The Buccaneers began last season 5-1 and were 6-2 before their off week. It was all downhill from there.
Tampa Bay lost seven of its last nine games, finishing 8-9 and out of the postseason. It was the first time since 2020 the Bucs didn’t win the NFC South.
Todd Bowles, though, kept his job and will get a fifth season in Tampa.
At the NFL owners meetings this week, owner Joel Glazer gave Bowles a vote of confidence.
“I think we had some significant challenges we had to deal with last year,” Glazer said, via Matt Matera of the Pewter Report. “It was unfortunate down the stretch -- frustrating down the stretch -- but you see week in and week out, this team plays hard for Todd. Nobody lays down. You have the odd game where things don’t quite go your way, but every game until the final whistle, these players are fighting, fighting, fighting.”
Bowles is 35-33, and despite his three division titles, the Bucs have winning records in only two of his four seasons. They have double-digit wins just once since Bowles replaced Bruce Arians, who won the Super Bowl in 2020.
Glazer said no one wants to win more than Bowles.
“I’d say as a franchise, everybody’s goal is to win the Super Bowl every year,” Glazer said. “That’s your hope, but only one team does win the Super Bowl every year. In any given season you’ve got to look at the season, look at how things went, look at where the franchise is at, look at the totality of the situation as year in and year out. That’s how you evaluate things. Last season started out great – didn’t end so well. Obviously, we were disappointed. Obviously, our fans were disappointed, but there’s a little more to it.
“Every team has injuries, but there were significant injuries last year at significant positions. There were a lot of close games down the stretch that didn’t go our way. But we’re trying to build a championship team. You can try and throw a dart every year -- or you can try and build a Super Bowl winning team. We feel like we had a great team and we’re constantly building, building, building -- adding to the foundations that we have.”
Offseason programs will start getting underway around the NFL next week.
The ten teams that hired new coaches this offseason will be eligible to start working with their players on Monday, April 6. The Ravens are the only team that has set that as their first day of work while the Cardinals, Falcons, Bills, Browns, Raiders, Dolphins, Giants, Steelers and Titans have set Tuesday as their opening day.
All of those teams will also be able to hold a voluntary minicamp later in the spring. Every team is also scheduled to hold a rookie minicamp and a mandatory minicamp over the course of the next few months.
The first two weeks of work for all teams is limited to meetings, strength and conditioning, and physical rehabilitation only. The three-week second phase allows for on-field work, but no full-speed team drills while the third OTA phase allows for team drills, but there is no live contact allowed at any point in the offseason.
Most of the 22 teams with returning coaches will be opening their offseason programs on April 20 or 21. The Broncos have set May 4 as their first day.
Plenty of teams are looking to build new stadiums or renovate their current ones. Add the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the list.
Via the Tampa Bay Times, the Buccaneers plan to meet next week with the Tampa Sports Authority to discuss a renovation of Raymond James Stadium. The project is expected to cost roughly $1 billion.
The facility opened in 1998. Ownership has said upgrades are needed to position Tampa to host another Super Bowl and/or the college football championship.
The report indicates that a full renovation would require the Buccaneers to spend a season elsewhere. The most likely destination is Orlando’s Camping World Stadium, which will accommodate the Jaguars in 2027.
Ultimately, the renovation comes down to whether and to what extent the state will pay for it, and whether and to what extent the Buccaneers will.
The Buccaneers waived wide receiver Jaden Smith on Thursday, according to the NFL’s transactions wire.
Smith, 24, signed with the team as an undrafted free agent out of Nevada in 2025. He won a job with a tryout in the team’s rookie minicamp.
He was injured in training camp and started and finished his rookie season on injured reserve.
Smith also played college ball at Montana State and Tarleton State before finishing at Nevada. In 45 total games with those three programs, he caught 138 passes for 2,100 yards and 20 touchdowns.
After setting career highs with 62 catches and 849 yards in 2024, Smith earned All-Mountain West Conference honorable mention honors.
Veteran linebacker Anthony Walker will not be back for a 10th season in the NFL.
Walker announced his retirement on Thursday via a post on his Instagram account.
Walker played at Northwestern before being drafted by the Colts in the fifth round in 2017. He spent four seasons in Indianapolis and had 343 tackles, 3.5 sacks, three interceptions, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries during his time with the team.
The Browns signed Walker in 2021 and he spent three seasons in Cleveland. He had 170 tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in that action.
Walker wrapped up his career by playing for the Dolphins and the Buccaneers over the last two seasons.
