Adding “Marquee” Players Would Require Change Of Philosophy
February 10th, 2026
Jason Licht.
Joe isn’t saying this synopsis of the Bucs is wrong. In fact, it may not go far enough.
Are the Bucs willing to change to accomplish these goals? If so, Bucs types will have to step out of their comfort zones.
Joe keeps reading where folks still demand Todd Bowles be replaced. That’s not happening for 11 months, at least. He’s not going anywhere before January 2027.
Jenna Laine of ESPN noted in an offseason outlook that Bowles “revamped” his staff. It may not have been enough. Keeping Bowles, “this Joe” believes, means a new defensive coordinator from outside the program to give the defense a fresh perspective would have been the way to go.
That didn’t happen.
Laine also noted the Bucs need to add “marquee players.” Well, the only way to do that to have the front office wade into waters it generally avoids like the Ebola virus. The only way to get “marquee players” is to either trade for or cough up mountains of Team Glazer loot. And it’s known how much the Bucs covet draft picks.
One way to add “marquee players” is to draft complete studs. Problem is, they are rookie and are unlikely to blossom for a year or two.
Look at Emeka Egbuka: As stellar a first half as he had in 2025, he fell off the map after the bye. It was likely a combination of Baker Mayfield slumping and Egbuka getting whacked square in the grill by the dreaded rookie wall.
So for the Bucs to add impact “marquee players,” the Bucs will have to undertake methods they have been leery in recent years.
February 10th, 2026 at 9:10 am
the rot starts at HC and until the rot is removed, nothing changes in terms of outcome.
February 10th, 2026 at 9:12 am
Marquee players want to play for a Super Bowl contender!
The Bucs are in decline and denial
One Bucs Complacency Place!
Do you not remember the dismal decline at the end of last season
1-7 or something similar
🤮💩🤮💩🤮💩🤮💩💩💩
1&2 WR years past their prime
No#1 running back yet
No Tight End
No linebackers
No DE’s
No interior pass rush…VV is nothing special anymore
The list goes on folks!
February 10th, 2026 at 9:15 am
Added marquee players like JPP, Suh, Barrett, Gronk, Brady, Fornette and that worked out decent. Just sayin.
February 10th, 2026 at 9:22 am
Crappy coaching and crappy football
That’s our philosophy…..
50 years in the making
February 10th, 2026 at 9:24 am
SB-LV – you know you said one word I hadn’t thought about and I suspect you are spot on – decision makers are in complete denial… About so many things. And I agree on a 2nd item the list is long…. Very very long.
February 10th, 2026 at 9:27 am
“Keeping Bowles, “this Joe” believes, means a new defensive coordinator from outside the program to give the defense a fresh perspective would have been the way to go.
That didn’t happen.” – Joe
And, so far as I know, they have not replaced the defensive staff they’ve fired either.
February 10th, 2026 at 9:28 am
Please remind us Buc fans again, why Todd deserved to keep his job and everybody else get fired?
February 10th, 2026 at 9:32 am
I’d feel better about keeping the picks over FA if they did a better job with drafting the defense.
February 10th, 2026 at 9:37 am
Bucs also fired:
Kevin Ross (CB coach)
Charlie Strong (DL coach)
Departures (Retired):
Safeties Coach Nick Rapone
And yet…none of those roles have been addressed. I have not even heard of any attempts to address them. What are they waiting for? I have two theories.
Scenario 1: They were waiting for the Suberbowl because the hires they want are on those teams.
Scenario 2: They pulled the wool over our eyes and are hiring a Defensive Coordinator, and they want him to hire coaches he wants. A possible hire from a Superbowl team.
February 10th, 2026 at 9:40 am
I stand corrected. Apparently I missed them hiring DL coach Marcus West.
February 10th, 2026 at 9:55 am
Not taking into account if they’re injury prone , here are the young players that provide a good core:
Jmac
EE
Bucky
Mauch
Luke
Parrish
Smith
Diaby
Kancey
You also have a good group of core veterans in wirfs, Godwin, Winfield, bed a mayfield.
Point is there is no reason to change the longtime strategy of building thru the draft. Don’t blow up your cap by signing b players to multi year deals or trade all your premium draft capital for aging stars.
The foundation is there if you can draft a few impact players and get a coaching staff that is competent.
If you can find FA gems that don’t require long term commitment and trades for middle round picks with high upside, by all means.
February 10th, 2026 at 9:59 am
Statistically Insignificant Reader Says:
Added marquee players like JPP, Suh, Barrett, Gronk, Brady, Fornette and that worked out decent. Just sayin.
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Yes, it worked out pretty well. The boat parade was awesome!
But bringing in those guys and then bringing them all back the following year (2021) put the team in salary cap hell. I’m sure that 99% of fans at the time (including myself) felt it was totally worth it. But the front office had to then start shopping at the Dollar Store for players to get out of salary cap hell, which is a contributing factor to the talent level on defense not being where we want it to be. Many fans seem to forget that part and want to throw Jason Licht & the Glazers under the bus.
If I described you in the previous paragraph, you may want to rethink your analysis of how the team is doing. Since the year 2000, the Bucs have won two Super Bowls. Only two teams (Chiefs & Patriots) have won more than two. Four other teams (including Seattle) besides the Bucs have won two. Twenty-five other teams wish they had won two or more.
February 10th, 2026 at 10:03 am
Buccaneer Bonzai Says: I have two theories.
Scenario 1: They were waiting for the Super Bowl because the hires they want are on those teams.
Scenario 2: They pulled the wool over our eyes and are hiring a Defensive Coordinator, and they want him to hire coaches he wants. A possible hire from a Superbowl team.
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I believe Scenario 2 IS a real possibility, but would only be done if the team can get someone they really want.
There were reports that the team reached out to Sean McDermott after he was fired from Buffalo. I was wondering at the time if they wanted to hire him as the DC.
February 10th, 2026 at 10:14 am
Joe Says:
“The only way to get “marquee players” is to either trade for or cough up mountains of Team Glazer loot. ”
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There is another way, too.
Develop the players you draft or acquire via free agency and turn them into marquee players.
Hall of Fame player Ronde Barber didn’t look at all like a marquee player when he was drafted or in his rookie season.
February 10th, 2026 at 10:16 am
This whole thread could be summarized in jimmy’s first post.
>>>The rot starts at the top.
This could mean TB and JL.
This should mean the Glazers for not cutting out the rot.
February 10th, 2026 at 10:18 am
A lot of great posts with common-sense theories. Paying for Brady & Co. was like someone handing you $10,000 and telling you to build a house. It was worth the investment, but the hole is very tough to dig out of. At least we’ve been able to stay competitive. With cap money this year, there will be some pressure on Licht to take the next step. We will see how this year goes.
February 10th, 2026 at 10:23 am
You don’t need a marquee player or 2…You need a roster of good-to-very good players that play well together at every position…You can get away without the known commodity superstar if you have a solid players at every level.
The FO also needs to know when to walk away from aging Vets & underperforming 1st contract draft picks, because you can keep spending bad money.
Licht & Co have some work to do but it’s not impossible to fill the 6-8 roster spots that need to be upgraded in FA…Then they need to hit on at minimum 4 to 5 picks in the draft to provide the additional quality depth / rotational depth needed to accommodate the in-season ups & downs…The bangs, bruises and injuries that occur throughout the season.
February 10th, 2026 at 10:32 am
the bucs needed to hire a DC not even last year, the year before, and they didnt after the one and done vs the commanders.
the fact that they didnt do it was bad. the DC reins should have been gently taken out of bowles hands with a gentle “but todd we just want to help you with the DC grind and allow you to really flourish as a HC” type of nonsense.
but they didnt.
the fact that they arent going to do it NOW,after the pathetic performance we all just witnessed and just tell todd “look we like you but not so much that we are going to be thought of and prove we are idiots if we dont get some help for you and a talented DC” says everything you need to know about team glazer.
February 10th, 2026 at 10:50 am
I believe they were waiting until the last of the Brady era dead cap was gone (which is NOW) to start spending
February 10th, 2026 at 10:57 am
@ Buccaneer Bonzai
All of those coaching positions have been filled. He hired an assistant D-line coach from the Bills and elevated the assistant corner and safety coaches from last season to the full time coaches for those positions now.
So the only fresh blood in the defensive coaching staff is a D-line coach that assisted in one of the worst run game defensive lines in the league.
He did hire a 75 year old Special Teams coach though, so there is that.
February 10th, 2026 at 11:13 am
Tough spot they are in. I don’t think it ends well for Bowles and JL could be in hot water in the future if he doesn’t change his recent approach. Prior to 2020, JL added pieces in FA that helped them build around with draft picks. That led to a superbowl. JL needs to get back to that. TB doesnt have a ton of free cap, some restructuring might be okay but there are some aging vets where it might not make sense either. JL waited too long to add more pieces, this should have been done 2 years ago and again last year, now there are just too many holes to fill.
For Bowles, the defense wont change. Everyone knows how to beat him now. The only thing that will help is more talent. Scheme wise, Bowles will continue to be out coached. I can’t see drastic changes to the defense coming. This will be the end of Bowles which could be seen as a good thing.
February 10th, 2026 at 11:23 am
If we have learned one thing from watching past champions it is that defense still wins championships. This year with Seattle and last year with the Eagles and even the 2020 Bucs team. You dont even need an elite QB just a really good game manager and a defense with a run game. Sam Darnold has a ring before Josh Allen and Joe Burrow for example. So they need to fix this defense the trenches and Oline needs to be better. Start spending money on defense and stop paying players that are constantly injured every year. Dean falls down and gets hurt. Mike has hamstring issues every year. Godwin multiple surgeries and still not back to normal.
February 10th, 2026 at 11:24 am
Calais Campbell should have been signed to replace Gholston.
Calais Campbell should have been our 3-4 DE next to Vea.
Joe called for Calais Campbell many many years ago
He should have been a Buccaneer.
We need a badass 3-4 DE like Gholston or Calais Campbell.
I want a 6-6 or taller monster at DE.
This defense needs a tough DE like Gholston. Not a soft guy like Hall.
We need a DE who can crack down on the edge so the OLB can get sacks!
People forget Shaq Barrett set the sack record while playing next to Gholston.
We need a legit Pro Bowler at DE.
And a legit 10 sack guy at OLB.
Yaya, Vea and Kancey are studs.
We need to upgrade our DE and OLB starters.
February 10th, 2026 at 12:07 pm
Sadly, nothing matters much on the defense with Bowles running things.
He is in complete denial when it comes to his scheme, his players and the players he thinks he needs, or more importantly, doesn’t need.
Bang on Licht all you want, but as the GM you can only go shopping based on this lost the HC/DC puts on the list. He told JL his LBers were fine and bringing in Walker would make them deep at the position. He signed off on Reddick bring what he needed a OLBer.
Until the HC/DC is sent packing, JL will continue shopping based on Bowles perceived needs. Hence, nothing will change until the delusional Bowles is gone.