Todd Bowles Looking Forward To The Return Of Cody Mauch
May 30th, 2026
Key returner.
This past week, KitKat-eating Bucs coach Todd Bowles’ close friend, Lions coach Dan Campbell, was asked who stood out in underwear football.
Campbell politely scoffed and then confessed he was “done with the hype of a pajama party in May.” LOL
Bowles hasn’t gone the pajama party line yet, but he has answered questions cautioning reporters that OTAs are underwear football and there is only so much that can be gleaned from them.
But once the pads come on and the chin straps are buckled, Bowles is really looking forward to the return of Cody Mauch at right guard.
Last year the Bucs’ offensive line was a shambles before the season really got started. By the end of Week 2 at Houston, the Bucs were down their entire right side of the line (Luke Goedeke and Mauch) and their left tackle (Tristan Wirfs) was rehabbing a surgically-repaired knee. The two remaining healthy starting offensive linemen (Ben Bredeson and Graham Barton) were playing out of position out of necessity.
Trainwreck.
Bowles said this week he’s really looking forward to seeing Mauch back on the field.
“That’d be huge,” Bowles said of Mauch. “Cody was kind of our unsung guy out there.
“He was one of the toughest and one of the smartest out there, and packed a lot of weight as well. So, to get him back at that position and get all five guys back is helpful.”
Two years ago the Bucs had one of the best offenses in the NFL. And Joe maintains the Bucs had, at worst, the third-best offensive line in the NFL in 2024.
Then fast forward to 2025 and the offense struggled, Bucky Irving never did get on track, and the offensive line was a trainwreck due to the injuries.
Coincidence? Joe doesn’t believe in coincidences in football.
May 30th, 2026 at 11:08 am
All the makings of an 11 win season.
May 30th, 2026 at 11:26 am
An 12 win team with a 5 win coach equals 8 wins
May 30th, 2026 at 11:35 am
Underwear football or not, who got hurt last week besides Zyon?
May 30th, 2026 at 11:37 am
It all starts up front.
The Bucs have one of the best OLines in the league….
Also have among the best and deepest WR AND RB groups in the league as well….
A good QB and a very capable and versatile TE in Otton makes for a dynamic offense that should easily be top 10 (vying for top 5) this year if we can somehow keep these guys healthy.
I am very pleased with our depth at Tackle coming into this year – not so much with the interior spots though.
If Licht can find us another serviceable vet Guard – along with a decent to good vet CB sometime before the season starts – I think he will have had as good an offseason as could have possibly been hoped for.
Our depth across the board is vastly improved from last year – especially the front 7 on defense.
May 30th, 2026 at 11:42 am
I think we are all looking forward to him returning!!.
May 30th, 2026 at 11:47 am
@ Scotty : Who reported Zyon getting injured?
May 30th, 2026 at 11:49 am
?????????????
Never mind (Rosanna Rosanna Danna)
May 30th, 2026 at 12:00 pm
A.J. Hawk.
May 30th, 2026 at 12:11 pm
Joe you need to always use the picture of toothless, smiling Cody. But yeah the Oline is in trouble without him. We need the Oline to stay healthy this season.
May 30th, 2026 at 12:33 pm
Hopefully Wirfs all the way back too. He wasn’t his usual dominant self last year.
May 30th, 2026 at 12:35 pm
The patchwork O line was a major reason for the second half swoon.
May 30th, 2026 at 12:35 pm
Did anyone ask Bowles if he’s going to have easy practices, walk throughs, and very little contact to “try and avoid injuries” like they did last year? Because not only did it work well (?), the team was tough (?).
May 30th, 2026 at 1:07 pm
Did McCullum actually miss any practice time after that supposed injury? We can’t see the practices so we don’t know what’s happening. There was nothing substantial in that video to show that he really hurt himself. If he’s out and not doing OTAs, then we have a story.
May 30th, 2026 at 1:12 pm
KA
He was just bored.
May 30th, 2026 at 1:27 pm
I envision an undefeated season…
May 30th, 2026 at 2:01 pm
Mauch is be far our most punishing run blocker. Excited to see him back in action.
May 30th, 2026 at 3:33 pm
Jack, that’s great info and explains a lot. I’m not sure how many fans on here were around when Ray Perkins was coaching in the late 80s. He was doing three-a-days in the middle of summer. His teams never had a chance! Half the team suffered from heat stroke before the first regular-season game. Maybe we’ve gone too far in the other direction.
May 30th, 2026 at 3:55 pm
A year where the line stays together for all 17 games would be a god send, however unlikely.
Agree with Guzzie
May 30th, 2026 at 4:27 pm
Dear Jack: What Bucnjim said Jack!
I’d be gobsmacked if the Bucs had more than 7-8 padded practices.
Despite the padded practice limits – you can still run full speed practices and am convinced that classroom only practice was part of the problem last 9 games – everything looked out of sync.
May 30th, 2026 at 11:40 pm
Bucnjim …I remember Perkins and his 3 a days. About when I became a Bucs fan.
1987 Vinny and Ray.
May 31st, 2026 at 10:42 am
I agree BucinJim, the NFL has gone too far to the soft side . It’s a MANS game played using boy rules imo. The BUC’s were a soft puggy team last year . Let’s hope they have figured out why we had so many bigtime injuries & corrected the problem