The Pewter Plank
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Final Grades for the Buccaneers 2016 Season

By David Harrison

Jan 1, 2017; Tampa, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans cheer as the game against the Carolina Panthers comes to an end at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 1, 2017; Tampa, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans cheer as the game against the Carolina Panthers comes to an end at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports /
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Oct 30, 2016; Tampa, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers punter Bryan Anger (9) punts the ball against the Oakland Raiders during the second half at Raymond James Stadium. Oakland Raiders defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 30-24 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 30, 2016; Tampa, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers punter Bryan Anger (9) punts the ball against the Oakland Raiders during the second half at Raymond James Stadium. Oakland Raiders defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 30-24 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /

SPECIAL TEAMS: D

Here we go. The Bucs traded back into the second-round of the 2016 NFL Draft and picked kicker Roberto Aguayo from Florida State.

If there isn’t enough scrutiny on a kicker in the NFL, try being a high draft pick on top of it. Still, he had a job to do, and most of us know exactly how it went down.

For the season the rookie made just 71% of his kicks and 94% of his extra points. These numbers place him 18th in the NFL for extra points, and last among qualifying kickers. In fact, the only kicker who had a worse made field goals percentage was the Browns’ Patrick Murray who went 1-for-2 on the season.

In a nutshell, it was bad. There’s hope though, at least for the Bucs fan base there is. Coach Koetter has already announced the team will be bringing in competition at the position during next year’s camp. So college football’s most accurate kicker is going to either have to figure this out, or he’ll be Kyle Brindza before he can spell Sebastian Janikowski.

Now for the good news. Punter Bryan Anger is really, really good, and has recently been re-signed for the next five years.

Spending his first season with the Bucs, Anger finished third in net average with 42.7 yards per punt, and pinned opponents inside their own 20-yard line 37 times while allowing just five touchbacks.

In fact, only 27 of Anger’s punts were even returned meaning nearly 65% of his punts were fair caught or downed by his own teammates.

He accomplished all of this despite the fact he was actually called upon less often than most of his NFL peers considering 18 punters had more kicks than he did in 2016.

If the Bucs have a history of anything it’s defense, and certainly not returning kicks or punts.

This year was more of the same and again the team will be looking to find someone who can be an effective return man for them in 2017.

Adam Humphries showed flashes of ability as a punt returner, but if his role in the offense increases next season, coach Koetter will almost certainly have to find someone new to put back there.

The Josh Huff kick-return experiment was short-lived and totally unsuccessful, and in fact hurt this overall grade similarly to the way Aguayo’s made kicks percentage has.

Must Read: KOETTER FEELS THE NEED FOR SPEED

This will wrap up our season grades and our series for the 2016-17 NFL season.  I hope you enjoyed watching your Bucs run out to a 9-7 finish like I have, and I truly appreciate all who have come back here every week to catch these and comment on them.

The off-season is easing out of the station as it waits for the rest of the league to catch up, but until then we’ll continue bringing you all we can to prepare you for the free-agent madness to come and the NFL Draft just around the corner.

Next: Free Agents the Bucs Must Consider

As always, feel free to reach out and share your grades or thoughts on the grades you see here. Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter anytime!

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