The Tampa Bay Buccaneers surprised a lot of people and disappointed many more within the fan base by electing to stick with Todd Bowles in a complacent move that stood out even more for its shades of cowardice when looking at all the NFL teams that cut ties with their own mediocre coaches.
But even though Bowles was almost inexplicably able to survive a collapse for the ages, there was a wide spread culling of coaches in the Buccaneers building, probably as an asterisk around keeping Bowles. The Bucs are trying to change every other variable around Bowles so he has no choice but to avoid failure.
One of the biggest moves the Bucs made was canning young offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard, giving up on a potentially promising coach because, well, he also made everyone lose all the faith they had in him. Grizzard held back a loaded offense, stifled Baker Mayfield, and did not play into anyone's strengths. He was given the keys to the kingdom by Bowles and proceeded to produce play calling disaster class after disaster class as one of the least effective in his role in the entire NFL.
Buccaneers are going off the beaten path
The Buccaneers are now scouring for replacements, and they have recently made it official that they interviewed two under the radar names for the offensive coordinator vacancy.
They called up Arizona Cardinals quarterbacks coach Israel Woolfork, which, quite frankly, is a little bit baffling. Woolfork could do nothing to help another Oklahoma alumn, Kyler Murray, look any better, and, in fact, you could argue that Woolfork was making him look worse. Woolfork has no real track record of success in the NFL, and it is not like anyone else in the Arizona building - neither Jacoby Brissett nor any of his teammates - can attest to Woolfork helping them. He would be a nothing hire at best and a disaster at worst.
But the other coach they interviewed for the position, Detroit Lions passing game coordinator David Shaw, is far more intriguing. Shaw is actually an incredible coach with a decade of success at Stanford before coming to the NFL briefly to be part of the front office for the Denver Broncos, helping build the team that finished first in the AFC this season in 2025.
Shaw's success in college may not seem like it translates to the NFL, and the Lions had their issues this season without Ben Johnson. But he is an intelligent, deep thinker who leads men and relates well with his players. He is worth interviewing.