Running back Rachaad White has spent the last four seasons with the Buccaneers and that time has left him with some clear opinions about how the team is being run.
One thing White believes should change is how much responsibility head coach Todd Bowles carries on gamedays. Bowles calls the team’s defense in addition to overseeing the whole effort and White said during an appearance on the Loose Cannons podcast that he thinks everyone would be better served by Bowles handing that duty off to someone else.
“You can clip this or whatever, but it is what it is. I’m just being real,” White said, via PewterReport.com. “I do feel like coach Bowles, I do think it would be easier on him. I do think he should let somebody else call defense and he just be a head coach. I feel like he’d probably be better off by doing that so he can just focus on really just the head coaching job, and just trust that he has the right defensive staff and things like that.”
The Bucs dismissed two assistants and had a third retire after finishing 20th in points allowed during the 2025 season, but there’s been no indication that they’ll be hiring a traditional defensive coordinator. They are looking for new offensive and special teams coordinators, however, and White said he wonders if you should “just get a new everything” if that’s the case.
White added he understood why the Bucs didn’t decide to totally clean house, but noted it’s “tough” to rebuild a staff on the fly. White may not be there to see the result since he’s set for free agency this offseason and the bluntness of his assessment of where things stand may not do much to help his chances of returning.
