The Tampa Bay Buccaneers need to go into the 2026 NFL season both infuriated and embarrassed by their performance in the 2025 campaign. It was all there for the taking for Tampa Bay, especially in the NFC South, and chalking up what happened in the second half of the season to injuries is a level of complacency this team cannot afford to have.
Because even with the injuries, the Buccaneers had such a big lead on the Carolina Panthers in the NFC South and still had a more talented roster than their hated rivals. There should have been no universe in which the Bucs collapsed that badly down the stretch of the regular season and ceded the division title and a playoff spot to Bryce Young and former Bucs coordinator David Canales.
But that's exactly what transpired. In his latest ranking of all the NFC rosters, Lou Scataglia of NFL Spin Zone served Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans a reminder that they are the team to beat in the division, not Carolina. Not only did he rank the Bucs as having the best roster in the NFC South, but he ranked the actual division winners as having the second worst roster in the entire NFC, which is quite jarring indeed.
The Buccaneers need to be the best in the division
Now, the Buccaneers need to be humble enough to also note that their roster, in a vacuum in the NFC, was only eighth overall and still needs to be better in order to truly compete at a Super Bowl level, so the Super Bowl contender status they got in the first half of the 2025 campaign was likely an overinflation to begin with.
But comparing the Buccaneers roster quality to the Carolina Panthers 53 men, it is clear that there is a big gap that favors Tampa Bay, which, again, makes it all the more inexplicable that they lost all control of the division title with a series of putrid performances, including that embarrassment to Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday Night Football.
The Buccaneers are better in just about every position on the roster than the Panthers, and they have a better roster this year than last year after nailing some potentially huge picks in the draft with young, hungry incoming defensive stars like Rueben Bain Jr., Josiah Trotter, and Deionte Scott who all fit what Todd Bowles wants from his defense this season to near perfection. They can't lose out to Carolina again.
Add us as a preferred source on Google