Todd Bowles Talks Major Change Being Realized
August 9th, 2026
Intriguing stuff from Todd Bowles after today’s underwear football practice at One Buc Palace — Day 9 of training camp.
Sage of Tampa Bay Sports Ira Kaufman, the venerable JoeBucsFan columnist, asked Bowles to talk about the “overall impact” of the new players added in the offseason.
Bowles dove in head first, not even hesitating to note that a game has not been played or a practice held with another team.
“It’s huge. I mean, It’s night and day,” Bowles said of the change within the Bucs.
“With the veterans that came in and with the rookies that’s come in, just from a leadership standpoint, an attitude standpoint, a mentality and study habits, they’ve kind of lifted us a great deal as far as mentally and being mentally tough. I mean, from [Kenny] Gainwell to [Alex] Anzalone to A’Shawn [Robinson] to [Josiah] Trotter to [Rueben] Bain, all these guys that’s come in, it’s been a breath of fresh air to see and everybody gravitates toward them. They’ve not stopped being who they are and guys understand that and they know what type of team we want to have, so it’s been good to see.”
Joe found it eye-opening to hear Bowles say the team is “night-and-day” different in a great way after losing Mike Evans and Lavonte David. Joe thinks Bowles’ enthusiasm for the subject is very, very telling.
August 9th, 2026 at 11:40 am
Vea the next vet to hit the street. He’s a great player, but not the leader they’re looking for. My guess is Licht is waiting for the best time to pull a trade.
August 9th, 2026 at 11:43 am
We love Mike and Lavonte and most would agree that they were the offensive and defensive team leaders. However, neither of them, nor any other so-called leaders was able to motivate the defense last year. Based on that alone, I don’t think we really lost much leadership from the locker room.
August 9th, 2026 at 11:43 am
Would be nice if the HC had some control over the mentality and culture of the team, but guess that’s not Todd’s job.
August 9th, 2026 at 11:59 am
Yes, it is very telling. Both those guys are NOT Hall of Famers. Good players. Sometimes great. But Evans is a fantasy stat machine. He was no Larry Fitzgerald. LVD was good and durable and racked up tackles but he was not a game changing dominant LB.
When true Hall of Fame players leave, no one mentions an improvement in attitude or in effort.
August 9th, 2026 at 12:03 pm
As much as I agree with Evans leaving! Saying he isn’t a hall of famer, is well delusional! UGH! Beer is good…you know the rest!!
August 9th, 2026 at 12:39 pm
Borax — Good catch.
IMO we can tell that VV is a special talent with a unique role in the Bucs defense. But he is not, and has not been a leader (we hear “he talks to me” about most every player). He sets the middle, a good thing, he pushes back the pocket, good too. But when you read around the League you realize he’s just not regarded as a top tier talent. He has one superpower (which ISN’T his get off) but hasn’t leveraged that power into being a superplayer.
VV will make money. He will make an impact. The Bucs will be different on defense. But he will likely be here for this season at most and the defense will improve either way.
In short, he’s no Su.
August 9th, 2026 at 12:51 pm
It’s not a given Evans goes in. His contemporary is Adams. Do both go? Someone on this interweb once broke down WR in the HOF. Not that many. To tell you the truth every time I played Evans in Fantasy he sucked.
Also I compared the last 6 years of receiving yards with CeeDee Lamb vs any 6 year stint of Evans and he never beat CeeDee in any 6yrs that he played with receiving yards. Did have more TD’s though.
I am just saying Bucs fans think more of Evans than fans in other cities. Not a given he will make it to the HOF, therefore one reason why he left to get West coast voters on his side
August 9th, 2026 at 12:57 pm
Getting rid of soft azz Dean and zero effort Reddick will do that for a team.
August 9th, 2026 at 12:58 pm
It’s all fixed. We just needed to get rid of the best offensive weapon in Bucs history.
Mike must have known he was the problem in Tampa.
So he took a huge pay cut and a tax hike. Literally took one for the team.
I fully expect 12 -15 wins and a SB appearance after reading this article.
Bowles is a genius. Some say a defensive guru. He’s the best ever in the history of the NFL.
August 9th, 2026 at 1:03 pm
“Joe found it eye-opening to hear Bowles say the team is ‘night-and-day’ different in a great way after losing Mike Evans and Lavonte David.“
Joe, Evans was not productive last year. David loafed at times. Missed tackles. Did not lead. Or if he tried, no one listened.
Sure. They had a history. But last year, less than average for David and MIA for Evans.
So, losing unproductive players is not a bad thing.
August 9th, 2026 at 1:17 pm
I dislike PFF for OL grades but their other ratings are decent enough to talk about. The final report on some Bucs defenders last year was atrocious.
Lavonte and SirVocea were ranked near the bottom of the NFL as cover LB’s and the hole that created in the middle was never patched. Zyon was a middling CB in the bottom half of the rankings and the Bucs failure to draft or sign someone to pressure him will bite them this year.
Others like Tykee Smith (60th of 98 safeties in coverage ratings) are back and need to show a lot more than they did in 2025. Josh Hayes and Christian Izen grades? Your stomach will twist in knots.
I’m ecstatic the Bucs improved the MLB corps. But their secondary wasn’t improved via draft or FA – and the breakdowns there in 2025 were significant. Unless the pass rush is massively improved over last season we’re going to see a lot of the same problems in the back end that existed in 2025. This defense cannot succeed without dominance on the D-line and OLB’s.
August 9th, 2026 at 1:20 pm
@summers eve..Same posts different articles! Way to stay positive lol!
August 9th, 2026 at 1:24 pm
Evans and LVD were quiet leaders.
Reddick and Hall sabotaged the team.
Our O-line of backups played scared.
Gaines was getting tossed around.
The only players who I liked were Yaya, Tykee Smith and Parish.
Winfield and Vea were soft.
Last years defense was as bad as Lovie Smiths and Mike Smiths defenses.
August 9th, 2026 at 1:50 pm
Bowles and Licht loved the team’s chemistry and attitude last year, too.
August 9th, 2026 at 1:53 pm
Yeah…just like Todd’s big epiphany before last year on defense.
What’s he gonna say? “You guys know my record”
August 9th, 2026 at 2:01 pm
Teacherman Says:
Reddick and Hall sabotaged the team.
Our O-line of backups played scared.
The only players who I liked were Yaya, Tykee Smith and Parish.
Winfield and Vea were soft.
***********************
So in 2025 you disliked the Bucs best cover player (Winfield) and one of the best DL players in the league (Vea) – but you liked the 60th rated cover safety (Tykee)? Tristan Wirfs who regularly manhandles the NFL best EDGE rushers is soft?
If you were picking players the Bucs would go 0-17.
August 9th, 2026 at 2:32 pm
Hearty,
My sentiments exactly.
August 9th, 2026 at 3:36 pm
A comment like that from the HC? Come on……
August 9th, 2026 at 4:16 pm
“Mike must have known he was the problem in Tampa.”
Mike Evans 2025 Season Totals
Games Played: 8
Receptions: 30
Targets: 62
Receiving Yards: 368
Touchdowns: 3**
Yards Per Reception:** 12.3
Yards Per Game: 46.0
Longest Reception: 45 yards
We’ll have at least 4 WRs who will exceed Mike’s yardage etc
He wasn’t the only problem but he was one of them and would have been a bigger one this year.
LFG Bucs – rah rah rah motherf#ck&rs 🏈
August 9th, 2026 at 6:18 pm
LouisFriend … ‘This defense cannot succeed without dominance on the D-line and OLB’s.’
I concur wholeheartedly Louis, but I’d also add ILBs to that group. What happens up-front in Bowles’ defense almost dictates what’s gonna happen in the back-end.
Last season the interior DLine pass rush was blah at best … 10.5 sacks, 28 QB hits & 16 TFLs. Vea BTW had almost half of those … 4.5 sacks, 13 QB hits & 7 TFLs; the other 6 DLinemen weren’t all that productive. Adding Robinson & Capehart will make a huge difference IMO.
Last season our OLBs struggled to make it to blah … 14 sacks, 33 QB hits & 26 TFLs. Diaby BTW had over half of those … 7 sacks, 19 QB hits & 13 TFLs; the other 5 OLBs weren’t all that productive. Adding Muhammad & Bain will make a huge difference IMO.
Last season our ILBs were a disaster … LVD stayed a year too long, and SVD is not a starter. Adding Anzalone, Rozeboom & Trotter is monstrous, and will make the biggest difference in Todd Bowles’ defense IMO. Bucs’ defenders failure to make plays in the short zone was catastrophic in most of our losses last season.
August 9th, 2026 at 9:15 pm
The better the coverage on the back end, the better the pass rush looks and the better the pass rush, the better the coverage looks. It all works together. That’s the problem with PFF, nobody knows or can explain their methodology for grading players . It’s a team game and everything works together interpositionally and scheme and coaching plays a big role as well obviously. They try to individualize a sport that for the most part can’t be.
August 9th, 2026 at 9:35 pm
In my opinion the addition of veterans and rookies, together with the departures, helped the remaining veterans to combine and reset the defense. We’ll see. It will be interesting to see what happens in the joint practices this week.
August 9th, 2026 at 10:57 pm
There is no one better than Todd Bowles. This is exciting!
He’s always been able to get the most out of rookies, this season will be no different. This is crazy! 15 wins or more.