Tampa Bay Buccaneers Power Rankings: Ranking The Best Players on the Bucs’ Roster – Week 1
By Ken Boehlke
Sep 8, 2013; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith (7) is hit as he throws by Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle Gerald McCoy (93) during the third quarter of a game at MetLife Stadium. The Jets won 18-17. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Not surprisingly, there is a whole bunch of movement up and down the rankings after the first real game. The top three remained unchanged as all three proved their worth against the Jets. The biggest jump came from Mason Foster as he played very well in the middle of the solid defensive effort. Davin Joseph took a nose dive down eight places to number 18 after his disastrous return. Three players exited the rankings (Daniel Te’o-Nesheim, Eric Page, and Ted Larsen) to make room for a newcomers (Ahmad Black) and two returns to the rankings (Johnthan Banks, Gabe Carimi)
Previous Rankings: Pre | P1 | P2 | P3 | P4
| Rank | Player | Synopsis | Change |
| 1 | Gerald McCoy | Best player showed up, further separated himself from the rest. | |
| 2 | Vincent Jackson | Even with a difficult matchup, Jackson had a nice opener. Caught biggest pass of the game too. | |
| 3 | Darrelle Revis | Revis Island is back. He was spectacular while out there, now to get the conditioning back. | |
| 4 | Dashon Goldson | Even better than what I expected. Take away the bogus penalty and he was near perfect. | ↑1 |
| 5 | Mason Foster | Looked very much improved from last year. Still a bit to desire in pass coverage though. | ↑7 |
| 6 | Donald Penn | Clearly the best o-lineman on Sunday, really the only one who wasn’t a trainwreck. | ↑2 |
| 7 | Lavonte David | He’d be number 4 if not for the penalty. The Bucs would be 1-0 too. Hate that it happened, but it did. | ↓3 |
| 8 | Mark Barron | Seemed more comfortable to me. Looks like he’s ready to have a solid year next to The Hawk. | ↑1 |
| 9 | Carl Nicks | His absense did not go unnoticed. The sooner the better, but I don’t see it being soon. | ↓2 |
| 10 | Doug Martin | Aside from the TD, which was a gift, he was basically non-existent. Has to be better in Week 2. | ↓4 |
| 11 | Josh Freeman | Performance was closer to a disaster than an average game, but he is certainly not completely to blame. | ↓4 |
| 12 | Akeem Spence | Couple nice plays, but we need a lot more | ↑1 |
| 13 | Mike Williams | Caught a TD, but wasn’t really a factor aside from that play. Expect much more against bad Saint defense. | ↑2 |
| 14 | Jeremy Zuttah | Could have been worse, but could have been a lot better. | ↑2 |
| 15 | Adrian Clayborn | It’s his job to put pressure on the QB when the Bucs don’t blitz. He simply wasn’t in the backfield enough. | ↓1 |
| 16 | Dekoda Watson | Pretty solid game, but nothing too special. | ↑6 |
| 17 | Jonathan Casillas | For the limited use, he played very well. I think he’ll start seeing more plays each week. | ↑6 |
| 18 | Davin Joseph | Not good at all. Run blocking was terrible, and the pass blocking left a lot to be desired. | ↓8 |
| 19 | Leonard Johnson | Got a heavy dose of being “not Revis.” Wasn’t brutal, but Bucs defense needs him to improve. | ↓2 |
| 20 | Johnthan Banks | Thought he played well enough in debut. Never torched, which was a fear of mine coming in. | ↑5 |
| 21 | Demar Dotson | Heard his number far too often. I don’t want to know that Demar Dotson is “False Start #69 offense.” | ↓2 |
| 22 | Da’Quan Bowers | Not once did I think he was going to make a play in the backfield. | ↓4 |
| 23 | Gabe Carimi | Got to play, but didn’t play very well. On the list simply because he started. | ↑3 |
| 24 | Brian Leonard | Did his job pass protecting for the most part. All you can ask for. | ↓4 |
| 25 | Ahmad Black | Didn’t make any mistakes in his 21 plays on the field. | ↑1 |