Buccaneers assistant coach hired away from Tampa Bay

A Tampa Bay Bucaneers assistant coach has been hired away from the team. Although it is not the one many were expecting the Buccaneers to lose.

For the second year in a row, there was a lot of speculation on if the Bucs would lose one of their assistant coaches to the NFL head coaching carousel. Offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich and defensive coordinator Todd Bowles were once again hot names in the streets. However, it appears that both will be staying on for another season, and possibly more if Bruce Arians and company turns over the keys to the kingdom over to one of them.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that the Buccaneers came away completely intact from the new hires. Inside linebackers coach Mike Caldwell will reportedly be joining Doug Pederson’s staff with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Pederson is no dummy, he is a Super Bowl winning coach after all, and the addition of Caldwel is a smart one, and a significant loss for the Bucs.

Since 2019, Caldwell has coached the inside linebackers, and the results have been absolutely outstanding. Lavonte David was always special, but really took another leap later in his career, and the quickness that Devin White turned into a stud was remarkable. Also, it’s worth noting that these two thoroughbreds manning the middle of the defense was arguably the biggest reason the Bucs won Super Bowl LV. That comes down to coaching.

Caldwell played with Pederson on the Philadelphia Eagles, and during his time as a starter there had a reputation as one of the game’s smarter linebackers. He’s also held various linebacker and defensive coaching positions since 2008, primarily with those same Eagles. The Philly connection continues as Caldwell will now be joining Pederson, while staying put in the Sunshine State.

Well the loss of Mike Caldwell to Pederson’s Jags may hurt, he’s absolutely more than deserving of a coordinator position, and we wish him nothing but the best of luck on this future endeavor. Congratulations.