Among the many, many detractors the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had this offseason none stood uot more than FMIA's Peter King. He's one of the greatest NFL writers to ever do it and carries serious clout when it comes to what he thinks about the goings on in the league.
So when he ranked the Bucs as the second-worst team in the league after the NFL Draft, it helped solidify a narrative that the team was cooked before the season had even started.
To be fair, the odds have been stacked against the Bucs longer than people think. Tom Brady retiring back in February was merely the final straw, as nothing the team did last season suggested they'd be in a position to go any direction other than backward.
Brady left, as did other big pieces of the roster, and the Bucs couldn't make any big moves thanks to a $55 million salary cap problem and over $35 million in dead cap. The bill had come due for chasing a Super Bowl and most assumed the Bucs would simply take their medicine and start to rebuild.
Nothing could be further from the truth two weeks into the season. Tampa Bay is 2-0 and sits atop the NFC South alongside Atlanta and New Orleans. Baker Mayfield is outclassing Patrick Mahomes, the defense hasn't allowed more than 17 points in a game, and things look completely different from what was expected.
We're still early in the season, but already some of the doubters are starting to get converted and are walking back their original predictions.
NFL Power Rankings: Peter King ranks Buccaneers as a Top 10 team
King was the first to truly bury the Buccaneers this offseason, but he's also the first to admit he was wrong. In his latest FMIA column, King revealed who he thinks the top teams in the league are and have the Buccaneers right there alongside the likes of Philadelphia, Baltimore, Kansas City, and Dallas.
"Biggest deal about the Bucs so far: They’ve held two teams to 17 points apiece, and they have zero turnovers. Keep that up, or close to it, and a Wild Card home playoff game awaits," King wrote.
Be careful, you might get whiplash from that complete 180 that King pulled.
It was tough to hear such a respected voice get so brutal about the Bucs in the offseason, but it's not hard to see why King was so down on Tampa Bay. He wasn't the only one, but the narrative that the team was going to be garbage without Brady is something Mayfield has admitted is motivating them to prove everyone wrong.
Two weeks into the season it looks like the Bucs are doing exactly that. We're going to learn a lot about this team in the coming weeks, though, as tough matchups against the Eagles, Saints, and Lions are on the horizon.
For now, though, it's nice to see the team's efforts being rewarded by the doubters starting to put thier hand up and admit they spoke too soon.