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Infusion Of “Life”

June 16th, 2026

Bucs coach Todd Bowles.

The Bucs have been Kings of the Anthill for most of Bucs coach Todd Bowles’ tenure as Bucs head coach. Once they played someone outside the division in the postseason, they often got a rude awakening.

Mike Jones, typing for The Athletic, noted the Bucs aren’t just trying to bounce back after their first playoff-less season this decade, but to be known as something more than the beasts of a landfill division.

Bucs’ bounce-back
Injuries took a heavy toll on the Buccaneers last season. Owners of a 6-2 record at their Week 9 bye, Todd Bowles and his players saw the season slip away as they went 2-7 to finish 8-9 and out of the playoffs for the first time since the 2019 season. The Bucs then experienced an offseason of significant change.

Bowles fired both his offensive and special teams coordinators and hired Zac Robinson and Danny Smith to get those units back on track. Tampa Bay also saw long-time star wide receiver Mike Evans depart for the San Francisco 49ers. The Bucs hope the talented Emeka Egbuka can replace Evans as the leading weapon on offense after a promising rookie season. And they’re hoping rookie pass rusher Rueben Bain Jr., inside linebacker Josiah Trotter and defensive back Keionte Scott can help infuse Bowles’ defense with life as the Buccaneers aim to regain their place atop the NFC South.

Joe isn’t very worried about the offense. With the offensive line healthy and the Bucs having good depth at running back, the offense should be OK.

The defense? Joe has a lot of issues with that.

Unless Bowles plays Jacob Parrish at corner, Joe still maintains the Bucs have not yet replaced their best corner from last season, Jamel Dean. How many defenses improve the year after letting their best corner walk?

Add to that Bowles is hoping three rookies, one on each level, can play like veterans seems a stretch. Maybe one or two will, but all three? That would be like hitting the lottery.

It’s a good thing the Bucs play in such a lame division. They can afford to suffer growing pains and not be studying for the draft in November.

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2 Responses to “Infusion Of “Life””

  1. Stpetematt Says:
    June 16th, 2026 at 12:58 am

    Hi Joes please fix the comments they aren’t working correctly…

  2. Defense Rules Says:
    June 16th, 2026 at 2:32 am

    Tried to comment on this article Joe and your algorithms refused to let ANY of my comments on that article through regardless of how much I edited them. Even refused to allow a comment of mine through that ONLY included one sentence of YOURS from the article.

    That’s been happening more & more lately, and it’s disconcerting. JBF dot com has always been exceptional IMO about allowing a very broad range of comments. That ‘openness’ is what makes JBF special IMO. Please don’t allow that to change. Thanks.

 

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