Last offseason, not many people expected the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to repeat as NFC South champions. They lost Tom Brady to retirement, after all, and replaced him by signing Baker Mayfield to a one-year deal. Most of the talk about potential division winners surrounded the Saints after they signed Derek Carr, or the upstart Falcons after they added Bijan Robinson.
Of course, we know what happened next. The Bucs came out and won the division anyway, with Mayfield showing great improvement under offensive coordinator Dave Canales. Fast forward to this offseason, and the Bucs are again mostly going overlooked in discussions about the NFC South after the Falcons signed Kirk Cousins and Darnell Mooney to upgrade their offense and hired a new coaching staff to replace Arthur Smith.
Tampa head coach Todd Bowles sees the chatter, and mostly doesn't care.
"We're not trying to win the offseason, we're trying to win the season," Bowles said, per the Tampa Bay Times. "So, our focus will be the same. It fuels a lot of us. It fuels a lot of the players, and we get ready to come back and try to defend our title like we did and just go further in the playoffs. That's all we worry about this time of the year."
The Bucs did undergo some changes of their own this offseason with Canales getting hired as head coach of the division rival Panthers. They brought in former Rams and University of Kentucky offensive coordinator Liam Coen to replace him, and Bowles feels good about the progress that group is making this offseason.
"It's just the offensive coaching staff jelling so quickly with the guys we kept and the guys that [G.M. Jason Licht] has brought in," Bowles said. "It's been a real joy to see. Those guys, when they go in and lock the door, I've got to get on Liam to give them a bathroom break because he doesn't let them out of the meeting room. But they have a real good feel for each other and the chemistry is coming together how you want."
If Coen can help Mayfield build on the success he found under Canales, with the Bucs having retained Mike Evans, the offense could again be better than expected. But Tampa has also made some changes on defense, and Bowles will need to coach that unit up to maintain the results on that side of the ball as well, if the Bucs are to win the division once again.
