For the first time this decade, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are not ending the season as NFC South champions. It's also the first time since 2019 that the team didn't qualify for the playoffs, ending the most successful run in franchise history.
Not exactly the way anyone wanted to celebrate the team's 50th season.
In a vacuum, the season couldn't have ended in a more fitting way. All the Bucs needed to do was win two of their last five games but ended up losing four straight in December. Even after beating the Panthers in Week 18, Tampa Bay's fate came down to a game between the Falcons and Saints.
The Bucs have nobody but themselves to blame, but the way the season went off the rails will no doubt color some of the decision-making the front office needs to do when it comes to determining who will be back next season and who won't.
Buccaneers players who likely played their last down in Tampa Bay
Haason Reddick, OLB
There's no way around this, the Haason Reddick signing was a total bust. For the first time since the Tom Brady era ended, the Bucs took a big swing in free agency and watched the gamble go about as bad as it could have.
It was a good gamble at the time, as Reddick was prime to bounce back and prove his year with the Jets was an anomaly. Unfortunately, the Bucs learned the hard way -- and expensive way -- that Reddick's best years are behind him.
Reddick did improve on his sack total from last year, but that isn't saying much; he ended the regular season with 2.5 sacks. Injuries took him off the field and out of action during the start of the team's midseason slump, which didn't help anything, but it's hard to say Reddick had the sort of impact the Bucs gave him $12 million to provide.
Rachaad White, RB
This has felt inevitable since before the season, when it seemed pretty clear that this would be White's final season in Tampa Bay. His social media posts during the season seemingly confirmed that, with Washington being a potential landing spot, but it's not as messy an ending as it would seem.
White is simply the odd man out in a crowded backfield. Just like we saw Bucky Irving usurp him as the RB1 last year, Sean Tucker is waiting in the wings to take over White's role as the 1B option. It's a strange case of White still being a really decent option, and he'll be a top target in free agency, but there are simply too many mouths to feed in the Bucs' offense.
Teddy Bridgewater, QB
After a half-decade, it's time for a proper reset when it comes to the Buccaneers' backup quarterback situation.
Bridgewater was a late addition and pushed out Kyle Trask, who had been the backup since being drafted in 2021, but it's not as though the Bucs did a thorough search to improve the quarterback room. That can change this offseason, as the team will need to figure something out.
There's a chance Bridgewater is back, but the Bucs have an opportunity to go out and really search for the right guy to back Baker up. It could even lead to a situation where the team tries the Trask route again -- but does it right this time -- by drafting a quarterback to develop.
It's not exactly a robust backup quarterback market this offseason, though, but perhaps it leads us down a path where Jameis Winston makes his return to Tampa.
Jamel Dean, CB
It's hard to say for certain which way this one will break, but it feels like things are leaning toward Jamel Dean not returning next season.
He restructured his contract before the year to hit free agency a year earlier than he would have, which suggests a mutual parting of the ways has been on everyone's mind this whole time. Dean did himself a favor by turning back the clock a bit to get closer to being the guy he was when he signed a $52 million deal back in 2023, so he'll hit the market with the right vibes.
Whether that attracts another team or the two sides decide to run it back is yet to be seen. If there's a coaching change and Todd Bowles' defense isn't installed next season, that could be something that tips the scales but even without that happening this could be a case like what we saw with Carlton Davis III getting a nice contract from the Patriots after a bounce back season last year.
Sterling Shepard, WR
To a lesser extent, Sterling Shepard is in the same boat as Rachaad White. He was mostly productive when given a chance, but even more than the backfield, there are way too many mouths to feed at wide receiver.
We saw the writing on the wall in terms of Shepard's future with the Bucs when Mike Evans returned and the offense was fully healthy. Even if Evans retires this season -- which seems unlikely -- Tampa Bay will head into 2026 with Evans, Chris Godwin, Emeka Egbuka, and Jalen McMillan as its top options.
That's to say nothing of Tez Johnson, who emerged in the role Shepard plays, or who the Bucs might add in the draft or free agency.
Logan Hall, DL
It's been a pretty strange career arc for Logan Hall, who never lived up to the billing of being a top draft pick but started to come into his own down the stretch of this season. He ends the year without much to be too excited about, especially with how underwhelming the Bucs front seven was this season, but he'll hit the market as a solid-to-decent rotational player.
There's a chance the Bucs decide to re-sign him, much like the case with Dean is, especially if it comes down to deciding between Hall and Greg Gaines. Still, the Bucs have had four years of Hall and probably have seen enough to make the call to move on.
Lavonte David, LB
This is the hardest one for everyone in Tampa to stomach, and it's the biggest roster decision that seems to be up in the air.
Lavonte is a franchise icon, and a future Hall of Famer. His career in Tampa has been incredible to watch, and he remains the last man standing from the Dark Ages of the 2010s, having earned his Super Bowl ring even more than Mike Evans did.
All good things come to an end, and it seems in more than one way that David's career is over. The way he walked off the field after Week 18's win, as well as his teary-eyed locker room speech, suggest he knows his final down has been played.
On the field, David showed his age and looked mortal for the first time in his career. There's no shame in that, either, as he's managed to play at an elite level for far longer than most players in the twilight of their careers are capable of, but more than a few times this year it became apparent that Father Time had come for him.
The biggest tragedy about this being the end of the road for David is that the Bucs once again failed to put a succession plan in place. Just like how they failed to set themselves up internally for the post-Brady era, the Bucs don't have a well-groomed linebacker to take the torch from David.
Maybe he comes back for one more rodeo, but it wouldn't be shocking -- and nobody would hold it against him -- if David's playing days are done.