Sooner than we've seen this entire decade, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' offseason has arrived.
That's what happens when a team that starts 6-2 ends up losing seven of its last nine games and finishes with a losing record. The collapse in Tampa was historic and swift, and it leaves the team with a ton of questions to answer in the offseason.
Some bittersweet silver lining: ending the season so soon means there's time for the Bucs to figure things out. There's no rush to find answers when the questions are so critical to ensuring the team doesn't continue to slide backward and erase much of the progress made over the last few seasons.
It's going to be a busy offseason for the Bucs, one filled with necessary change, but the first step is figuring out which questions are the most pressing and need to get moved to the top of the priority list.
Biggest offseason questions the Buccaneers need to start thinking about now
Who replaces Todd Bowles as head coach?
A secondary question to this is whether the Bucs even fire Bowles, which isn't the slam dunk many think it is.
There's no question the Bucs flamed out, and that Bowles needs to be held accountable for the historic collapse. Taking a 6-2 start and turning it into an 8-9 losing season is inexcusable, but the question is whether the Glazer's deem it fireable.
Chances are they don't, but if the Bucs do move on from Bowles then they'd better feel strongly about his replacement. It's a bad year to need a head coach, as the crop of candidates isn't as strong as it was a year ago.
Klint Kubiak has been a popular name, but the Bucs won't be alone in trying to pry him away from Seattle. Jesse Minter is the hottest name this cycle, but he'd be another defensive-minded head coach.
If the Glazers are looking for an established head coach, then Mike McCarthy could make sense but he's likely to be a top candidate for other jobs -- including the opening in Atlanta. John Harbuagh falls under the same category, but neither fit the mold of a younger offensive mind.
The point is that it's easy to want Bowles gone, but a lot harder to find a replacement. That's not to say it's impossible, and the Bucs have found success in the past with being ahead of the curve with guys such as Liam Coen or Dave Canales.
What happens if Todd Bowles remains head coach in 2026?
One way or another changes need to be made. If the Bucs ultimately decide that Bowles won't be fired then some major changes need to happen underneath him on his coaching staff.
A dream scenario seems to be Bowles giving up play call duties on defense, something that has been a thorn in the side for many since he became head coach. It's a tough one to figure out, as nobody knows Bowles defensive schemes better than him, but bringing in a full-time defensive coordinator would mean allowing changes to be made.
That's a tough ask, even if it's probably the right one to make.
Pushing Bowles into a pure head coaching role would alleviate a lot of stress all over the place. It would allow him to focus solely on making sure the right pieces are on the board while potential star coordinators run things on the field alongside Bowles' input.
It's never easy asking a coach to give up certain duties, especially when Bowles has such a tight grip on the defense. Even if this doesn't happen, it seems like pressure will be applied on Bowles to make major changes to his staff, and he'll likely abide in the name of getting one more season to get things back on track.
Will Baker Mayfield get a contract extension this offseason?
This one isn't as pressing as some of the other things the Bucs need to do, but it's worth pondering at some point. Baker Mayfield's contract runs through the end of 2026, so while nothing needs to happen this offseason, opting not to extend him would mean he enters next year with free agency looming on the horizon.
It's not the biggest deal in the world, but it's one that could come back to bite the Bucs in the future. We all remember the cloud that hung over the team after failing to get something done with Mike Evans before the 2024 season, and having that lingering in the background with Baker wouldn't exactly helpful.
There's also a chance his price goes up. Until the team crashed and burned over the last few months, Baker was leading MVP conversations thanks to his elite play. Some might argue the team should gamble that he won't return to that level and can't overpay him, but that's ignoring a number of different factors as well as actively betting against your own team.
Baker has changed the culture in Tampa Bay, and while things haven't always been easy he's often the reason they're in a position to win games. He's immensely valuable to everything working, and we've seen the Bucs get ahead of contract talks with key players before. It's an awkward time to be thinking about that given the way the season ended, but it's also not something that should get totally ignored.
Does Mike Evans return for a 13th season?
It seems like all signs are pointing toward Lavonte David calling it a career, which would leave Mike Evans as the last remaining OG from the 2010s teams left standing. He'll likely be reuniting with Lavonte in Canton one day, but for now all Bucs fans care about is whether Evans will be back with the team next year.
He's a free agent this offseason, which puts slightly more pressure on the situation but it's hard to see him leaving. It's not a question of if Evans will pick another team over the Bucs, it's whether or not he'll decide to ride off into the sunset.
While he's certainly earned his retirement, it's hard to see Evans wanting to go out on the down note last season presented. He missed a chunk of games due to a broken clavicle, something that brought his streak of 1,000 yard seasons to an end. The overall lack of success he team had also isn't a fitting way to send Evans off, which could motivate him to come back.
One thing Bucs fans probably don't have to worry about is Evans leaving for another team. That ship sailed two years ago, and he's this close to achieving his dream of spending his entire career with one team. The only question is whether that career is already over, or if No. 13 has a 13th season in him.
Where is the first place Jason Licht spends to try and fix things?
So much is going to be made about Todd Bowles in the immediate aftermath of the season ending, but the bigger job is figuring out ways to fix everything else that went wrong for the Bucs this season.
A common refrain among fans has been how much better the team would have been if they had kept Liam Coen, but that's a little reductive. The offense is likely much more effective, but Coen as head coach -- or anyone, really -- doesn't change the fact that injuries and poor play exposed serious flaws on the roster that go beyond coaching.
The Bucs opted to not invest in linebacker help specifically because they believed SirVocea Dennis could play at a high level. That didn't happen, and the flimsy plan quickly fell apart in ways that compounded other problems on defense.
Offensive line play was a mess all season, too. Injuries played a factor, but guys like Graham Barton failed to live up to standards and the impact was felt. The 49ers were able to overcome injuries but there's a much better infrastructure there than what we saw in Tampa, which is what Jason Licht absolutely has to fix this offseason.
The Bucs will have around $37 million in cap space this offseason, and that's before the front office restructures deals to free up more money. Missing the playoffs also gives Tampa Bay the No. 15 pick in the draft, a spot that should allow them to land a premium prospect or use it as trade bait to acquire an established player.
Licht brilliantly navigated the Bucs out of the post Tom Brady era, but that was just the beginning. Some notable whiffs on draft picks and free agents helped contribute to what went wrong in 2025, and the biggest job the front office has this offseason is figuring out ways to make sure the right team is in place no matter who the head coach ends up being.