Bucco Bruce Arians Influence Could Return
January 25th, 2024
“Hey Todd, if you hire one of my guys, I’ll come back to practice.”
(Former) Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dave Canales getting hired to be head coach of the Carolina Panthers today opens an interesting possibility.
The Bucs need an offensive coordinator and probably would love to have an in-house replacement. Reason No. 1 is that Todd Bowles loves his assistant coaches, and it would be hard to hire an outsider offensive coordinator and tell him that he can’t bring/hire assistants.
Second, there’s no doubt that the current offense suits Baker Mayfield, and the Bucs probably don’t want to stray too far off that course.
Bucs quarterbacks coach Thad Lewis, the 36-year-old former NFL QB, was a guy hired by Bucco Bruce Arians and Arians was public in noting that Lewis was a future playcaller and would be groomed for that role with Tampa Bay.
NFL Network reported today that the Raiders asked the Bucs to interview Lewis for their open offensive coordinator gig.
Joe assumes Lewis will get an interview with the Bucs and be endorsed by Mayfield. That’s very intriguging since Lewis, hired as a Bucs intern in 2020 and promoted in 2021 to assistant receivers coach, was schooled under the No Risk It; No Biscuit philosophy of Arians. But he also knows the radically different current Bucs offense.
Arians has been somewhat estranged for months. He’s done very little media this season, and while he officially remains a paid “Senior Advisor” to Bucs general manager Jason Licht, Joe has been told that Arians isn’t really working much or in any consistent capacity.
With Canales gone, Joe expects Arians pick up the phone and lobby for his guy Lewis.
Arians is an extremely loyal guy, and Joe’s been told that Arians was upset for a long time after Bucs Super Bowl playcaller Byron Leftwich, and other former Arians assistants, were fired following the 2022 season.
January 25th, 2024 at 12:54 pm
Uggggh
January 25th, 2024 at 12:55 pm
Or….how about one of these guys:
Mark Brunell (QB Coach for the Lions)
Jay Gruden
Brian Griese (69ers QB coach)
Rob Calabrese
James Urban
Ben Bennett (lol)
January 25th, 2024 at 12:57 pm
hmmmm, Go Bucs. Let Bowles go….
January 25th, 2024 at 12:58 pm
Let’s promote Thad & hope he gets a HC position next year for another couple of picks
January 25th, 2024 at 12:59 pm
Bring back Lefty! Ha ha!
January 25th, 2024 at 12:59 pm
Is it true th
January 25th, 2024 at 12:59 pm
Baker will be on his, ____ OC now? Good luck to Canales, if he makes it a full season, it’ll be a miracle.
January 25th, 2024 at 1:00 pm
Could we please use Arians paycheck to hire some free agents. Much more bang for the buck.
January 25th, 2024 at 1:00 pm
17 points per game here we come!
January 25th, 2024 at 1:00 pm
Is it true that the panthers traded a subway tuna sandwhich and cool ranch domino’s for Kyle Trask?
January 25th, 2024 at 1:00 pm
Bring back Leftwich! Just kidding. I’d claw my own eyeballs out. Just focus on building a suffocating defense so we can win 6-3 every week.
January 25th, 2024 at 1:01 pm
Lefty gone make a comeback!
January 25th, 2024 at 1:04 pm
Well certainly very interesting choice by Teper. In my opinion I don’t think Canales , while promising future candidate is quite ready for that role. One only has to look as his development as an offensive coordinator to see he has much to grow there much less a head coach. It would seem he will need time to grow into his new position with Carolina. I don’t see Teper having that kind of patience from his actions in the past.
So without some patience by the owner , I believe this unfortunately will be a very negative experience for a very likable Mr Canales. Good luck with that owner Sir.
January 25th, 2024 at 1:07 pm
@Rusty Shackleford
“Or….how about one of these guys:”
I am a firm believer in the McVay offense. It does not require Tyreek Hill or Deebo Samuels to make it work like the Kyle Shanahan offense. It is heavy on the QB play action and arm strength. These are the passing game coordinators and QB coaches I thought would allow us to maintain relatively the same offense as this year.
Green Bay’s QB Coach – Tom Clements (LaFleurs offense is very similar since he was McVay’s OC in LA)
Seattle ‘s QB Coach – Greg Olson (also previously came from Rams). I think he would prefer Tampa and Baker over Geno and a wandering Seahawks team.
Minnesota QB Coach – Chris O’Hara (previous on Rams team)
Minnesota OC – Wes Phillips (previously on Rams team), he may want to move to Tampa especially if Cousins splits
Also Luke Getsy fired from Bears as OC also came from Green Bay with LaFleur’s staff. He utilizes similar offense.
January 25th, 2024 at 1:10 pm
Good ol Bruce. He is such a front runner. If times get tough, bruce will surely go into hiding again.
January 25th, 2024 at 1:11 pm
I agree with you David Kilmer. Canales is too green and will likely get fired along with his GM buddy because Tepper is an ass. Even if you have a strong contract, Tepper is fine firing someone and losing millions just to get someone else. FYI, Frank Reich is receiving $25,000 a day until the $36 million guaranteed contract is paid off. Maybe that’s what Canales did, got a massive guaranteed contract and knows if he is fired, he is set for life and will get another job.
January 25th, 2024 at 1:19 pm
I wish another team would hire Bowles away from us. Whatever.
January 25th, 2024 at 1:20 pm
Prediction: We will promote Thad Lewis to OC and next year Carolina will hire him as HC after they fire Canales.
January 25th, 2024 at 1:25 pm
Bring in Bruce Arians as OC under Bowles. Ha Ha or John Gruden?
January 25th, 2024 at 1:34 pm
Why cant bruce just come back but as an OC he can just sit in the booth like monken does for baltimore
January 25th, 2024 at 1:38 pm
Sounds like Baker’s agent has even more ammo to negotiate Baker’s next contract. But from watching Baker closely since 2018, I’ve found that if you’re loyal to him he’s loyal to you. So I don’t think he’s going anywhere. He seems to have found a home. Same for Evans.
As far as the offense goes, it doesn’t matter who they hire as the new OC since it only makes sense for a lot of the core elements of the offense to stay in place.
If that doesn’t happen, Baker has proven that he’s a quick study.
January 25th, 2024 at 1:40 pm
Kliff Kingsbury?
January 25th, 2024 at 1:44 pm
Ariens only won cause of Brady. Get rid of all Ariens dregs.
January 25th, 2024 at 1:55 pm
Definitely jon gruden! Unfortunately bugs took him off ring of honor and gruden probably would not want to come back.
January 25th, 2024 at 2:17 pm
Canales hire was not good for the Bucs but it was not a HUGE plus for the Panthers. They now have a inexperienced play caller and head coach putting their team firmly in the basement of the NFC South.
Can Bowles hire a competent OC that can average more than 20 points a game?
January 25th, 2024 at 2:23 pm
Glazers, blow this up. Go get Monken from Baltimore.
January 25th, 2024 at 2:52 pm
usmc9498 Says:
“Glazers, blow this up. Go get Monken from Baltimore.”
And trade for Justin Fields on the cheap. Monken showed he can do the Run & Shoot QB. And Fields is built like a fullback. Maybe play action pass from the wishbone.
Let Baker play for the Steelers and Evans play for Houston. Trade Godwin last contract year for picks.
Or invest in a new OC that does not change things too much and run it back with a core team that was pretty close to going to the conference championship. I am reading all the tea leaves say in-house. I am not sure 1 year learning this offense and then taking it over is a good thing. But who knows. No Risk It No Bisquit and Wide Zone could be like Peanut Butter and Chocolate.
January 25th, 2024 at 3:02 pm
OK Terd Bowl, you are lucky you got this far with this team, thank the players and Canales. Now you have to act for once, promote Lewis so you can preserve both Canales and Arians styles, rather than your lame run first nonsense that sukked arse the first 14 games of the year… then your inaction led to quitting on the Bucs-Lions game !
Otherwise you will be gone next year and it will take the bucs years to undo toilet bowl damage.
January 25th, 2024 at 3:16 pm
Unless Arians himself comes back … I’m not too interested, considering how much he tried to push an idiot like Leftwich on everyone.
Also his scheme is totally different – and while I like the Arians scheme when he’s in charge, it’s not a good fit for a QB like Mayfield, if he’s sticking around. Mayfield is way too inaccurate to make all those downfield throws needed in a vertical offense like Arians runs.
No, instead just look in house first. Who knows how to run this scheme – do you have that guy already on staff?
If not, then go grab someone of the Rams staff, or someone fired by Seattle, etc. It’s really not a big deal. Canales did a very good job at OC (although 90% of the people in the comments now panicking about this repeatedly called for him to be fired all season long), but he’s not special – the scheme just worked with the personsell. So get someone else to run the same scheme, and you’re good to go.
January 25th, 2024 at 3:18 pm
Joe … ‘Arians was public in noting that Lewis was a future playcaller and would be groomed for that role with Tampa Bay.’
Of course Byron was also an ex-NFL QB and BA also groomed him to be an OC. Bowles might be a little skittish to travel down that same road twice.
January 25th, 2024 at 3:26 pm
Was it Canales, Bowles (insistence on run first), O-Line or rushers that made the Bucs 31st in rush yards per game and 32nd in yards per rush attempt?
Man the offense sure did have a lot of practice with 3rd and 6+ yards to go this year. The team did rank 10th in 3rd down conversion percentage. That’s pretty good considering how much we ran on first down and how badly our run game was. I like Rashaad White. He was nearly at 1000 yards for the year. Maybe pick another RB that is already familiar with the wide zone run game like Mixon from Cincy. He was Baker’s roommate in college and likely a cap space release. Be nice to have two great RBs to help booster the run game.
January 25th, 2024 at 3:27 pm
There’s a lotta fantasy football thinkers in here, not too many realists.
January 25th, 2024 at 3:53 pm
What are the chances that Canales takes Lewis with him?
January 25th, 2024 at 4:12 pm
From Joe,
Second, there’s no doubt that the current offense suits Baker Mayfield, and the Bucs probably don’t want to stray too far off that course.
——————-
C’mon Joe, an offense that was dead last in rushing YA “suits Baker Mayfield?” Mayfield will do just fine wherever he ends up in 2024. Could easily make the argument that Mayfield did more for Canales than vise versa. This feint praise for Mayfield by saying it was Evans, Godwin, Canales that “rescued” Baker is nonsense. It was Mayfield standing behind a weak OL and poor running game and throwing darts to Evans and Godwin that was the real story in 2023.
January 25th, 2024 at 4:19 pm
My theory is Tepper is a worse version of Daniel Snyder. Good for Dave he’s going to work for a year maybe 2 tops and get paid for 5.
January 25th, 2024 at 4:20 pm
Keep Lewis and fix the pass rush. Nothing changes. Next year Bucs in da Superbowl baby!!!
January 25th, 2024 at 4:51 pm
Hire stinkin Lincoln
January 25th, 2024 at 5:10 pm
Promote Thad Lewis.
January 25th, 2024 at 5:18 pm
Keep running this system, with the same language… Period.
January 25th, 2024 at 5:53 pm
Eric Bieniemy
January 25th, 2024 at 6:23 pm
Todd Bowles is the root of the problem. Everything else is a symptom. Until you fire Bowles, it doesn’t matter who the OC is, because Todd Bowles will get in his way and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory every week. He sux
January 25th, 2024 at 6:33 pm
There are a number of good young coaches that the Bucs can build a future with.
I won’t be surprised if Evans has had enough of the turmoil under Bowles. And i wouldn’t be surprised to see him with Houston next year.
With all the upheaval in the team, now is the perfect time to re-set everything.
First step, cut Bowles loose.
January 25th, 2024 at 7:28 pm
“I won’t be surprised if Evans has had enough of the turmoil under Bowles.”
With no disrespect Davenport are you calling ME13 a liar? He is clearly on the record saying he likes Baker and WANTS to come back!
Let’s preempt the “negative nellies” here. Oh it’s politically correct he had to say that. No he did NOT. If he didn’t feel that way and “had enough”, he would have simply said NOTHING.
Nobody twisted his arm for that support.
January 25th, 2024 at 8:12 pm
Stop the crying little babies.
January 25th, 2024 at 8:45 pm
Gipper Says:
January 25th, 2024 at 4:12 pm
It was Mayfield standing behind a weak OL and poor running game and throwing darts to Evans and Godwin that was the real story in 2023.
——–
Child PLEASE!! It was Baker who lead the team to a 1-6 stretch in the middle of the season. And a season ending interception. We will be better off with Trask.
January 25th, 2024 at 9:04 pm
Still scratching my head why Todd is still the head coach…
January 25th, 2024 at 10:05 pm
I wish Canales the best but given the owners lack of patience I hope Canales has a back up plan.
January 25th, 2024 at 10:07 pm
Don’t care one bit to hear Arians opinion on the matter.
January 25th, 2024 at 10:09 pm
“We will be better off with Trask.”
Because we have seen Kyle lead two NFL teams to the playoffs, win 12 and then 10 games, advancing to the second round. Yeah that Kyle has really put up the numbers in his three years with the Bucs.
Not getting the chance means just that. He hasn’t had a chance so in fairness it’s premature to call him a bust. But a second round draft pick who hasn’t seen the field in 3 years….? He’s the savior? Maybe. I like actual success over MAYBE.
January 25th, 2024 at 10:10 pm
Klint Kubiac
January 25th, 2024 at 10:31 pm
Would Arians put the kobache on someone like Zac Robinson replacing Canales to run the offense for an in-house guy? Robinson being the current Ram’s passing game coordinator, I would think he would be the best fit to build on our current offense assuming. I don’t care for all these flashy retreads that require us to restart the offense all over again. Kingsbury’s offense would bring out the worse in Mayfield in the pro game. Lots of wide open targets in college with the air raid but that’s just trigger bait in the NFL for interceptions. I think Baker wants to stay in this offense. It’s the same that keeps Cousins and Burrows consistently up there. Look what it has done for Love and Burrow’s backup Jake Browning.
January 26th, 2024 at 6:53 am
I think Arians loyalty is a good thing in this all about me world we now live in.
However misplaced loyalties can cause a person lots and lots of problems. I have lived long enough to get burned a few times by some very deceitful people. Move on Bruce and by all means support your guy Thad.
Go Bucs!
January 26th, 2024 at 7:03 am
TB loves his assistant coaches.
TB loves the, Yes Sir Men.
Fixed that for you
January 26th, 2024 at 9:29 am
Thad Lewis, former Duke QB that got the most of his very limited abilities… knows both systems… honestly, I’d love that hire if he is truly qualified. Smart, overachiever, worked his way up. I think he’s just about as qualified, or even more, than Canales was. Move him up!
January 26th, 2024 at 2:32 pm
Hello, I just kinda wish Arians would get more involved. His risk it or biscuit would also benefit Baker, as long as the line can get just a little better. Arians knows how to get to the Superbowl and he loves Baker Mayfield. The Quarterback whisperer can be his new title.
January 27th, 2024 at 8:34 am
Joe. I couldn’t comment on last post about compensation for Canales and I know links aren’t allowed so this comment should go straight to moderation… all of my comments do anyways. But I just read that we get no compensation. Can you please look into this?
[It’s correct from what Joe has heard. Canales had to be here for more than a year to get a kickback. — Joe]