Zac Robinson Showed Up Prepared
March 29th, 2026
Bucs offensive coordinator Zac Robinson
Don’t look to the Atlanta offense of the past two years and think that’s what’s coming to the Bucs this season.
That was part of the message last week from Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht during his chat with Buccaneers.com.
New Bucs offensive coordinator Zac Robinson is a Sean McVay disciple, but Licht said that kind of thing can get overblown. Just because you work for a guy doesn’t mean to you can become a clone.
Joe will note the Bucs were hoping for a Liam Coen clone last season at offensive coordinator with Josh Grizzard and apparently got more of an ill-suited Marcus Arroyo kind of guy.
Licht said Robinson has a customized plan and is capable of adapting.
“He has proven in Atlanta, especially when we played against them, that he can get very creative. He doesn’t just bring his offense, he can modify it depending on what you have,” Licht said of Robinson.
“So when we we first were going through the interview process, Todd and I with him, [Robinson] had studied our film. He knew our players. He gave us a plan of what he could do with every single one of them. He had a plan for Tez [Johnson], had a plan for [Jalen McMillan], had a plan for Cade [Otton] if we were able to bring him back, had a plan in case Mike [Evans] left. And it was just very, very detailed. I think it brings out confidence in players. I know Baker [Mayfield] was very, very excited.”
Robinson is playcaller No. 5 in five seasons for Todd Bowles. First was Byron Leftwich, who seemed uninspired and he likely was handcuffed by Tom Brady. Then came Dave Canales, whose offense came together late in his first and only season. The Coen (El Serpiente) was a superstar and Grizzard was overmatched.
Hopefully, this time the Bucs found just the right guy in Robinson, preferably someone very capable who is not seen as head coach material.
March 29th, 2026 at 11:11 pm
People talk about how the Falcons couldn’t win with Zac Robinson as OC
But that’s not on Zac, it’s on poor QB play.
If the Falcons had a decent QB, they would have been unstoppable
Kirk Cousins had 2 decent games a season, both against the Bucs
And Michael Penix wasn’t ready for the NFL, l thought he was
I think Zac can get the most out of our offensive players
I think he will put them in a position to succeed
March 29th, 2026 at 11:34 pm
I think he first should be consulted about our defense in detail since he solved it (if that’s the right expression) so easily.
Second, I have no problem if he’s head coach material; that’s the next logical step for a coordinator. Longtime coordinators don’t always work out, but experience at that level seems a logical step in the coaching progression. I would be leery of a coordinator who did not have the potential for a higher position. I like overqualified people.
March 29th, 2026 at 11:45 pm
He’ll learn the Todd system of coaching and will be unprepared and predictable in no time.
March 29th, 2026 at 11:56 pm
The Bucs only hope. He will have to score 30 plus pts per game.
March 30th, 2026 at 12:14 am
Mobucs. So you want Zak to “consult about our defense in detail” with…Coach Bowles? Oh, that thought just makes me think we could learn everything we’d ever need to know about our new OC in about 30 seconds. Question. “Zak, how did you attack our offense last year? “Well, Todd, we attacked it pretty much however we wanted to. Resistance is required to thwart attack, and we really didn’t seem to find any resistance. So we just kept relentlessly attacking and found some success and decided to stick with that”. Or he could lie and try not to hurt our head coaches feelings. I’m hoping he’s the kind of guy that would needle our DC and they’d both get a good laugh- and then get to work.
March 30th, 2026 at 12:35 am
Am I the only one that caught “in case Mike left”…?! Damn seems like the writing was on the wall for the powers that be fairly soon after the season was over.
March 30th, 2026 at 2:12 am
Def think he’ll be seen as HC material if he can get this offense into the top 5 again by the end of the year. If he does that & the D & team still underperform, think there’s a very real chance he’s gven the HC oppt in Tampa next season.
March 30th, 2026 at 3:15 am
Ok, time will tell
March 30th, 2026 at 3:45 am
“was likely handcuffed by Tom Brady.”
@Joe, my $$’s on that statement but reverse who was doing the handcuffing.
March 30th, 2026 at 4:08 am
Handcuffed by Tom Brady – cmon Joe the only thing handcuffing that a-hole was his own arrogance and ineptitude
March 30th, 2026 at 4:57 am
If we have the same amount of injuries to our O line as last year, he’ll be lucky to do better than Grizzard. Grizz went long stretches with missing stars Evans, Bucky, Godwin, J Mac, Goedeke, Wirfs, the list goes on. Health will be key, as always as to how good we can be.
March 30th, 2026 at 5:39 am
Licht said Robinson has a customized plan and is capable of adapting? So does Bowles have a customized plan and will be capable of adapting? History shows….NOT!
March 30th, 2026 at 6:34 am
Joe said: “Hopefully, this time the Bucs found just the right guy in Robinson, preferably someone very capable who is not seen as head coach material.”
Better yet, he creates an explosive offense and is definitely seen as head coach material – for the Bucs!
March 30th, 2026 at 6:37 am
A lot of Debbie downers on our defense. I don’t think we’ve drastically improved it this offseason, but for the last few seasons we had mediocrity sprinkled in on this side of the ball, because we had to see Licht’s draft picks through, never do we seem to cut bait when our eyes tell us that this guy was either drafted too high, or really doesn’t have the juice or consistency at the pro level… JTS, Hall, Dennis, and then there’s Braswell will be that guy if he can’t flash a few sacks this year in rotation.
IF the guys we’ve acquired can stay healthy, I think we swapped out well, it was time to see some new faces in the building. Additionally, this draft will be huge for this org. If we can hit at ILB and OLB, perhaps a TE, I think this could work out well knowing we got a solid core on offense.
…Speaking of the offense, it’s not about hanging 30 pts per game, it’s going to come down to everyone’s favorite player, Baker to finish football games. I cannot repeat myself enough on these boards that “most” games are decided by a score or less, and in a final possession. Baker managed to be on the right side of that the first 4 weeks of the season, and then the wheels slowly came off. He needs to be “a closer”, this idea that Baker is clutch at the end games was completely lost on me at the end of last season when the guy needed a first down to finish the Falcons off, and he could manage that. There was more than just one game where he had his chances to will us to victory. This season’s success will depend on his play, period.
March 30th, 2026 at 6:42 am
And your 27 bucs new HC is Robinson, it a head coaching interview, if the offense is good baker plays well, and Bowles and the defense craps the bed and the bucs win 6 games he can take the job.
March 30th, 2026 at 7:07 am
His (Baker’s) play will be excellent as long as the starting offensive line is in or we get better backups.
March 30th, 2026 at 7:42 am
I still want to know what was the issue with Z-Rob & Drake London
March 30th, 2026 at 7:43 am
“If we have the same amount of injuries to our O line as last year, he’ll be lucky to do better than Grizzard. Grizz went long stretches with missing stars Evans, Bucky, Godwin, J Mac, Goedeke, Wirfs, the list goes on.”
Grizz had more than just injuries working against him. If anything the injuries made it easier to see how s**t he was as a game manager and play caller.
March 30th, 2026 at 10:48 am
Any sentence that starts with either “Licht says” or “Licht said” or “Licht believes” is pretty much a non starter for me.
Dude is a poser.
March 30th, 2026 at 4:40 pm
I hope that Robinson is wildly successful as OC, replaces Bowles as HC, and has much input into whom Glazers hire as next GM.