Bucs No. 6
September 1st, 2025
“What do you think about this, Chris?”
Offense, offense, offense.
That is what is going to save the Bucs this year, believes Mike Clay, a spreadsheeter typing for BSPN. Clay did a deep dive on positional breakdowns of all teams and he has the Bucs’ offense ranked No. 6 overall.
Clay says the offense is powerful enough that the Bucs deserve No. 6 in his leaguewide power rankings.
Why is Clay is of the mind the offense will save the Bucs? Well, because he has the Bucs owning the No. 20-ranked defense, and he is way down on the Bucs’ edge rushers, a key element in a good defense.
Only four other teams, Clay states, have a worse group of edge rushers: Tennessee, Philadelphia (!), Dallas and Washington.
6. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tampa Bay has found its franchise quarterback in Baker Mayfield and he’ll have one of the league’s top supporting casts, which now includes first-round wide receiver Emeka Egbuka. The defense still has concerns at certain positions, but the unit can be good enough to give the Bucs a shot at their fifth consecutive division title and sixth straight trip to the postseason.
So what teams does Clay claim to have better offenses than Tampa Bay? Teams with superior quarterbacks, that’s who. Those teams are Baltimore, Philadelphia, Kansas City, Buffalo and Cincinnati.
Hey, that’s not shabby company Mayfield is in there.
Joe thinks Clay was pretty fair with these rankings.
September 1st, 2025 at 5:20 am
The Bucs have some new personnel this season and the team has played in 0 regular season games, same as the other 31 NFL teams. I don’t get what the point is of ranking their offense or defense prior to watching a single game.
Unless Clay has demonstrated strong psychic abilities in the past, his rankings are close to worthless IMO.
September 1st, 2025 at 5:53 am
We got this!!!!
LFG!!!!
September 1st, 2025 at 6:15 am
LFG!
September 1st, 2025 at 6:30 am
And, only one of those other 5 teams is in the NFC. Philly is our competition in the NFC for the No. ! overall seed this year. That sounds about right. And, who do the Bucs seem to handle well in the NFC. Philly! LFG!! SB Baby!
September 1st, 2025 at 6:40 am
Is Jalen Hurts really better than Mayfield? I don’t think so.
September 1st, 2025 at 7:04 am
I’d disagree with the Chiefs pick. The Bucs will score more than them.
September 1st, 2025 at 7:11 am
KC has been 3 yards and a cloud of dust since Tyreek left
September 1st, 2025 at 7:48 am
Hurts is not a superior qb to Mayfield.
He just so happens to be the qb on the best roster in the game.
The rest of the list are better QBs.
September 1st, 2025 at 8:08 am
Yet more Rank rankings?
LFG!
Go Bucs!
September 1st, 2025 at 8:11 am
LFG= Lose Fumbles Game. Or LIG = lose Interceptions Game
September 1st, 2025 at 8:41 am
Bucs offense is top 4. Bengals, Eagles, and Ravens are better.
September 1st, 2025 at 8:44 am
@Scotty Mack, that and the Bills. Josh Allen is their only good offensive player.
September 1st, 2025 at 9:01 am
The Buc’s Offense will put up points. The success of this team will be determined by the their Defense. If the defense can get off the field on 3rd and 4th downs consistently and create turnovers once in awhile, the Bucs will go far into the playoffs. If not, we may see another repeat of last season. I for one see the Bucs advancing deep into the playoffs!
September 1st, 2025 at 9:19 am
Clay is just repeating last season’s rankings and repeating what Joe has said last year. Yawn.
September 1st, 2025 at 9:26 am
LMAO, number 6 in the NFL but not in his top 8 SB contenders, make it make sense JOE!
September 1st, 2025 at 9:42 am
He’s about ten slots too high with the defense and it’s not due to edge rush personnel.
September 1st, 2025 at 9:52 am
This week will tell us alot. Reddick MUST find a way home against ATLs third string tackle FCS.
September 1st, 2025 at 9:55 am
The Bucs D will be around 10-15th with a healthy Winfield and a significantly deeper secondary. The O will be top 5 with the return of players steadily bolstering it by the end of the season. Get ready for a serious playoff run.
September 1st, 2025 at 10:28 am
Predictions at this stage are meaningless. Do you rate Winfield as he played in 2023 or 2024? How much will Kancey improve? What about the new rookies.
September 1st, 2025 at 11:28 am
People love to say to talk about the roster when it comes to Hurts but I’ve seen him when it was time for him to be close out games or win them he came through. Baker hasn’t done that yet in the playoffs. I rather a cluch quarterback than a stat guy all day long. Baker has better offensive weapons than Jalen Hurts other than runningback. If the bucs don’t get to a conference championship this year they must draft a quarterback in the first round and sit behind Baker Mayfield for a year. We have a young receiver cor and a young quarterback can sit and learn and he can come up with our young players like Bucky Irvin and our young receivers. That’s why Mahomes is where he is today because he went to a team that was winning 12 and 13 games a season with Alex Smith who was also going to pro bowls at the time but he couldn’t get them over the hump. Andy Reid made a good choice to get Mahomes and you had a lot of KC fans mad at the time because they were winning so many games. The bucs have to do the same thing if we don’t get to a conference championship game.
September 1st, 2025 at 12:48 pm
@oneilbuc
no one takes your analysis seriously anymore because we all know its about Trask
September 1st, 2025 at 1:10 pm
Thats an interesting take Onei, I’ve never heard you say that before. If I were you I would keep repeating that until it happened, or didn’t.
September 1st, 2025 at 1:37 pm
RaiseTheFlags Says: “@Scotty Mack, that and the Bills. Josh Allen is their only good offensive player.”
James Cook. Might be a TOP-5 Back, if McCaffrey and Taylor stay injured all season again… Barkley, Gibbs, Bijan, Henry, Jacobs, and maybe, you put Karen Williams in there (again, if can remain healthy… Breece Hall too, possibly). Bucky… 10th!? Cook was ‘under the radar’ EXPLOSIVE last season (with Allen getting all the cred). Saw the other day, where he actually LED THE NFL with 16 Rushing TD’s (tied O.J.’s 1975 team record), & had a 7.7% Rush TD%, which was third highest in 20-YEARS, plus FOUR Rush TD’s of over 40+YARDS (most by a RB in 15-YEARS). Also, Ray Davis was VERY dependable and had a nice ‘rookie’ season. Veteran Ty Johnson is a solid #3. Their WR-room is not “great” stacked with true #1 talents, but they are stocked full of some good veteran receivers, that should look pretty good with Allen. We shall see if Coleman can turn into a TRUE #1. I really like that Shakir… They need to get him the ball more. Maybe, they will now!? I like the additions of Josh Palmer (explosive), & Elijah Moore. And, Curtis Samuels when healthy, can be a real nice weapon to have at your disposal, both running AND catching.
September 1st, 2025 at 1:39 pm
Discount everything “experts” say. These are the same fools who wrote off Baker Mayfield 2 years ago. Baker will move solidly into the top 5 in NFL QB’s this year. If Bucs get to the NFC championship, Mayfield will be a legitimate MVP candidate.
All Bucs need this year is just a mediocre defense instead of the appalling, putrid mess of the last couple of years. Not sure this defense is materially improved. For those pinning hopes for a defensive turnaround led by Reddick, the reality check starts next week. Kancey looks primed for a breakout year and it will help having Sirvocea Dennis healthy. Other than those guys, there won’t enough improvement in the Defense to make a meaningful difference. Nobody will mistake this group ever for the Steel Curtain.
September 1st, 2025 at 1:55 pm
@Oneilbuc – I would ‘buy that’ IF we collapse and miss This Playoffs. If Baker has a ‘so-so’ average season, and doesn’t look great. If we are in a good position (not having to reach) to take one that we REALLY LIKE. This year’s draft-class could be pretty good! If we have any early to mid-pick, then you MUST cosine it. Too bad we didn’t get Parsons. Then, it would be a 💯’no-brainer’ IF Bake were to fall-off and regresses, then we were to miss The Playoffs. It could’ve been THE perfect time to then maybe, take a step back and look at taking a reset. I mean, you wouldn’t have to do a whole lot… You still have Baker for at least one more season. Or, you could trade him and throw your new draft-pick in there, with 5-YEARS left on his rookie contract. It wouldn’t be a complete rebuild. We have enough talent left on offense… Acutally, THE PERFECT ‘situation’ for a Rookie-QB. We’ll see what happens.
September 1st, 2025 at 2:09 pm
How about the team just prove it can beat Atlanta before any ranking debates.
September 1st, 2025 at 4:53 pm
If the Defense ranks 20th, that would be quite an improvement.
September 1st, 2025 at 6:57 pm
Baker’s okay. I like him but a lot of flaws. Biggest strength is ability to extend plays when the pocket collapses. I haven’t seen him win us a lot of games with his passing ability alone. Sometimes he struggles to see over the line.
September 2nd, 2025 at 8:28 am
Nope, Baker hasn’t won any games big red. It was Will Levi’s that took us from 4 wins in 2023 to 10 games and 2 games into the postseason. Bakers arm had nothing to do with that at all. Man what a maroon.