Bucs Roster Ranked Sixth-Best In The NFL
April 17th, 2025
Bucs GM Jason Licht
Now this should draw a few smiles at One Buc Palace, and perhaps encourage Team Glazer to drop a contract extension in the lap of Buccaneer Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht.
TheAthletic.com, a New York Times property behind a paywall, crafted a data model to rank every NFL team’s pre-draft roster.
The good news is the Bucs ranked sixth in the NFL and third in the NFC behind the Eagles and Lions.
The bad news is data guru sportswriter Austin Mock, author of the project, was stunned Tampa Bay ranked so well. “Tampa Bay has the third-best roster in the NFC? This is the first true surprise of the list,” he wrote before elaborating on the roster ranking.
Hey, another media member dissing the Buccaneers. Whaddya know!
One day Team Glazer will realize that negative-trending perceptions of the Bucs represent a failure of many layers of the organization.
Joe was intrigued by Mock’s modeling, which had only 12 teams above average when it came to their roster quality.
Regardless, Joe is not surprised. Somehow, the Bucs are a stacked roster despite Licht entering the 2023 season with a whopping $80+ million in dead salary cap money. It’s a testament to the Bucs’ astute drafting, player development and the jackpot acquisition of Baker Mayfield.
April 17th, 2025 at 11:20 pm
“ One day Team Glazer will realize that negative-trending perceptions of the Bucs represent a failure of many layers of the organization.”
I wish I had a clue what that means, in an article that ranks us # 6 in the league.
It’s schizophrenic. Or I am.
April 17th, 2025 at 11:34 pm
The team already has enough talent. The draft will bring more.
With a full time HC and a full time DC, this team would have at least 7 more wins over the past two years including playoffs. This is the one blind spot in Jason’s vision.
April 17th, 2025 at 11:40 pm
Just read that the slimy Saints had both of their OTs retire…
April 17th, 2025 at 11:40 pm
^ He means they do a poor publicity job of promoting the team, demanding respect, showcasing players who would get more recognition on other teams like Mike Evans, Lavonte David, etc.
I’d like to see more info how the data was compiled to get these rankings. I would think we should be somewhere between #5 – #10, so 6 seems accurate.
April 17th, 2025 at 11:49 pm
“One day Team Glazer will realize that negative-trending perceptions of the Bucs represent a failure of many layers of the organization.“
Deep Thoughts by ‘This Joe’. Write more about this without getting in the doghouse
April 17th, 2025 at 11:53 pm
When it comes to the Bucs and media/number crunchers that is the reality vs perception in a nutshell!
Wow… everything points to this being the 6th best roster and a really good team, how did that happen?
Guy can’t believe his eyes and now he doesn’t believe the numbers. 6th best roster and number 13 in the consensus power rankings… maybe these guys do know something and our HC/DC is dragging us down! Haha jk, relax Team Todd.
Bucs still + money to win division by the way. For the last 3 years, if this team could have found more top of their game consistency we could have been robbing Vegas due to this constant disrespect.
April 18th, 2025 at 12:09 am
Too much weight on Godwin and Evans. Godwin will miss 8 games and Evans will pull his hammy and miss another 4-6. Bucs desperately need a WR.
April 18th, 2025 at 12:17 am
Detroits arrow is pointing down imo.
We are just beginning our ascent….. We will be much improved next year and could win it all.
2nd year with Grizz and even more draft additions (defense and wr’s) and we could be DOMINANT 🤘🏼
April 18th, 2025 at 12:21 am
jeff:
if not drafting one, just sign dj chark (for insurance)
been saying it for a minute now
and let’s not forget kyzir white
April 18th, 2025 at 12:27 am
I notice these media members always underrate us but they never tell us who is better and give a logical explanation.
April 18th, 2025 at 1:59 am
LOL 🙂
The Athletic had the audacity to not rank us tenth?!? And Last in the NFC!?!
The nerve of some of these guys! Love this stuff! every year these so called experts stick there foot in it and every year Jason, Todd and the dudes prove them wrong. Yet here they are again…Gotta love it! What a bunch of idiots!
Go Bucs!
April 18th, 2025 at 4:54 am
Well said, garro!
I was thinking the same thing. We are not one hit wonders. We are right there again and again and again. Go Bucs!
April 18th, 2025 at 5:14 am
Talent ranked third???? Who are these guys, some kids with keyboards in a basement somewhere????
Maybe on offense, but clearly not the whole roster. We’re turning over a significant amount of the line up on defense. On special teams we don’t have a punter, a punt return guy or a kick return guy.
April 18th, 2025 at 6:55 am
16 teams should be above average….
April 18th, 2025 at 7:13 am
Front four? New here? Not a Bucs fan for sure.
We signed a top ten punter. Bucs had a lot of injuries on defense last year. Tell me how many defensive players we have as cutrent starters that will lose their starting jobs too rookies? It won’t be many. We will be adding depth in this draft and maybe some rotational players. I don’t think we add more than one or two starters. If we add three, it’s not because our defensive roster sucks, it’s because we did really well in the draft. Only looking at how the defense did last year but not looking at who’s back healthy and who we signed in the offseason is jus ignorant.
April 18th, 2025 at 8:42 am
It’s not how good your roster is. It’s how you deploy them during the game. Just ask the Jet fans! That’s been the biggest problem here the past several years. On offense, the talent shined even with a first time offensive coordinator!! On defense, that’s where the problem has existed. Injuries? Sure, of course all teams get them. Soft zone coverages? Lack of a consistent edge rush? Ding ding ding! Perhaps this will be resolved this season. Then there’s the poor game management and use of the game clock. Add some quality depth and a starter or two then things will improve. If not perhaps a new defensive coordinator/ scheme may be in order! We’ll see. I’m hopeful!
April 18th, 2025 at 9:09 am
Those rankings are based on the projected margin of victory against an average NFL opponent whatever that means.
Bucs are @ +2.6 as are the Packers. Falcons are -0.7 and Panthers are -1.8 which makes the spread in those contests a little better than a Field Goal and the Saints @ -3.3 just under a Touchdown. As these numbers are based mostly on scoring in 2024 when you have a 51-27 Win and what comes out as an additional game worth of scoring at 24-0 the numbers get skewed.
Fortunately the Bucs have a QB that can keep them in games but on the downside will keep the opponent in the game too. One turnover resulting in points can make the difference. As long as the Bucs keep ‘Baking’ up enough interceptions to be near the top @ ‘the most’ when it shakes out they will remain a little better than average.
April 18th, 2025 at 10:26 am
Detroit is replacing BOTH of their stud coordinators this season, too! So, they’ll have TWO brand new ones. It will be interesting to see how that turns out for a team starting to get EXPENSIVE, & full of injuries… In THE ‘toughest’ Division in football. Will be just as interesting to see if Jayden Daniels, & Matt Stafford make it through the season completely healthy. It’s there for the taking.
April 18th, 2025 at 11:19 am
MelvinJunior, you mentioned Jayden Daniels and Matt Stafford. The Commanders and the Rams. Add the Lions and the Eagles and those are the 4 teams we’re going to have to be better than this year. I think the Lions are fixing to have a fall this year and the Eagles don’t worry me much. The Commanders and the Rams do worry me but I think we are the better team of this entire group. The Bears are going to be better and I think will make some noise too. I predicted the Bucs and Bills in last year’s Super Bowl. I think I was a year early on that. Might be they are this year’s matchup.
April 18th, 2025 at 11:34 am
To be honest I think we winning a Superbowl with Baker Mayfield and Todd Bowles anyway. Baker Mayfield does keep us a float but we haven’t even played in a NFC Championship game yet and you guys don’t really believe we can make it to the NFC Championship. To me our offense is set up good for a rookie quarterback .
April 18th, 2025 at 11:39 am
We can finally bring in a rookie quarterback that will be put in a great situation. I know staments like this gets the Baker boys all mad but for the real bucs fan just think about it for a second. We have the chance to be set up for the next 10 years and not just a 2 or maybe if we lucky 3 years.
April 18th, 2025 at 12:14 pm
Oneilbuc, I’ve read your posts twice. I’m not gonna read them a third time because I’m getting tired, and it’s eleven in the morning. Do you reckon you might need some sleep? Because it’s like you have blank spots in your train of thought. Something is a little off for sure. Your General Practitioner oughta be able to make you the proper referral.
April 18th, 2025 at 12:15 pm
Joe,
How is “negative-trending perceptions of the Bucs represent(ing) a failure of many layers of the organization”. If it’s not true, how is that on them? Maybe their PR people… maybe. But saying “many layers” makes no sense without context.
Did you mean the negative-trending perceptions of the Bucs DON’T represent a failure on many layers of the organization?
For a team that thrives on spit-talking media, I would think these negative-perceptions are a good thing for the football product.
April 18th, 2025 at 1:56 pm
Someone needs to remind me how many Lombadi trophies have been hoisted by a team using the recently touted “Build a great roster and win when your qb is on his rookie contract” strategy.
April 18th, 2025 at 2:15 pm
“I know staments like this gets the Baker boys all mad”
Not really we just consider the source. The same guy who preached how great Fameis Jameis was going to be and what a winner he was.
April 18th, 2025 at 2:31 pm
Drunk bucs fan. We have a quarterback that has never lead a team to a the AFC or NFC championship game. So what makes you think he can lead us to a Superbowl especially with Bowles as our HC ?
April 18th, 2025 at 2:36 pm
Stetebucs. I will ask you a question then is it super bowl or bust this year for or at least NFC Championship or bust? Answer the question because if you have so much confidence in Baker Mayfield and he’s such a great quarterback to you then show your confidence and answer the question ❓ Baker Mayfield is not a bad quarterback but against Washington that game came down to who had the better quarterback!! But answer the question I asked!!
April 18th, 2025 at 2:56 pm
Drunk bucs fan. The eagles made it to the Superbowl with Hurts , the Chiefs , Cincinnati, 49ers, Baltimore is on the way and Buffalo also . And they have a better future than us so far . Seahawks also done it and our offense is set up perfect right now for a rookie quarterback either this year or next year. And then you have to ask yourself is Baker Mayfield worth 50 million a year because that’s what he’s going to want if he has another season like last year. And I’m talking about his stats. Look what Dallas did with Dak I don’t want to be in a situation like that.
April 18th, 2025 at 3:53 pm
Roster has not been the weakness for the Bucs…
Its the tired outdated defensive coaching!
Get a better DC and this team could be a threat in every game!
April 18th, 2025 at 8:21 pm
We don’t know what BM will ask for. We also have no clue if a rookie QB will be good or not. We do know that BM has been very good in back to back seasons for us.
April 19th, 2025 at 2:28 am
Don’t feed the trolls fellas
Go Bucs!
April 19th, 2025 at 7:52 am
Ha, they certainly are extra troll’ish when it comes to Baker.
Guess we should have taken Will Levis when we had the chance.
April 19th, 2025 at 10:34 pm
Drunk bucs fan. It’s not about trolling it’s about facts again if you have that much confidence in your boy Baker Mayfield that he can get us to at least the NFC Championship game than say it. Say that’s it’s NFC Championship or bust than and that’s to all of y’all put your money where you’re mouth is . I don’t think Baker is a bad quarterback but he can’t will us to a victory like Jayden Daniels or even Jalen Hurts the same guy who you guys say wasn’t good and Philly will never win a Superbowl with. Jalen Hurts is better than Baker Mayfield all day long. But let me hear you say NFC Championship or bust I’m not even asking for the Superbowl this year!! Oh I know y’all really don’t believe he can do it !!
April 20th, 2025 at 10:39 am
Hey OneilBuc, I do not pin my whole goal on the NFC Championship game or the Super Bowl. My goal is, as ALWAYS, to win the NFC SOUTH Division. When we do and get another Brady/Baker NFC South Championship banner, we will have a home game in the playoffs. Where those season goals adjust to the next team up mentality, to an NFC Championship game, with a win next team up in a Super Bowl.
Back, to Back, to Back, to Back NFC South Division Championships. Has not happened at all or often in the entirety of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ history.
Before the current streak of NFC South Division Brady/Baker Banners. Our Buccaneers won a Super Bowl. We have had some player adjustments and have had the same DC since before that Super Bowl. Is it easy, you think, to win back to back to back to back Division Championships in any competitive sport, much less the NFL?
GO!!!!!BUCS!!!!!
April 20th, 2025 at 2:41 pm
Rusty. Ok so know I understand where you and probably most of the fans on here has been saying. I see the disconnect from me and most of the fans on this site. You guys are satisfied with just winning the division which is a very weak division and I rather Superbowls and NFC titles. Winning the division is a start but I want championships and I can’t just settle for division titles only I want championships. But at least I got a understanding and I respect your beliefs about the bucs!!