Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans were the 'Leonardo DiCaprio Pointing' meme while watching the Eagles blowout the Chiefs in Super Bowl 59 on Sunday. Almost five years to the day after the Bucs did it first, Philly took a blowtorch to Kansas City's offense and, in the process, ended the team's bid for a historic three-peat.
It was a biblical beatdown, one that harkened back to Super Bowl 55 when Todd Bowles' defense dismantled the Legion of Zoom and held the most potent offense in the league out of the endzone. Despite what the Eagles did, Tampa Bay's destruction of Kansas City still reigns supreme but there's a lot the Bucs can come away from the Super Bowl with to help put themselves in a position to hoist another Lombardi Trophy soon.
Notably, the lack of a pass rush held Tampa Bay back this year and the Eagles showcased a perfect candidate to potentially help the Bucs out with in free agency.
Josh Sweat is a perfect free agent target for the Buccaneers, but will he get too expensive after Super Bowl 59?
A number of players who just won the Super Bowl are set to become free agents when the new league year begins, but the only one the Buccaneers are circling is defensive end Josh Sweat. He's already been linked to Tampa Bay as a potential target, and his performance in Super Bowl 59 only further makes that case.
Sweat finished the game with 2.5 of the Eagles' six sacks, and logged three quarterback hits on Patrick Mahomes. He also finished just a tackle shy of the team lead, which Zach Braun managed to do with seven total tackles on the night.
It was a dominant performance from Sweat, the kind that the Bucs should absolutely take notice of. Tampa Bay's pass rush was abysmal last year, with Yaya Diaby and Calijah Kancey only able to do so much, while Shaq Barrett was unable to provide a spark after returning late in the year.
That's been an area of the defense in need of improvement for a while, and it was one of the biggest things that held the team back last year. Bowles did all he could to try and run the style of defense that won Tampa Bay a Super Bowl, but even if everyone had been healthy the lack of edge pressure would have still been a problem.
Sweat naturally fits that need, and would be the kind of instant upgrade that could turn things around in a hurry. It wouldn't be unlike when the Bucs signed Barrett back in 2019 only to watch him have an All-Pro season that year before earning himself a fat new contract for his major role in winning a Super Bowl a season later.
The only difference is Sweat is hot off a title run, where Barrett was a few years removed and more of a flier at the time.
Something else to consider is whether or not he might have priced himself out of Tampa Bay's comfort zone. Sweat was already on a $10 million contract and his market value before the Super Bowl was in the $56 million over three years range. The price of that brick probably went up after his performance on Sunday against the Chiefs, which might push him beyond where the Bucs are able to afford him.
We've seen Tampa Bay move things around to make money work in the past, though, and finding elite pass rush help is a premium worth paying. Myles Garrett has already been tossed out as a potential fit, and the Maxx Crosby trade rumors aren't far behind, which means entertaining Sweat as a pricey free agent target shouldn't be dismissed.
The Bucs have a lot of decisions to make this offseason when it comes to meaningfully improving the roster, and Sweat is name worth keeping an eye on.
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