Favorite Bucs Move
June 15th, 2025
Best offseason move?
Man, the Bucs made so many moves in the offseason, it’s almost difficult to pick a favorite.
Folks whined about cornerbacks. The Bucs drafted a pair on Day 2 of the draft.
Folks are worried about Chris Godwin. The Bucs went out and drafted his clone with the No. 19 overall pick.
Joe’s favorite moves were getting edge rushers. Ever since Chucky was dismissed as the Bucs’ coach, this franchise had a horrible time finding a legit edge rusher until it traded for Jason Pierre-Paul. Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht swapping a third-round pick for JPP was no less than highway robbery.
Shoot, the Bucs even kicked Michael Bennett out the door for no good reason. Outrageous!
But since Father Time caught up with JPP and Bucs sacks king Shaq Barrett, the Bucs were back in the rut that highlighted The Lost Decade. Finally, Licht broke down and signed a legit edge rusher in Haason Reddick.
For Mike Sando of The Athletic, Licht bringing in Reddick was Sando’s favorite move of 2025.
Signing Haason Reddick to a one-year, $14 million deal was a low-risk move that could give the Buccaneers high-end pass-rush production. Reddick averaged 12.5 sacks per season with three teams from 2020-23 before his holdout-shortened year with the Jets. He’ll be looking to produce Tampa Bay’s first double-digit sack season since Shaq Barrett in 2021.
The Bucs desperately needed Reddick, or someone coming off the edge that opposing teams had to respect. Opponents were doubling YaYa Diaby and pretty much taking him out. The Bucs had zero counter.
Now, with Reddick, one would assume teams aren’t stupid enough to try to block Reddick regularly with a single blocker. That means Diaby should see fewer double-teams.
This is a win-win situation no matter how you slice it. Reddick gets doubled, then either Vita Vea, Calijah Kancey, Logan Hall or Diaby no longer is double-teamed.
If Reddick has flashbacks to his pre-Jets self, this move could unleash the hounds.
June 15th, 2025 at 8:05 am
If all the hype is true about David Walker, he might give Reddick a run as a starting LB. Should be fun to watch.
June 15th, 2025 at 8:07 am
As I said before besides Baker this guy is the VIP Bus this year. The reason is we have no concerns about this Offense. We are solid across the board. It is the Putrid 29th ranked Pass Defense that is the concern of this team. If this guy can become the STUD pass rusher he has displayed in the past this team will be better for it and get off the field on 3rd downs. He is the One that will drive this Defense overall. He has a Big Year the Bucs will have a Big Year. Go Bucs!
June 15th, 2025 at 8:18 am
Reddick will be the left beside Kancey, so a formidable pair of ultra-pick guys. They can flush the QB into each other and get some strip-sack fumbles.
David Walker could also make some plays. I’m not giving the starting job to Voss automatically. Also, Walker might come in and sub for LVD. LVD is a warrior, but I like the idea of keeping him a little fresher…
June 15th, 2025 at 8:36 am
I like the addition as well. I like sacks especially when it ends the drive. Just getting close enough to the QB to disrupt the play and not stand there like a statue and pick apart the defense. Last years addition of Barton and Bucky made a big weakness in O line play and run game to improve drastically. Reddick, 2 CBs, pick 4 and 5, adding Davids buddy, and Dennis getting healthy. Hopefully all that has the same effect on the D Something I’m excited about as much is Reddick is the Addition of Zach Beistline a clock management specialist.I don’t know much background info on him but Todd understood it was another way to get a W here and there. It’s something I’m going to pay attention to this year.
June 15th, 2025 at 9:41 am
This move could unleash the hounds…
If Reddick performs like a beast, hopefully he won’t behave like a hound dog and holdout for a better deal- what a midseason culture killer for the Bucs that would be.
June 15th, 2025 at 9:51 am
I have a feeling that this year we’re gonna have a lot of sacks coming from our safeties and cornerbacks (me, Antoine, and tykee mostly)
June 15th, 2025 at 10:03 am
If the head coach would tell the defensive coordinator to let pass rushers rush the passer more often than dropping them into soft zone, maybe the Bucs could have a pass rush without resorting to the genius blitz packages. Of course that’s simple and no one will talk about the mastermind and his schemes.
June 15th, 2025 at 10:15 am
Shilo, I can see Antoine, Tykee and probably Parrish and Izien having some sacks. I’m having a hard time seeing you making the squad. Do that and then we can talk about it more.
June 15th, 2025 at 10:19 am
That Bucs-Eagles NFC Championship game is going to be a historic one!
June 15th, 2025 at 10:44 am
Another favorite Bucs move would be to switch Devin Culp’s position to wr when Evans retire or if he gets injured. Culp has 4.47 speed, awesome speed for a tightend n for a man his size. He also has 6’4 height n strong hands. Therefore, let’s use Culp’s skill set n not waste his talent on the bench. I believe we are good at tightend with Otton n Payne Durham. I also believe if needed, Rachaad White would prosperous well at wr. Creativity begins in the office n transitions to the field.
June 15th, 2025 at 11:23 am
I was hearing Chris Braswell name since the season ended.
Now-crickets.
I wonder if his off season so far has not lived up to expectations.
Also haven’t heard if Shaq is still in the Bucs plans.
Should be an interesting camp
So much optimism for the offense, and rightly so. We have talent and depth.
But we go straight down the flusher if Mayfield has to miss time. It’s over.
Personally, I’d like to see a vet QB backing up Mayfield.
I know Bowles always has great things to say about Trask.
But actions speak louder than words. And Coach Bowles won’t let Trask on the field. Not when Mayfield is hurt. Not for mop up duty. Nothing.
And that tells you what he really thinks.
June 15th, 2025 at 12:09 pm
:::wags finger:::
You haven’t been reading JoeBucsFan.com. 🙁
The math and evidence suggests no.
* He wasn’t working out with the team (to Joe’s knowledge).
* He wasn’t at OTAs.
* He wasn’t at minicamp.
* The shot-callers at One Buc Palace have scattered across the globe already.
* One Buc Palace will close for the summer in a week or two.
* The Bucs haven’t given up (yet) on Chris Braswell.
* They signed Haason Reddick to a nice contract.
* They drafted a guy who his position coach bellowed, “That’s how you win a Super Bowl!” when he was selected.
* AND one of the practice squad warriors who allegedly gives Tristan Wirfs fits in closed practices, Markees Watts, has Shaq’s number.
Add it all up, it sure appears Shaq as a Bucs defender is a closed chapter.
June 15th, 2025 at 12:13 pm
The best move will be a move they did not make.
June 15th, 2025 at 1:39 pm
Joe … ‘This (signing Reddick) is a win-win situation no matter how you slice it. Reddick gets doubled, then either Vita Vea, Calijah Kancey, Logan Hall or Diaby no longer is double-teamed.’
Interesting how you put that Joe. In 2024 Kancey had the most sacks (7.5), followed by Vea (7.0) and Logan Hall (5.5). Those were out Top-3 sack producers. Brewer (2 sacks), Gholston (1 sack) and Gaines (1 sack) added another 4 sacks, giving our 6-man DLine a total of 24 sacks out of our 46 total for the team.
Our 5 OLBs added another 12 sacks last season: Diaby (4.5), Nelson (4.0), JTS (2.0), Braswell (1.5) & Shaq (0). Our 7 ILBs added another 7 sacks on the season: LVD (5.5), SVD (1.0), Britt (0.5), Deion Jones (0), Vi Jones (0), Russell (0), Grier (0). Finally we had 2 Secondary guys add 3 sacks: Winfield (2 sacks) & Merriweather (1 sack).
Point being that Bucs got over half of our sacks from the DLine. I can’t see that changing much this year because Vea & Kancey & Hall provided 20 of those 24 sacks. I fully expect that those same 3 will get at least that many sacks this year.
June 15th, 2025 at 1:42 pm
What the Bucs need is better production from our OLBs, and I’m convinced we’ll get that this season. What should also be interesting this year is the sack performance by our ILBs & Secondary. Together they got 10 sacks last season, with over half of those coming from LVD. I think that group will exceed that this year.
If I had to put on my Nostradamus hat, I predict that the Bucs will end up with 58 sacks this year:
o DLine – 26 (they got 24 in 2024)
o OLBs – 20 (they got 12 in 2024)
o ILBs/Secondary – 12 (they got 10 in 2024)
June 15th, 2025 at 1:53 pm
HC Grover Says:
June 15th, 2025 at 12:13 pm
The best move will be a move they did not make.
Not resigning JTS? It was past time to move on.
June 15th, 2025 at 2:34 pm
DR with the prescription. Need more production from the OLBs. Some of that is better play, some of that is reducing the frequency of their soft zone pass coverage drops significantly. Like Braswell.
June 15th, 2025 at 4:15 pm
Better athletes across the board @ ILB, OLB, Corners and safety gives us more flexibility scheme-wise.
I predict less cover 3 and a lot more turnovers
I know some people will continue to be obsessed with pass yardage surrendered but only 2 things matter, from an analytics point of view = points scored/red zone D.
Based on what Todd was able to do after the bye (17.5 PPG) with players like Hayes, Funderburk, Neal, Edwards, Barret, Whitehead etc, I’m confident he’ll field a much improved defense. Top 10 easy. I’d put money on it $.
June 15th, 2025 at 5:17 pm
Aqualung … I’ve never been quite sure why our OLBs don’t seem to get the same sacks’ productivity that some other teams get. Part of me believes that it’s because Todd puts so much emphasis on run defense that our OLBs aren’t really free to just turn it loose when it comes to pass defense. Another part of me though believes that it’s because he often uses his OLBs as (yup) regular LBs when it comes to pass defense.
And yet when I look back to 2019-2021, I see that our OLBs were quite productive in this same system. In 2019 for instance, 3 OLBs got 34 of our 47 sacks: Shaq (19.5), JPP (8.5), Nassib (6.0). Our inside DLine only got 6.5 sacks that year: Vea (2.5), Suh (2.5), Gholston (1), Allen (0.5).
The next year, our 2020 Super Bowl year, was quite different, even though Vea missed most of the year. Bucs got 1 more sack as a team, but did it very differently. Our OLBs only got 18.5 sacks that year: JPP (9.5), Shaq (8) & Nelson (1). Our DLine got 13 sacks that year: Suh (6), Gholston (3), Vea (2), O’Connor (1), Ledbetter (1). The other 16.5 sacks came mostly from Devin White (9), Winfield (3) & Whitehead (2). So with Vea out, Todd successfully generated ‘pressure’ in other ways.
And the following year, 2021, Bucs got 47 sacks again, but did it even differently. Our OLBs got 23 sacks (an improvement): Shaq (10), Nelson (5), JTS (4), JPP (2.5), Gill (1.5). Our DLine got 15.5 sacks in 2021: Suh (6), Gholston (4.5), Vea (4), McLendon (0.5), O’Connor (0.5).
Seems to me like our OLBs have been most productive when we had ‘beasts’ in the middle of our DLine (like Vea & Suh) to command the attention of the opposing OLine. We’ve still got Vea, but he’s on the field for say 60% of the def snaps, and probably a third to a half of those are runs. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if opposing OCs focus on him, and have very much different game plans for when he’s not on the field.
June 15th, 2025 at 6:45 pm
This is what I’ve been screaming, going to have 3 ,10+ sack guys this season
Reddick,Diaby,Kancey. Great things coming in the 50th Anniversary Season!!! GO BUCS!!
June 15th, 2025 at 10:21 pm
DR – I wish I could post the standing O gif – you’ve seen it – superbly said and I’m having a nightcap to toast. Beast middle, and more let bulls be bulls and cheetahs be cheetahs. When someone is thinking too much, give them less to think about.
I’m fired up. Thanks.
June 15th, 2025 at 10:21 pm
I hope I make this squad wow check my YouTube this week I challenge vita to a gourmet food trivia workout and he declines! Find out why on more on YT
June 15th, 2025 at 10:40 pm
Shiloh, you want to make this defense, teach Vita how to drop into deep middle safety zone while you take on double teams up the middle.
Your two coaches as half of each relishes cross training. Impress them/him that way and you’re a Buc.
June 16th, 2025 at 12:10 am
Before the draft I spoke extensively about the facts that the average amount of time QBs held the ball from the snap to the throw was 2.8 seconds in the NFL last year and that Bucs opposing QBs were able to get rid of the ball significantly quicker than this NFL average. I also spoke about Diaby being top 5 in hurries. Don’t get me wrong I’m ecstatic about the addition of Reddick but I’m more happy about the addition of what we hope to be big improvements in pass coverage. If we do achieve this then a lot of those hurries by Diaby become sacks. Add that with the addition of Reddick and we could see a big improvement in the defense. The team is still thin in a few places like ILB but it’s not inconceivable for this defense to rise to top 10. Licht and company IMHO could have moved up to get a pass rusher in the top 10 . They had the resources and cap space to do so I think their staff saw it the same way I did , that there wasn’t a can’t miss pass rusher in the draft except maybe one. The Bucs staff is very impressive and if these new corners can acclimate to the NFL quick, look out! I think you will see Diaby and other pass rushers really turn it on by week 4.
As always Go Bucs
June 16th, 2025 at 11:24 am
i never got why rodriguez and watts didnt get more playing time last year, particularly in 2 minute situations, where the cost of any short passes not defended would be mitigated by the time burned
June 16th, 2025 at 11:37 am
@dmatt Says:
June 15th, 2025 at 10:44 am
Another favorite Bucs move would be to switch Devin Culp’s position to wr.. Culp has 4.47 speed, awesome speed for a tightend n for a man his size. He also has 6’4 height n strong hands. Therefore, let’s use Culp’s skill set n not waste his talent on the bench.
@JimBobBuc Says:
Also, Walker might come in and sub for LVD. LVD is a warrior, but I like the idea of keeping him a little fresher…
@Inwoodjeremy Says:
June 15th, 2025 at 8:36 am
I like the addition as well of Zach Beistline a clock management specialist. Todd understood it was another way to get a W here and there.
@Famu_Rattler Says:
Glad to see that other joebucsfan members are see what I have been seeing and posting all summer. Hope that mgmt is seeing evaluating, reacting, analy zing in order to utilize our resources to their full potential.
June 16th, 2025 at 7:25 pm
I’m not a hater but I’m wait and see with my emotions with this guy.
So far, he has 0 sacks, hit or hurries and he needs to change each of those in Week 1
June 18th, 2025 at 6:26 am
It’s been a busy—and bold—offseason for the Bucs, and fans have plenty to chew on.