whether he batts balls down or gets strip-sacks or whether that’s an outside linebacker who does it. Whether that’s a ‘backer who can punch the ball out or get turnovers or whether that’s a safety that can hit and jar the ball loose or whether that’s a corner that has a nose for the ball – we need ballhawks. We need turnovers. We need guys that are very astute in the game and see things and go make plays and go get [the ball.] That’s what I’m looking for.”

Tampa Bay totaled just seven interceptions in 2024, which was the lowest of any year that Bowles has presided over the defense. To put that number in perspective, the Bucs totaled seven interceptions in four games in the 2020 postseason, including Super Bowl LV. And that’s after recording 15 in the 2020 regular season. Tampa Bay’s defense notched 17 during the 2021 regular season, which was 10 more than last year.

Drafting a few more players like defensive back Tykee Smith, last year’s third-round pick, who was tied for the team lead with two interceptions and three forced fumbles, will help. But it’s also getting the existing players on defense to become more proficient with takeaways.

“I’m very disappointed in the way we went after balls this year – we didn’t get our hands on enough balls and get a lot of turnovers,” Bowles said.

Bucs CBs Zyon McCollum and Jamel Dean and CBs coach Kevin Ross – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

That starts in practice and the plan this year to foster a more intense and competitive environment during the week in 11-on-11 sessions.

“We’ve got to be more aggressive in practice,” Bowles said. “You’ve got to get your hands on balls. You can’t get them if you aren’t trying. I’m not saying they didn’t try. But sometimes practice gets to be a shorts and t-shirts thing where you don’t want to run into people. But we have to be more aggressive and go after the football.”

Last year, Bucs cornerbacks coach Kevin Ross said he wanted his players to catch 50 passes a day on the JUGS machine. That didn’t do squat – primarily because there aren’t any JUGS machines on the field on game days. On Sundays, it’s quarterbacks throwing the ball from all angles to receivers running a myriad of routes.

The real way to get better at picking off passes comes from picking off actual quarterbacks while covering actual receivers. Bowles has recognized the problem and appears ready to do something about it this offseason.

FAB 4. More Straight Talk From Todd Bowles – Please!

Bucs HC Todd Bowles And CB Zyon McCollum – Photo by: USA Today

One of the most eye-opening – and welcomed – aspects of Todd Bowles’ press conferences in Indianapolis was how candid he was with the media when talking about his players. Bowles is known as a players’ coach and rarely calls out anyone in the media.

But his mentor and predecessor, Super Bowl-winning head coach Bruce Arians, wasn’t afraid to do that publicly, and perhaps Bowles recognizes the value of that, too.

Bowles didn’t sugarcoat anything when talking about a few players he was asked to comment on at the NFL Scouting Combine. Even when discussing one of his personal favorites, cornerback Zyon McCollum.

“I think Zyon played very well most of the time,” Bowles said when asked to assess McCollum’s 2024 season. “I think when he got bored, he took chances, and he didn’t play with as much technique. If he can just play with the technique all the way through and not get bored with his concentration and his [competitiveness] I think Zyon will be fine. Zyon is definitely on the rise.”

There was more straight talk from Bowles when asked about the team’s other starting cornerback Jamel Dean, who was in danger of being released this offseason due to his ineffectiveness in creating interceptions – just one in two seasons – as well his inability to stay healthy. Dean missed four games due to injury, as well as the second half of the Saints game in Week 6 and the second half of the playoff loss to the Commanders, which was a huge detriment to the defense as Jayden Daniels picked on Josh Hayes, Dean’s replacement.

“You’ve got to be available,” Bowles said sternly. “You can’t be a great player if you’re not available. If you’re not available and you’re a part-time player, it’s tough to evaluate. You’ve got to be on the field to play. Obviously, it’s a health thing first, and then perform as you go. You can’t play great when you only play halves of games.”

Bowles had a similar refrain when he was also asked about Kam Johnson, a promising rookie wide receiver, who missed 12 games due to injuries last season.

Bucs CB Jamel Dean – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“You’ve got to be healthy,” Bowles said. “We had a lot of guys that got hurt last year. We can’t use you if you’re not available no matter how talented you are. Kam was a very talented guy and he still is a talented guy. But you have to be available and healthy. We can’t have you one game and lose you for 10 and then you come back two more. That doesn’t help us.

“You have to be healthy. You have to take care of yourself. A lot of that was put on coaches and trainers, but a lot of that falls on the players, too. You have to come back in shape. You have to take care of your body. This is your job. Kam is a very talented guy. He’s just got to get healthy.”

Bowles also drew some laughs when asked what he’s looking for in a punter this year after going through three different punters last season.

“Not shanking them,” Bowles said.

Bowles has been criticized as being too dry and generic in his interviews and press conferences. But he was talking with more sense of urgency in Indy than he has in recent memory.

Bowles was sounding a bit more like Arians and it was actually quite refreshing.

Keep it up, Todd.

FAB 5. Todd Bowles Needs A Quicker Trigger Finger In 2025

Falcons WR Darnell Mooney and Bucs CB Tyrek Funderburk and former ILB K.J. Britt – Photo by: USA Today

Fans’ issues with Todd Bowles are well documented. He gets faulted for being too stoic and calm on the sidelines (that won’t change), doesn’t call timeouts in the first half (that might change), and is slow to make the necessary changes on the depth chart.

That must change in 2025.

There have been instances where Bowles has kept inept starters in the lineup for far too long and the results have been costly. Luke Goedeke was struggling mightily at left guard during his rookie season, and he just about single-handedly cost Tampa Bay in a loss at Pittsburgh as Steelers defensive tackle Cameron Heyward wrecked the game. He was finally benched two games later with the Bucs’ record sliding down to 3-4.

Bowles kept believing in linebackers Devin White and K.J. Britt and kept them in the starting lineup for far too long over the past few seasons. The same can be said for outside linebacker Joe Tryon-Shoyinka.

And last year, Bowles kept undrafted rookie free agent cornerback Tyrek Funderburk in the game against the Falcons for too long before benching him. Kirk Cousins had thrown three touchdowns by halftime in the team’s 31-26 loss at home.

Bowles should have better options this year to turn to, as general manager Jason Licht has done a better job of stocking the team’s depth with veterans than he did a year ago. He needs to be just as sick of poor, sub-par play on the field as he is of injured players, and show the same little patience.

If someone is having a bad day at the office, show a sense of urgency and get them off the field. Something tells me that Bowles will be a little less tolerant this year in this area.

At least I hope that’s the case.

All in all, Todd Bowles has won the offseason in my opinion.

Now let’s see if he can win more than 10 games during the season – and advance further than the Wild Card round.