Warren Sharp: Todd Bowles Is A Middling Coach
July 7th, 2025
Ranking.
Whenever Joe types a post about Todd Bowles, the Bucs coach seems to lure both defenders and haters alike.
The defenders point to playoff appearances in each of his three seasons in charge. Also true: The Bucs have improved their record in each season after his first in 2022.
Bowles’ haters will point out that his pass defenses are terrible, which shouldn’t be when your head coach is a defensive guy. True. Also true: The lack of a killer instinct on offense demonstrated by Bowles has cost the Bucs critical games and possibly playoff games, too.
So given there are logical, reasoned arguments for and against Bowles, should it really surprise anyone that Warren Sharp, on his website Sharp Football Analysis, has Bowles ranked in the middle of the pack in his annual preseason coach rankings?
Sharp and his gang have Bowles as the NFL’s No. 14 coach.
Todd Bowles has been solid during his three year run with the Buccaneers, making the playoffs in each of those seasons. He jumps to 14th in this year’s rankings after finishing 20th a year ago.
Joe understands fans still kill Bowles over the Cooper Kupp catch that doomed the Bucs in the 2021 playoffs. That’s fair, but dang, isn’t that just about ancient history now?
If you want to bang on Bowles for having a lousy pass defense, that’s fair. In only one season has his pass defense not finished ranked in the 20s, which really shouldn’t be given Bowles was an NFL safety.
If you want to rag on Bowles for rarely going for the kill shot when just about everyone watching the game can see that’s the obvious move, that’s fair.
But what is also fair is Bowles is always rallying the team through potholes that would wreck most teams’ seasons. Bowles has also developed players and developed a tough team (with injury-prone players). And Bowles has improved the team’s record the past two seasons.
Those are very good traits.
So yeah, when you balance the good with the bad, No. 14 seems reasonable to Joe.
July 7th, 2025 at 3:57 am
The good bad and ugly with Todd = 500 record. The definition of a middling Coach.
Todd is a good guy, players seem to like playing for him, but the bottom line is it equals a 500 record.
Hopefully this year, that changes and they make a deep run in the playoffs and maybe Super Bowl.
It comes down to this, the Defense needs to step up. The Offense will be fine. If the Defense steps up, then they are legit contenders to win another Lombardi. If the D does not step up, then division Round of the playoffs is the ceiling.
GO BUCS!!!!!!
July 7th, 2025 at 4:48 am
Bowles didn’t miss the coverage on Kupp, pretty sure that was AWJ.
July 7th, 2025 at 6:10 am
I’ll agree with a number 14 ranking.
For all of the reasons (good and bad) in the article and many more that have been Nd will be discussed here on jbf.com.
I’m “cautiously optimistic” about a much better W-L record and deeper playoff run this year.
And in turn, a ranking higher than no. 14 next year.
All the right things were said during the off-season and we rightly focused on defense with our personnel moves.
I just need to see it happen on the field during the season.
Go Bucs!!
July 7th, 2025 at 6:14 am
14 best of 32. Up 6 from last year. Let’s see another jump after this season to 8th best. With the limited information we all have it seems like a fair ranking.
July 7th, 2025 at 6:16 am
The secondary was depleted with injuries last season. And the team lacked quality depth at every position on the defense. But this year is a different story……so we will see how it plays out. I think the defense improve a whole lot..
July 7th, 2025 at 6:23 am
Yay!!
Some bulletin Board material!
Todd has a pretty dang good resume seems to me. Remember the past folks. Richard Williamson? Leeman Bennett? Raheem my BFF? Lovie Tennessee ready? Greg toes on the line?
Go Bucs!
July 7th, 2025 at 6:27 am
All eyes will be on this defense at ATL in game 1.
July 7th, 2025 at 6:32 am
I can understand the hate sometimes as I personally only watched offensive drives last year. The stress was too much when the defense played. But he had a busted roster. He has somehow managed to get us through some bad stretches without the playwrs just tanking the season. Which happens often. If he has a healthy defense we could make the superbowl with him in my opinion
July 7th, 2025 at 6:42 am
Agree with Mr. Sharp. Coach Bowles is the definition of average.
July 7th, 2025 at 6:43 am
I appreciate Bowles for several reasons, but the main one for all of us long-time fans is being able to keep us competitive through the post-Brady rebuilding process. Will he be able to get us to the Super Bowl? Not sure, but he’s done well winning the division with a sub-par roster. Until now! This is the year that will show fans whether he can make a serious run or not.
July 7th, 2025 at 7:10 am
I think the defense will be a lot better this season with the new additions.
July 7th, 2025 at 7:19 am
I remember when a small percentage of fans would defend Byron Leftwhich as a good playcaller to the death. Todd’s not a bad as lefty but the results have not lived up to his “defensive guru” label. He’s a middle ranked coach at BEST. Nice guy though.
July 7th, 2025 at 8:09 am
I don’t agree with Sharp staff football voters. Todd should be around number 11. He has done a lot and has kept the team culture together, no drama.
July 7th, 2025 at 8:40 am
14-20 seems about right.
I personally lean toward the latter, but prove me wrong coach!
July 7th, 2025 at 8:42 am
Bowles’ steady nature (and mainly Mayfield, in my opinion) has kept us from falling totally apart during our midseason slumps the past couple years. But Bowles has also held us back the past 3 years as well, going all the way back to that infamous Rams game in 2021.
Do better, be better in 2025, Coach!
July 7th, 2025 at 8:55 am
Warren Sharp … ‘Todd Bowles has been solid during his three year run with the Buccaneers, making the playoffs in each of those seasons. He jumps to 14th in this year’s rankings after finishing 20th a year ago.’
So just 1 year ago (2023) Sharp had Bowles ranked #20 out of 32 HCs, but this past year he improved to #14. Statistically that’s a very significant improvement. Our record improved from 9-8 in 2023 to 10-7 in 2024, we made the playoffs both years, but fizzled early. Our offense improved A BUNCH from #20 in 2023 to #4 in 2024, while our defense back-slid from a #7 in 2023 to a #16 in 2024.
Hmmm, looking at those measures of team performance, it looks like our 2024 offense drove the results (it showed the largest improvement by far, and more than compensated for our defense’s ‘retrograde’).
Yup, gotta love rankings like this. Maybe it’d be more meaningful to only have 2 rankings. Win the Super Bowl and you get ranked #1. Don’t win the Super Bowl and you tie for #2.
July 7th, 2025 at 9:01 am
For context, Sharp had Bowles ranked 20th for 2024. What I don’t get is having DeMeco Ryan & Mike Vrabel tied at 15th.
July 7th, 2025 at 9:04 am
I would rank him higher than 14. His body of work with what he’s had to work with say’s a lot since he took over. That Rams loss wasn’t the result of the Kupp play alone so put that to bed, the team was way down before that play AND missed a Stafford fumble the play before that. This team was thought for dead after Brady and the cap hell for those years. Todd and Licht brought in Mayfield, solid coach’s and held the D together with bailing wire to try to win games. They dealt with the injury bug last year and sub par back ups, how can you win like that yet they did. It’s easy to look back and say should have done this or that with play calling but it’s the players that have to execute the plays, they do that with TD’s instead of FG’s and we’re singing a different tune. If they go deep/win it all the tune changes. and another solid year in the win/loss catagory push’s his % total higher. I think the positives outweigh the negatives in Todd’s favor.
July 7th, 2025 at 9:07 am
I was all for his head in the middle of that slump 2 years ago but when they came out of it I knew that was Bowles holding the team together, then again last year. That’s what made me think he is solid.
July 7th, 2025 at 9:10 am
Warren Sharp is being very kind. A coach teaches his players situations and nuances. These are absent in Bucs behavior on both sides of the ball. We all know the wretched defense examples, but offensively also. Bucky not cradling the ball with both hands and arms at the end of Falcons 1. JMac going all deer in the headlights and not paying attention to his assignment on the infamous jet sweep. Baker for not simply eating it. And Liam for calling that play in that situation at all. Barton for the early snap which surprised everyone but the Redskins.
Coaching matters.
July 7th, 2025 at 9:28 am
middling is a great word for him lmao
July 7th, 2025 at 9:41 am
Super Todd’s biggest weapon is the division he’s in. Take away the worst divsion in the NFL and Super Todd suddenly isnt so super anymore.
July 7th, 2025 at 9:51 am
If you want to kill Bowles over the Cooper Kupp catch in the 2021 playoffs then you also need to give him his flowers for winning the 2020 Super Bowl by holding the Chiefs to 9 points and Patrick Mahomes to no TD’s.
July 7th, 2025 at 10:13 am
The Bucs have been to the playoffs for five consecutive years. Something that’s never happening in this franchise history. Before that we hadn’t been to the playoffs in 13 years. I remember the 0-14 season, the 26 losses in a row, all of the ” bottom feeding” years. I for one appreciate what Todd Bowles is doing. We are a relevant football team now. And we have improved every season under Coach Bowles. We will continue to improve, we will continue to win football games. We may play in a so- call weak division…….which we went 4-2 in the division……but we also went 6-5 outside of our division. We beat 4 playoffs teams including the Super Bowl Champs. We fought injuries all season. We played 8 rookies, including starting 4 of them.
No matter how you spin it…we are a perennial playoff team
Not many teams or coaches can say that
Who cares about the analysts who never played the game on an NFL level. I sure don’t, people can keep their personal opinion at home
I go with the team play on the field….the fight in them