Buccaneers are in a prime position to have top-rated defense in 2021

The Buccaneers could have the top defense in the NFL in 2021. 

While Tom Brady was a huge part of Tampa Bay’s turnaround during their Super Bowl season, the defense was the real x-factor for the Buccaneers. As a unit, the defense struggled from time to time during the regular season, but they played at the highest level when it mattered the most.

In route to one of the most improbable Super Bowl wins in NFL history, the Buccaneer defense was able to keep Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, and Patrick Mahomes from taking over games. One could argue that the year’s best performance came against the best player in the league in the Super Bowl.

Mahomes was running for his life during the entirety of the Super Bowl. The Bucs were able to generate pressure with four men and the secondary played with a swagger that kept one of the top offenses in the league from scoring a touchdown.

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Fortunately, the entire defense that largely won the Super Bowl is coming back in 2021.

Jason Licht and the rest of the front office have put together one of the best performances of the decade for the Buccaneers. The act of bringing back all of the starters on defense is hard enough to pull off on its own, but adding in the big names makes this all the more impressive.

Lavonte David and Shaquil Barrett were the top players at each of their positions on the free-agent market, and other options like Ndamukong Suh are hard to move away from too. The Bucs were able to bring everyone back, and now, the focus is on recreating the dominance from the Super Bowl in 2021.

The dominant group that won the Super Bowl is only getting better with time. The young players like Devin White and most of the secondary have shown major growth since they arrived in the league. Veterans like Lavonte David, William Gholston, and Jason Pierre-Paul set the example that the rest of the unit followed closely.

The Buccaneer defense is growing by the day, especially with Todd Bowles at the head. At the rate that it’s moving and with the prior performances considered, this defensive unit could easily be the best in the NFL in 2021.

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