There are so many issues plaguing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers right now that listing them all would be a nearly impossible task. But clearly, a team that has sunk all the way from potential Super Bowl contenders to the defintion of overall mediocrity at 7-7 is in a full blown crisis mode, and with how poorly they have been playing in a few short weeks, mediocrity may be a word that flatters them.
Head coach Todd Bowles has clearly wore out his welcome in Tampa Bay, if he were ever welcome in the first place. A failure of a coach who has been mediocre, at best, every where he has went, Bowles has completely fallen apart as the Buccaneers head coach, and the team has clearly turned against him. In a few short weeks, his time at the helm will most likely be mercifully done.
But even as the season is not over for the Bucs, despite their best efforts with pathetic losses to inferior NFC South rivals the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons in back to back games, and firing Bowles is only the first order of business, the first actual roster move of the 2026 NFL free agency period for Tampa Bay is already obvious.
The Buccaneers have no star power there
Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht needs to bring in a pass rusher. And preferably two. The Buccaneers have more needs across their roster than just pass rush, particularly on Todd Bowles's wreckage of a defense, but it is obvious to anyone who knows a thing about football that you cannot come anywhere close to contending for a Super Bowl with a pass rush as inept as Tampa Bay's.
Here is how bad the Buccaneers pass rush is. Aside from the fact that they were so desperate as to sign a player who has not played a meaningful snap in years in Jason Pierre-Paul, the raw statistics are staggeringly awful. The Buccaneers only have one player this season with five sacks in 14 games, and that is leading edge rusher YaYa Diaby with six. Vita Vea, a big old defensive lineman whose main job is to suck blockers up, is the only other player with double digit QB hits.
Diaby is the only player on the Buccaneers averaging even a QB hit per game, and even that statistic flatters him. While Diaby is a good player, he is very inconsistent and has no help. He is more of a rotational piece or a secondary option at best rather than a team's top pass rusher, and the next best two edge rushers on the Buccaneers are so bad they are only combining for 5.5 sacks. If Licht does not address this need first and foremost in the spring, the 2026 will be a lost season no matter what Baker Mayfield does (or does not ) do under center.