Mike Florio Details How Bucs’ “Fan Fiction” May Have A Kernel Of Truth
June 17th, 2025
Smells Bill Belichick’s camp working behind the scenes.
One Joe who runs this here corner of the interwebs is convinced that if the Bucs only win six games next year, out the door goes Bucs coach Todd Bowles.
If Bowles were to get bounced, could the next coach of the Bucs be Bill Belichick?
Recently, the creator, curator and overall guru of Pro Football Talk, the great Mike Florio, wrote about how Belichick may have been a little more than a passing observer last year when Belichick hopped on the Manning Bros. show and professed his admiration for Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht and love for Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield.
Florio is convinced that was not a random act. He is certain it was a calculated move to let the Bucs know Belichick is ready and eager if Team Glazer wanted change.
Recently, Florio appeared on “Pardon My Take,” with Big Cat and PFT Commenter. There, Florio confessed his Belichick-to-the-Bucs angle is likely “fan fiction” but not fully horse manure.
“Allow me to weave my fan fiction,” Florio said to Big Cat and PFT Commenter. “Belichick’s consigliere Mike Lombardi, who is basically his unofficial mouthpiece, has been very quiet since all of the [Belichick’s girlfriend] Jordan Hudson stuff hit the fan, which is hilarious.
“Lombardi wouldn’t shut up until this Hudson stuff happens, and now you can’t find him anywhere. But he was putting out this idea that Todd Bowles would retire, possibly after the 2024 season.”
The sticking point in this is that Bowles had zero desire to retire, as he confirmed to Joe on the record hours after Lombardi’s words hit the Apple Podcasts platform last December.
“So I feel like Belichick has been eyeballing the Bucs,” Florio continued. “Maybe Lombardi was trying to speak it into existence that there’d be a vacancy there, because that’s one of the teams where they’ve got the talent Belichick needs.
“You give [Belichick] the talent, he’s the best game day coach that football has ever seen. He’ll take that talent, he’ll get them ready, and they’ll go out there and they’ll find a way to win games. He’s not so good at developing and drafting and acquiring talent, but if you give him talent, he can make it happen.”
What makes all this plausible, Florio said, is the Bucs’ track record with head coaches this century.
“The Bucs have done some crazy @ss sh!t when it comes to head coaches,” Florio said. “Over the years, they fired Jon Gruden abruptly. They elevate Raheem Morris, who nobody had ever heard of. He was a defensive backs coach who goes all the way up to head coach.
“They hired Greg Schiano, for crying out loud, in 2012, he was on no one’s radar screen as a potential head coach. They fired Lovie Smith and promoted Dirk Koetter because they were afraid Koetter was going to parlay his one season with Jameis Winston to a head coaching job somewhere else.
“And then when Tom Brady unretired, they kind of gave Bruce Arians the unofficial nudge out the door. So the Buccaneers are willing to do kooky things if they think it’s going to make them better.”
So, Florio said, a team that does unorthodox things with head coaches, well, you then expect unorthodox or crazy things again.
“The Bucs have a history of doing unconventional things,” Florio said. “It would definitely be unconventional at this point for the Buccaneers to go after Belichick, but it would make sense, if you can hand him a talented team in a weak division where he could cobble together enough wins to get to the playoffs.
“We know [Belichick] wants to be back in the NFL. … The Bucs are the one team that would make sense out of all 32 franchises for next year.”
Well, “this Joe” is confident, barring a full-blown disaster like Bowles pulling a Mike Norvell and finishing the season with a 2-15-type record, Bowles has enough street cred built up with Team Glazer that if the Bucs take a step back, it won’t be fatal for his career.
And of course, if the Bucs make a run in the playoffs, the only way Bowles is not back in 2026 is if he doesn’t want to be back.
June 17th, 2025 at 10:43 am
Why in the world with Bucks want Belichick? Too much noise surrounding that particular coach, I believe, for the Glazer’s likening… Also, once he lost Brady he never really did anything winning as a coach……. Not the right coach for this team.
June 17th, 2025 at 10:46 am
ABSOLUTELY NOT. He in no way fits in this organization or this town. He’s an old man trying to relive his past. He’s dating a child that will ruin his career and ultimately reflect poorly of any organization associated with him/them
June 17th, 2025 at 10:58 am
Out of all the coaches I don’t want, he is the coach I don’t want the most. Retire and enjoy your grand…girlfriend.
June 17th, 2025 at 10:59 am
Why are you Joe’s even speculating about the Bucs going 6-9 or worse? It ain’t going to happen. Even Florio recognized that Bowles’ departure would likely be because of retirement, not because he does a belly flop with a terrible record. As Florio says, the team has the talent. Second of all, Belichick would utterly destroy the “culture” the Bucs have been building since Brady’s arrival. So, bottom line, the Bucs aren’t going to tank, and Belichick would be a disaster for the team. Licht and team Glazer are building a team that will remain strong well into the future. Why tinker with that? I realize we’re in the NFL doldrums now, but damn, this is scraping the bottom of the barrel.
June 17th, 2025 at 11:01 am
It was a topic brought up during Ira Kaufman’s recent local radio appearance on WDAE-AM 620.
June 17th, 2025 at 11:03 am
No way. Let him stay where he is or retire.
June 17th, 2025 at 11:08 am
No thank you. If you hire him, he’s another defensive coach. Then you run the risk of continually going thru offensive coordinators like we’ve been doing. Whenever Bowles departs, get an offensive coach.
June 17th, 2025 at 11:37 am
Please print this story out and burn it and leave its ashes behind.
Licht wouldn’t commit career suicide hiring BB.
Stop this stupidity
June 17th, 2025 at 11:44 am
I’ve posted this here before.
Belichicks record WITHOUT Brady is
83 – 104. That includes 5 seasons with Cleveland.
Belichick was 29 – 39 after Brady left New England.
Why on Earth would the Glazers hire someone with a record like that?
The Bucs are a team on the rise. Belichick and his circus of a life is not needed anywhere near this organization.
June 17th, 2025 at 11:51 am
“And then when Tom Brady unretired, they kind of gave Bruce Arians the unofficial nudge out the door.” – they did ???
June 17th, 2025 at 12:05 pm
why would you bring in belichik over gruden…if say, 6-11 happens…?
neither has proven to be much of a head coach without their big prizes…
brady……or a dungy built superbowl ready squad…
chucky is however waaaay younger…and will bring the hoopla
June 17th, 2025 at 12:11 pm
When it comes to culture, where did the GOAT qb get cultured? BB had something — a lot TBH — to do with that.
BB would be a great game day coach. And a great defensive coach. He wouldn’t fool around much with the offense, just like our SB coaches Gruden and Arians stayed away from the defense. And he’d be short term — ‘cause we can tell that Father Time is undefeated.
OTOH it’s like a better TB. Bowles has been a top defensive mind for many years. Yes, we’ve all seen about the failed blitzing scheme against the Rams, and we know about the defensive rankings the last three years. But put that in perspective: Injuries. Cap hangover and cap hell. Player loss and turnover, especially at ILB, S and CB. Bowles kept the team together in spite of some bad player losses and ugly losing streaks. And comparing TB to BB in their post-Brady years the edge goes to . . . Hard to say.
So don’t think this speculation is far-fetched. The likelihood may be low but the race is very close.
June 17th, 2025 at 12:13 pm
I don’t think any of this matters because if Baker starts all season the Bucs are not going 6-11.
June 17th, 2025 at 12:17 pm
We “might” need an Offensive minded head coach to go further than we have. If at the least we don’t win the NFC this year, what’s the point? A nother division win is respectable but it’s NOT the point! If Bowles isn’t capable of Winning more than a division title, aren’t we obligated to find a coach who CAN?!
The point is not only to make it to the Super Bowl, beyond a division title, The POINT of ANY given season is to win the Super Bowl!
Quite Literally, all Bowles has to do this year is win a poultry One More regular season game (11 wins), and WIN “at least” the first post season game.
If Bowles can’t achieve such a low hanging fruit accomplishment by now…. then YES, it’s time to find a HC that CAN take us to the promise land.
I don’t get the whole “O he can FLOP to utterly PATHETIC” and he’ll be just fine??? WTF?
Some CONFUSED Casuals are forgetting the WHY “WE PLAY THE GAME” !
Losing Mentally from Perennial LOSERS! Dynasties Aren’t built on Division Titles.
ESPECIALLY THE EXCESSIVELY WEAK WAY WE CRAWLED ACROSS THE FINISH LINE FOR THE LAST 3 YEARS STRAIT! We DID NOT win those titles with our heads held high and WITH UNQUESTIONED PROWESS! No! WE BUNGLED ACROSS THOSE LINES BARELY, WEAKLY, and WE DID NOT PUNCH ANYBODY IN THE MOUTH AND “EARNED IT”! That HAS TO Change…..
I hope Todd Bowles finally figures it out and we can Win the division WITH authority for a change and Finally get us to the NFC championship game….. I’m not sold on that happening.
This is The LAST guaranteed year of his contract and NO extension offered to him just yet. Wonder what the Glazers are looking for?
June 17th, 2025 at 12:42 pm
Go through Chucky’s Barstool videos and listen to what he says about RPOs. That will tell you all you need to know.
RPOs aren’t going anywhere soon.
June 17th, 2025 at 12:47 pm
No thanks !!
It’s a young man’s game and young and innovative coaches are the way forward. Don’t think Bucs would like the distractions BUT distractions do bring the spotlight and the spotlight brings 💰. If Belichick were to go to the Bucs it would be a media circus. I think we all have to ask the question, “Would the Glazers choose the bag over locker room culture” I don’t think they would but it is a question to ponder. 🤔
As always Go Bucs!!
June 17th, 2025 at 12:49 pm
Florio is the LAST person I pay much attention to. He’s written far too many pieces that have been way off the mark and then when called out about it his response was,” Well you read it didn’t you”. What? Click bait manifesto troll at his best, I would put more stock into what Simms says than Florio, he has an Italian sausage brand named after him and it’s WAYYY better than he is. I think everyone can see that it’s Brady’s traits and abilities that paved the way for NE more than BB’s. As someone has pointed out his record without Brady isn’t good. He wasn’t bad in Cleveland as I remember but no telling cause of what happened there with Modell
June 17th, 2025 at 12:51 pm
If the Bucs offense regresses like the defense has since Bowles took over the half time roles of HC/DC, the defense does what we’ve grown accustomed to seeing under Todd, and Belichick is available, there’s no universe where Jason and the Glazernauts don’t pull that trigger.
June 17th, 2025 at 12:56 pm
Bowles or Belicheck?… Come on. The answer is, yes.
Bowles Guarantees
Prime Time Games = Loss
Head to Head vs a Good Coach = Loss
Bowles vs Sean Payton = Blowout Loss
Post-Bye Week = Loss
Bowles vs Rookie QB = Loss
Bowles Needing to Coach a Win in the Last 2 minutes = Loss
June 17th, 2025 at 12:57 pm
Just say no
June 17th, 2025 at 1:40 pm
Todd will be HC and DC for AT LEAST another year and probably as long as HE wants to be.
And that will make some of you very upset. Oh well 😭
BB was a really good coach… Now he’s an embarrassment to any man over 50 years old.
June 17th, 2025 at 2:45 pm
No way, No way, No way. His player would be after his Grand…..Girlfriend and cause a constant distraction. He would be more focused on her were-abouts than team planning. No Way Belicheat. Glazers would lose all type of street cred as well as season ticket holders. Belicheat time has passed. Let him ride off into the college sunset with his college age cheerleader. Good Bye to the Belicheat conversation. Go Bucs, Go Bucs without Belicheat and cheerleader.
June 17th, 2025 at 3:18 pm
I wouldn’t say Gruden was let go of abruptly. He was here 7 years.
He needs to stay with his toy box gig.
June 17th, 2025 at 3:19 pm
Wasn’t Belichick the one who recommended Schiano to the Bucs? That alone should disqualify him!
June 17th, 2025 at 3:34 pm
It was abruptly. Very abruptly.
June 17th, 2025 at 3:52 pm
“That wasn’t nearly enough for the sons of owner Malcolm Glazer, who took their time before deciding they had seen enough of aging quarterbacks, mediocre drafts and a coach and general manager who often pinned the blame for poor finishes on injuries.”