Report: NFL Suits Believed Bucs Had “Deficient Playcaller”
February 24th, 2026
Victim of poor coaching?
This isn’t really all that surprising to Joe, but the source(s) of the story is a little.
Heavy metal headbanging Jason La Canfora, formerly of the Washington Post and CBS, had sort of an eye-opening line in a story he typed for Sports Boom about Mike Evans and his looming free agency.
Naturally, La Canfora noted that Evans would like to stay with the Bucs (no surprise) and La Canfora thinks both Evans and the Bucs want each other (no surprise). But La Canfora noted Evans is looking for a team that will use him as a starter, has a proven offense, and is a legit Super Bowl contender.
The Bucs may not fit that last criteria, which La Canfora notes may open the door for Evans’ exit. And while typing how Evans is still a dynamic receiver, La Canfora included the following:
It was clear to executives from several teams that watched Evans last season that Tampa’s offense suffered from a deficient play caller and quarterback Baker Mayfield was hobbled much of the season, too, limiting the scope of the passing game.
Deficient play caller? Well, the Bucs did can former offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard last month.
And the Bucs offense, late in the season, was truly painful to watch given how Grizzard mismanaged the offense.
Joe is just trying to be fair: Was Grizzard that bad? Or was there meddling?
Did anyone gripe about the Bucs’ play-calling when the Bucs racked up 38 points on perhaps the best defense in the league on the road against Seattle? Did anyone whine about how the Bucs, terribly short-handed due to injuries (including to Emeka Egbuka), put up 30 points on San Francisco?
Joe fully believes Rachaad White was misused last year and there is some evidence that Cade Otton was, too. And how the Bucs seemingly became unraveled when the offense got healthier is a total mystery. How does that happen? Was that all Grizzard’s doing?
Again, early in the season, nobody claimed Grizzard was garbage. Then in the second half went way south.
So again, what happened?
Interesting intel from La Canfora.
February 24th, 2026 at 4:29 am
Play caller had deficient talent to work with.
It’s the old chicken and egg story.
Offensive line was in disarray, oh BTW KO Kieft was GREATLY MISSED!
WR’s were in disarray
Poor OC was between a rock and a hard place.
February 24th, 2026 at 4:35 am
“And how the Bucs seemingly became unraveled when the offense got healthier is a total mystery. How does that happen?”
Well, the offensive line never got healthy, the quarterback never got healthy, and the head coach publicly threw his players under the bus.
It wasn’t all on anyone…so Grizz wasn’t the only one to blame. To me, it was injuries and Bowles humiliation of the he players. He lost a lot of players when he did that.
February 24th, 2026 at 4:38 am
SB~LV 🏈 Says:
“Poor OC was between a rock and a hard place.”
Gotta say, I agree. He may or may not been great, but he also didn’t have much to prove it.
At this point, I’m feeling sorry for the guy. (Not so sorry that I want him back)
February 24th, 2026 at 4:46 am
La Canfora should have checked with Munch and the girls. He would have learned that Mayfield was faking his injuries.
February 24th, 2026 at 5:08 am
😂😂😂😂
I am Joe Buc Fanning from Hanoi and the pop up ads are Vietnamese company advertising 🇻🇳🇻🇳🇻🇳
February 24th, 2026 at 5:13 am
SB~LV , the ads drive me crazy. I get a full page ad every time I change pages. I understand Joe needs to make money, so I usually don’t say much, but it the full page once constantly hit me,
February 24th, 2026 at 5:20 am
BB 😂😂😂😂
I’d LOVE to be able to post a screenshot of what I am seeing
February 24th, 2026 at 6:00 am
On both sides of the ball. Deficient sounds right
February 24th, 2026 at 6:03 am
Playing 2 third string guards=no offensive plays are even available to run other than quick outs and screens.
Which is almost all of what we saw. That’s not on the OC.
February 24th, 2026 at 6:25 am
“Debacle” I believe is the best word to describe the offense last year. All the way around, it was a weekly debacle.
February 24th, 2026 at 6:30 am
Joe … ‘Joe is just trying to be fair: Was Grizzard that bad? Or was there meddling?’
It’s interesting Joe that you seem to use that innuendo (?), pure speculation (?) technique quite a bit for Bowles, but virtually never for Licht.
There were a ton of personnel decisions (or non-decisions) that set the stage in the Spring & Summer for the lack of quality players we put on the field in the Fall. For example … Bridgewater as backup QB, Dennis as starting ILB, various OLinemen who simply didn’t cut it as backups. But the list is far more extensive than that.
Bowles is HC, and has every right to provide ‘guidance’ to his coordinators. What I saw last season is that when Baker’s healthy AND has healthy ‘weapons’ AND ‘protection’, Bucs almost always have a decent offense. When he’s not healthy OR his ‘weapons’ OR his protection aren’t healthy, our offense isn’t nearly as productive. Duh. I’m sure the same can be said for every team in the NFL.
I think what I’m concerned about at this point is that the Bucs have numerous personnel problems right now. There are tons of quality free agents available who can help us immediately. There are some excellent draft prospects who could also help us immediately. Bowles is NOT the one who’s in charge of FIXING this personnel mess; Licht is. I was very unimpressed with most of his personnel moves (and LACK of moves) last season. He needs to do MUCH BETTER this year or we’ll be in serious trouble for years to come.
February 24th, 2026 at 6:50 am
Well said DR and I could not agree more. This is a watershed year for Licht and Bowles as I believe their futures are now intertwined.
February 24th, 2026 at 6:52 am
Duh……