After a rather decent 2023 in which they extended their NFC South championship-winning streak to three years and made it as far as the Divisional Round in the playoffs, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers head into 2024 looking to improve upon the 9-8 record set in 2023 and make a deeper playoff run this time. However, as has happened with all teams, questions have arisen regarding the sustainability of said championship-winning streak and the ability of this roster to produce yet another productive season on the field. These questions hurt the team’s predictions ahead of the new season and must be answered quickly if they want to have any hopes of posting a good 2024 season.
Here are the biggest questions the Buccaneers must face heading into the new season.
Biggest Questions for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2024
Is Baker Mayfield the Answer at Quarterback?
Seventh-year quarterback Baker Mayfield had his best career season in his first year with the Bucs in 2023, posting career-high numbers in completion percentage (64.3%), passing yards (4044), and touchdowns (28), earning himself the trust of the Bucs front office and a three-year, $100 million contract extension ahead of the 2024 season. Everything points to Mayfield being set to be the long-term starting quarterback for Tampa Bay, at least for the duration of his contract.
Now, consistency hasn’t exactly been a huge part of Mayfield’s play in his six years as an NFL quarterback. During his tenure with the Cleveland Browns, he threw a total of 56 interceptions, averaging almost one per game through the four years he was part of the organization. He also had a dismal 2019 season in which he had almost as many interceptions as he had touchdowns, recording 21 interceptions and 22 touchdowns for the year. He definitely seems like he has found his footing as a reliable starter, but it will be on him to follow up his breakout season with an even better 2024 if he wants to continue to be an NFL starter beyond his three-year contract with the Buccaneers.
Will the Offense Improve with a New Offensive Coordinator?
After just one season with the team, offensive coordinator Dave Canales decided to part ways with the Bucs and take a head coaching job with the Carolina Panthers. In response, the Bucs hired former Kentucky Wildcats and Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator, Liam Coen.
Although he does bring a similar offensive scheme to that of Canales to the table, Coen has previously said in an interview with Bucs senior writer Scott Smith that he does want to bring more variety to the running game, as well as implement more presnap motion and shifts to more easily decipher the opposing team’s defensive coverage and put wide receiver Chris Godwin back in the slot receiver role he fulfilled during the team’s Super Bowl run in 2020. Coen also worked for a couple of years with Rams head coach Sean McVay, a coach notorious for completely turning the Rams offense around, turning an offense that was coming off a 2016 season when they scored the league’s lowest total points into the league’s top-scoring offense in 2017. We’ll likely see a heavy influence from McVay’s playbook in Coen’s, which will be an interesting scheme to see play out in the Buccaneers offense. For a defensive-minded head coach like Todd Bowles, Coen seems like the missing piece in the Bucs’ coaching staff. We’ll have to wait and see how his offense performs this season.
Is Graham Barton the Missing Piece in the Offensive Line?
An offense cannot succeed without a solid offensive line. Tampa Bay’s offensive line was among the league’s worst in 2023, partly due to center Ryan Jensen‘s injury, which forced the Bucs to play backup Robert Hainsey at center. Hainsey struggled to fulfill the role, ranking 26th among centers with a 90.7% pass-block win rate and 59.6% run-block win rate. The Bucs noticed these struggles and decided to spend their first-round pick on Duke Blue Devils product Graham Barton, one of the highest-rated offensive linemen in the 2024 draft class. At 6’5″ and 313 lbs, with exceptional technique and agility especially for a player his size, Barton’s presence in the Buccaneers’ O-Line will immediately be felt. However, it must be noted that besides this change at center, the Bucs’ O-Line remains exactly the same as last year. Barton must deliver from day one if they want to improve from the dreadful 2023 numbers, but the rest of the line must also improve their game and adapt to the change to achieve this objective.
Main Image: Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK
