Is Todd Bowles Ready To Have Edge Rushers Drop Less Often In Coverage?
March 18th, 2026
For those who missed it, Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht sat down for an exclusive interview with the heavy hitters at JoeBucsFan.com world headquarters.
This was three weeks ago at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis via the Ira Kaufman Podcast.
Kaufman asked Licht about Todd Bowles getting harassed by fans for having edge rushers drop in coverage more than most teams, seemingly at times when he should be letting his best pass rushers get after the quarterback.
Licht said Bowles gets skewered too much for that defensive tactic. But most interesting to Joe, Licht hinted that Bowles is reconsidering that component of his defense.
“I think he takes a little bit too much heat for it,” Licht said of Bowles dropping pass rushers in coverage. “But I think he’s also taking a deep dive again this year in this offseason with his staff on what is effective and what isn’t. So, I’m not trying to put words into [Todd’s mouth]; that’ll be a better question for him. I don’t want to give anything away. But I think he takes too much heat for it.”
Stay tuned.
March 18th, 2026 at 9:59 am
It’s gonna be the same story, a pass defense ranked in the bottom of the league. Pretty sure Bowles has had a top 15 pass defense twice in all of his coaching stops.
March 18th, 2026 at 10:05 am
Geez…. couldn’t they ask why put Vita in pass coverage? Also, telling they stated “Fans” skewer. It should be “The Media – Sports Writers” should be the skewers, but they want to be part of the good ole boy network, to get the free meals on game day.
March 18th, 2026 at 10:06 am
even a broken clock is right 2x a day….
hmmmm…. took all season to reconsider ????
March 18th, 2026 at 10:13 am
Is Todd Bowles Ready To Have Edge Rushers Drop Less Often In Coverage?
I have no idea!!! but Lefty R is ready to drop Todd Bowles as DC and just make him the HC of the Bucs!!!
March 18th, 2026 at 10:14 am
It’s a tactic that he uses because his guts can’t get to the opposing QB and in hopes that the QB is going to make a mistake. The guy that is blitzing has repeatedly failed to get home and disrupt the QB. The end result is what we got bounced out of games we should have won.
Fix the D-Line first, everything gets better. Should have picked up Philips, now we are going to be opposing him twice a year.
You can do it the right way, the wrong way OR whatever the heck Bowles is doing.
March 18th, 2026 at 10:15 am
Guts “guys”
March 18th, 2026 at 10:17 am
I’m so confused as to how Todd Bowles doesn’t have a base defense that he can fall back on. What’s going on with him?
March 18th, 2026 at 10:19 am
The genius isn’t going to change anything. In fact watch him double down. Soft garbage zone. Players clueless about their assignments.
And Licht retained him and blamed everyone else.
Atrocity. Sham. Fraud.
March 18th, 2026 at 10:34 am
There is a reason why the Bucs defense is not good.
Let’s start with the Bucs defense and how much money has been invested in the defense. In round numbers the offense is spending close to 200 million to just a little over 100 million on defense. It should be obvious why the defense is not good.
So many posters seem to think we are not good because of bad coaching from Bowles. I’ll say that some of you have a point. However; when i read posts that we
need Bowels to adjust or coach up the players better. This is folly! In the words of Bill Parcells “it’s all about the Jimmy’s and the Joe’s.” You can have the best coach in the NFL and he will only be a little better than most. No amount of adjustments or schemes will fix inferior players. That’s a fact! we certainly don’t have Jimmy’s and Joe’s now! I’m sure we are going to go defense in this upcoming draft and hopefully we draft studs who will make an impact. In 2027 we will be set with cap money to get some game ready players.
March 18th, 2026 at 10:39 am
I think the heat he takes for it is on account of fans not knowing WHY we’d drop OLBs in coverage, especially as it correlates to Bowles’ tendency to manufacture pressure even without at having an elite pass rusher.
Alot of the outrage, and mockery over Bowles doing it when it’s common place at the collegiate and pro level has more to do with what critics don’t know compared to what they “think” should be standard practice for “edge rushers” in my opinion.
March 18th, 2026 at 10:41 am
I haven’t seen Bowles bring in a pass rush sub-package. Sure, he rotates DL and edge guys, but he doesn’t use a sub-package on passing downs. Bring in the best pass rushers at edge, forget the dropback in coverage. Bring in LB’s who are the best cover guys, or bring in DBs who can shut down tight ends. Tight ends continue to be an issue with LVD losing a step in coverage.
March 18th, 2026 at 11:00 am
Unless you are blitzing, one of those two OLBs is gonna have to drop. If you want to rush both then take out a DL or blitz and take your medicine.
March 18th, 2026 at 11:30 am
All I’m saying is I watched the Seahawks in the Super Bowl drop edge rushers into coverage multiple times, got a Lombardi. Bowles definitely needs to tweak his defense in my opinion but I’m not going to chastise the guy for doing something other teams do also
March 18th, 2026 at 11:35 am
OK, some basic defensive football for all of you…
There are 11 players on defense. Todd runs a base 3-4 defense. That means there are 3 down linemen (1 NT, 2 D Ends), and 4 Linebackers, and 2 CB and 2 Safeties. Sometimes we replace one of the safeties with a Nickel Corner.
Now, the offense generally has 5 guys in to block, sometimes 6. Take away the QB, and that leaves 5 potential receivers – 4 if they keep a back or TE in to block. We have to cover all 4-5 of them.
So, if we want to get real pressure on the QB, we have to bring at least 4, and generally 5 or 6 guys. This usually means we need someone to BEAT THEIR MAN, or we need to fool them into not blocking someone. We have not seen enough BEAT THEIR MAN, honestly.
The 3 down linemen make up the base pass rush. Then, we usually send either both outside LBs (5 man rush), or one of the outside LBs and one of the middle LBs (still 5) or even 2 LBs and a safety or nickel (6 man rush).
Todd is really, really good at disguising which 5 or 6 guys are gonna rush.
BUT in most of these situations, at least one of the outside LBs is gonna drop into coverage. THAT’s part of their JOB! We don’t send the same 5 guys on every play! Sometimes one of the other LBs or a Safety or a Corner blitzes instead. We could send both MLBs and drop the OLBs. When we do that, SOMEONE has to drop back in coverage or we leave at least one man unguarded.
Joe, I love your site, but please, please learn basic football principles before complaining about pass rushers dropping into coverage. Yes, IF we had a BEAST pass rusher as one of the OLBs, then it would be dumb to drop him in coverage all the time… but even then, it makes sense to do so periodically, to fool the defense and send someone they are not expecting.
The job description is OUTSIDE LINEBACKER, NOT Pass Rusher… they have to be able to do ALL parts of the job!
And yes, at least twice last year they dropped Vita Vea into pass coverage – which is something we should definitely NOT do very often!
I’m an offensive coordinator, but I respect what Todd is trying to do. Sometimes, it seems he simply does not have the personnel to really be effective with his scheme. In my opinion, we don’t have a true beast pass rusher on the team, and our press corner coverage is poor at best. Last year our LBs dropping into coverage were miserable. It’s ALL of these things that are contributing to our poor defense.
March 18th, 2026 at 11:37 am
Bowles is cooking up more genius in the lab.
The soon to be infamous “Drop 11” defense is coming. Confusion reigns supreme.
March 18th, 2026 at 11:43 am
Also I think he dropped edge into coverage more last season cause the ilb group couldn’t cover a baby with a blanket
March 18th, 2026 at 11:49 am
Jack Burton Mercer,
That’s fine under this defensive scheme but he doesn’t need to drop them into deep coverage 20 yards downfield.
March 18th, 2026 at 11:56 am
When a person shows you who they really are, trust them. Now im not talking about him as a person, seems like a super great guy….im talking about his scheme and his stubbornness in more ways than one…but then deflects the blame. Now that part is a bit of a character flaw and i dont like it….and thats only what we see and know. I imagine big Mike and a lot of others saw a lot more.
March 18th, 2026 at 11:57 am
Jason Licht is one of the biggest gaslighters that I’ve ever come across. He’s so full of crap it’s pitiful.
March 18th, 2026 at 12:00 pm
There is a simple answer to that.
And it is…….
NO
Edge rushers are to cover the flat and to create confusion.
To be fair they do confuse, just not the opposition. They confuse the Bucs fans.
March 18th, 2026 at 12:24 pm
The issue is the trash zone defense.
Kill that, and 90% of your issues will go away.
And no, dummies, that doesn’t mean you never play zone – it means you don’t lead the team in it.
Or if you insist on playing zone, bring in Dungy to actually teach the coaches how a zone defense works. It can be more than just telling your players to stand around flat footed and waiting for something to happen.
March 18th, 2026 at 1:02 pm
IMHO if the position notched 10 sacks then there wouldn’t be so much heat.
March 18th, 2026 at 1:07 pm
Bowles pass defense is terrible historically, so i dont expect some kind of epiphany at age 62 that changes that trajectory. Its like his calling card at this point. Dedicate all assets to stopping the run in a pass first league and look dumbfounded on the sideline when it isnt successful.
These guys can beat his drum and vouch for him all they want. We have eyes too, and nothing Bowles has done of defense since the stars aligned in that Super Bowl has given me any hope that he can adjust to the current NFL landscape. Hes a middle of the road defensive coordinator that got given a head coaching job in a coup by Bruce Arians and Bowles was lucky enough to be given this opportunity in the weakest division in the NFL, so he’s been able to slip through the cracks and avoid the knife while being carried by his much more capable offensive staffs, until last year.
March 18th, 2026 at 2:03 pm
that means bowles will be dropping DTs in addition to his edge rushers lol
GO BUCS!!!!
March 18th, 2026 at 2:42 pm
I’ll admit, I have been tough on Coach Bowles this off season, it’s true all teams do drop their OLBs into shallow coverage at times . One of the BUCS problems is a lack of talent coupled with a unacceptable number of injuries that cost too many games lost. I’m not real sure why the Bucs seemed to have so many injuries last year. Maybe training, it was the Weight program , maybe the medical staff I don’t know. One thing I wish for is that The Bucs would hire a Defensive Cordinator or a Qualified Defensive mind to call plays & help develope talent. Coach Bowlevs needs to concentrate on being Head Coach, he made too many mistakes that cost games , had problems with clock management plus this season he won’t need to kottle our Offensive Cordinator to make sure he knows what hes doing. Then it comes down to our super Rock Star GM drafting stud football talent & picking up a couple of younger up & coming Pass rushers or maybe making a block buster deal type splash move to bring the Bucs back to the top.
March 18th, 2026 at 3:11 pm
Warren Brooks Lynch
LANshark
Appreciate the effort guys but most people here (owners included) have no interest in football and aren’t willing to learn.
It’s much easier to throw around cute terms like soft garbage zone or Swiss cheese defense and pretend to know something to impress the fools in the crowd.
March 18th, 2026 at 3:21 pm
I keep seeing posters saying we will be set for cap money in ’27. Clearly false unless you are assuming Baker is replaced with a rookie. We are strapped as usual from overpay largess from JL. Once our own FA are accounted for and the new 1year rentals we’re back in the same boat. Keep dreaming though.
March 18th, 2026 at 3:37 pm
Why in God’s name and for all that is good does Bowels drop Vea back in coverage at all. That’s not his bag.
March 18th, 2026 at 4:10 pm
I think dropping guys into short zones to see if you can trick the QB into making a throw he shouldn’t makes sense..(I can’t remember it working for us?)
Its the OLB covering guys man to man 30+yrds down field that pisses me off…
Go Bucs!!
March 18th, 2026 at 4:11 pm
Bucs have just done something fascinating between yesterday and today in terms of the salary CAP according to the Spotrac numbers. Yesterday we ranked #29 – #30 in the NFL in terms of salary CAP, just barely negative as I recall. But we had a BUNCH of free agents not included (ie, not paid … Anzalone, Robinson, Muhammad, Browning, Gainwell, Killebrew, Kieft).
Today Bucs rank #23 with $15.3 mil in salary CAP space. But more significantly:
1 – Yesterday we had 62 players under contract; today we have 63 players under contract. Essentially the same.
2 – Yesterday none of our new free agents were ‘paid’; today all of our recent free agents are included as being paid (in terms of salary CAP hit).
3 – Yesterday Mike Evans $13 mil CAP hit for 2026 was included in our roster; today Mike’s not on the roster & his $13 mil has now been accommodated in our Dead CAP money.
4 – Baker Mayfield’s CAP hit has been reduced considerably, indicating that his contract has been renegotiated. Not lengthened though.
Baker can still be a UFA in 2027, but the cost (Dead CAP) if that happens just went up a bunch. Looks to me like that’s largely how the Bucs have chosen to pay for the addition of the new FAs.
Mike Greenberg has been very busy I suspect. The current $15 mil of salary CAP space to pay for our draft class (estimated at $11.4 mil) and still leave us enough flexibility to accommodate any injury losses.
March 18th, 2026 at 4:16 pm
Aaron
Vs San Fran the pick by Dean. OLB dropped into the flat and took away CMC which forced a pick. I wouldn’t be surprised if we had linemen or OLB in coverage on more/many of our picks last year but I don’t have time to rewatch them all atm.
March 18th, 2026 at 4:30 pm
LANshark … ‘The job description is OUTSIDE LINEBACKER, NOT Pass Rusher… they have to be able to do ALL parts of the job!’
Nice analysis & info; thanks. The NFL field is 160 feet wide, and that’s a LOT of space for 2 linebackers to cover at NFL speed. Even with 3 linebackers in coverage, that’s still a lot of space to cover. Dropping 1 OLB, depending on what attack formation our opponent is using, makes good sense.
On occasion Todd rushes 5-6, but more often it seems to be fewer than that (he often shows the look of rushing 5-6 though). He hasn’t been blitzing nearly as often as he did back in 2019-2021 when he had some beasts named Suh, Vea, JPP & Shaq to press the attack. Looked to me this past year that he was trying to get by more with a 4-man rush (3 DLine & 1 OLB), but we sucked at it. We didn’t have the beef to pull that off. We will this year with the addition of Robinson plus he’s gonna draft a beastly DT/NT. Just wait.
March 18th, 2026 at 4:44 pm
TB defense relies on 4 guys getting pressure. He/we didn’t have that component last year and it looks like we won’t have it next season. Plus, his LB’s have to be able to cover. He/we didn’t have that last season, maybe an improvement next season. Basically he needs an entirely new defensive players….which is probably what ME knew and why he left.
March 18th, 2026 at 5:31 pm
Rod Munch blames Baker Mayfield for the Bucs defensive shortcomings. Because, of course he does. 🙄
March 18th, 2026 at 7:16 pm
LANshark. So what you’re saying is linebackers have to cover backs and tight ends sometimes? And rushing lineman need to win some battles? And on top of that the linebackers have to be able to blitz, while their primary read is stopping the run? It all sounds so confusing. Not. More things change the more they stay the same. It’s the Jimmies and Joes, not the X’s and O’s. It darn sure ain’t rocket science.
March 18th, 2026 at 7:57 pm
“So Todd are you having this epiphany, and btw what was the last one??”
March 19th, 2026 at 1:17 pm
If a defensive lineman is chasing a player downfield that’s because he can. In zone defense, you chase the person with the ball if you are able to do so. If someone passed through their zone and got away with the ball, that person should be chasing them all the way to the end zone. That’s simply EFFORT, not design. The best zone defenses always swarm to the person with the ball or the target as the ball crosses the LOS.