Mystery Offense
June 1st, 2026
Supporting cast judged.
It’s becoming clear to Joe that one long-time NFL scribe is not overly impressed with the Bucs.
FOX Sports NFL columnist Ralph Vacchiano previously listed the Bucs in his post-schedule release power rankings at No. 22. That’s the bottom-third of the league.
Last week, Vacchiano decided to rank each quarterback’s best supporting cast. And it seems Vacchiano isn’t buying all the hype about Baker Mayfield’s weapons.
In fact, Vacchiano thinks the Bucs’ offensive skill positions are below average. He has the Bucs at No. 18.
18. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Should the Bucs be evaluated on what they are, or what they should be? That’s the problem with this team. For example, losing WR Mike Evans is a huge hit because he’d been a staple of their offense for more than a decade. But he didn’t do much even when healthy last season. Emeka Egbuka looked like an ideal replacement, though — but only if you ignore the alarming drop-off during the back half of his rookie season. Chris Godwin could be the new No. 1, too, but he’s played just 16 games the past two seasons. Then there’s RB Bucky Irving, who was dominant as a rookie but played only 10 games last season and took a back seat to the since-departed Rachaad White.
As for the line, should it be judged on its ugly season last year when the projected starting five played just a handful of snaps together? It all makes the Bucs offense a big mystery. There are pieces for new offensive coordinator Zac Robinson, a Sean McVay disciple. But it’s hard to say what that puzzle will look like when completed around Baker Mayfield.
Vacchiano does have a few points. Joe saw what this team is capable of in 2024, and what happens when the offense doesn’t have good coaching and injuries wipe out the offense.
With a full healthy season, can/will Jalen McMillan step up? Can Emeka Egbuka shake off his disappearing act? How much will Mike Evans be missed? Can Bucky Irving return to his rookie form? Can Bucs new offensive coordinator Zac Robinson bring stability?
That’s what Joe and many Bucs fans are banking on. Vacchiano seems to be much more in the wait-and-see crowd.
June 1st, 2026 at 9:20 am
TBBF predicts great years from Gainwell, JMac & Otton…..all overperforming…
June 1st, 2026 at 9:21 am
Well Joe, interesting , we don’t hear the offense kicked to the curb much. I think he is off. I think we all think the offense should thrive. Albeit, it may take a little bit with yet another cordinator and a new offense to come together.
On the other hand I think we all hope the offense really comes out because the defense has a few huge question marks , especially at ILB and CB. Right now my guess would be the offense scores a ton of points and the defense especially in the passing game gives up a ton of points.
June 1st, 2026 at 9:28 am
Just the fact that this years OC is not starting the season with a learners permit and has actually called nfl plays during games is a huge deal. Plus he already knows the divisional teams. With that said they still won 8 games mostly without ME13, Bucky and best players on the O line.
June 1st, 2026 at 9:38 am
Offense will be worse. Special Teams will be dramatically better, but won’t change outcomes. Defense will be slightly above crap.
7-10 is the roof. Probably closer to 5-12.
This is 1995 all over again.
June 1st, 2026 at 10:11 am
ModHairKen Says:
June 1st, 2026 at 9:38 am
Offense will be worse. Special Teams will be dramatically better, but won’t change outcomes. Defense will be slightly above crap.
7-10 is the roof. Probably closer to 5-12.
This is 1995 all over again.
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If that’s the case, we’ll finally move on from the definition-of-mediocre HC, but until/unless the Glazers commit to real cultural change within the organization (the only ones they’ve ever hired that approached it were Chucky and Bucco Bruce Arians), whoever they bring in next will be more of the same: unwilling/unable to demand accountability, unwilling/unable to make necessary changes, unwilling/unable to confront the front office and/or ownership when the situation requires it, and unwilling/unable to consistently produce winners.
Part of what got Chucky fired was his demand for accountability and willingness to have some level of confrontation. That’s why McKay left, and frankly, behind-the-scenes demands/confrontation with ownership what got him fired. As it turns out, some owners don’t like their employees being difficult to work with, but in football, sometimes being difficult to work with is a superpower.
June 1st, 2026 at 10:26 am
the confluence of bad luck and bad decisions last year will be hard to get a worse result offensively.
new (experienced) OC, healthy (hopefully) O line, updated backfield to get rid of poison racchad white, EE past his rookie season, healthy godwin, hard to see it being much of a mystery at all. throw in a few wild cards the offense could have a great year.
June 1st, 2026 at 10:29 am
Just finished watching Raise the Flags last night and I’m pumped for the upcoming season! Special Teams will be greatly improved this season and the defense should be better with the infusion of free agents and rookie talent. I’m hoping we’re healthier along the offensive line, and Gainwell can be a great running back for us even if Irving ends up looking more like he did last year than his rookie season. The amount of ish-talking about the Bucs on this site is pretty frustrating – it’s hard to believe some of y’all are Bucs fans.
LFG!
Go Bucs!
June 1st, 2026 at 10:34 am
Dude’s a moron….
Top 5 OL
Top 10 WR room
Top 10 RB room
Top 10 QB
Otton is a very capable and durable TE
And he thinks the Bucs offense will rank #18??? Only if 4 of those 5 groups are dealing with major injuries (like last year) does that happen.
Bucs are way more likely than not to have a top 10 offense this year.
If the defense with all its upgrades can get close to that range and we don’t have a bunch of injuries to starters – I feel confident that the 2026 Buccaneers will be a legit contender and could even be positioned for a big playoff run come January if they are healthy and playing their best ball of the year by then….
June 1st, 2026 at 10:41 am
ModHairKen. 1995 all over again. Young Trent Dilfer was a bit overwhelmed. 16 games. 2700 yards. 4! TD passes. 18 interceptions. He added 125 yards rushing and 2 more TDs. ModHairKen, 7-10 is our roof? That means, to the discerning reader, ModHairKen, that you are not only a fool, but also an idiot. Your saving grace in all this is that you’re far from the only one of those on this thread.
June 1st, 2026 at 10:59 am
It’s no mystery. When healthy the oline and the offense is what it was in 2024. The entire offense was massively impacted by injuries in 2025 at every position! Defensively, there has been stagnation or regression in every subsequent season since 2021.
June 1st, 2026 at 11:08 am
SF had injuries and made the playoffs.
The difference there is KYLE S.
He runs a system and it’s easier to plug and play.
Purdy runs the scheme.
Put Josh Grizzard over the 49ers last year and they win 5 games.
This team is loaded on offense and I have literally never heard this guys name.
He has no clue who the Bucs are, so why even try to write about them.
June 1st, 2026 at 11:14 am
Wow what a total clown this guy is. The Bucs weapons on offense below average?? EE, Godwin, J Mac, Hurst, Tez, Otton, Gainwell, Bucky…and the oline is healthy and one of the better units in football.
Other than all that, this guy is spot on. What a total hack job.
June 1st, 2026 at 11:17 am
Kenton Smith
I think ModHairKen nailed it. Not sure about the year reference (a bit obscure) but the rest I 100% agree with.
Offense will be worse.
No Evans. Bucky injured. A new OC who who put up worse numbers with a loaded ATL.
Special Teams will be dramatically better.
I still don’t know why the STC wasn’t fired mid-year.
7-10 is the roof. Probably closer to 5-12.
They’ll come out with a few early wins. Then, they go into a mid-season slump because the defense is so predictable. Bowles doesn’t adjust. He doesn’t have the skillset.
This team won’t pull out this year’s mid-season slump. They didn’t really last year. The players are tired of his middle of the road act. They are tired of his predictability. The NFL has evolved and Bowles is a dinosaur. They quit on him last year and they’ll do it again this year. Baker obviously isn’t a team leader that inspires greatness from others. The team loses all but one of it’s last eight games. 5-7 wins is correct.
June 1st, 2026 at 11:17 am
When you have a below. 500 coach, don’t expect much better,or worse than. 500.
June 1st, 2026 at 11:18 am
Very conservative take by Ralph. There is more of a chance the Bucs excel than fail. Zac is the unknown. A bad confluence of injuries and inexperienced coaching combined to derail the ’25 offense. It’s easy to bash the Bucs and stay in the herd mentality. Don’t go out on a limb Ralph. Just be wrong like always.
June 1st, 2026 at 11:19 am
Perhaps if we had a clutch QB1 we could break out of the current funk.
In the last two years we’ve seen one playoff game and it was a loss, at home, in prime time, to a rookie QB in his first postseason game, and we forced zero punts.
And there’s the timely turnover by the QB1 that cost us the game.
He does that a lot.
June 1st, 2026 at 11:24 am
“Joe saw what this team is capable of in 2024, and what happens when the offense doesn’t have good coaching and injuries wipe out the offense.”
Totally different team now in ’26 than it was in ’24, and even as good a year as that one was it’s not like we didn’t have our struggles like the 4-game slide going into the bye week after losing Mike & Chris.
To expect this offense to hit the ground running from week 1 w/all that has changed between coaching, philosophy and personnel would be putting the cart ahead of the horse. I mean, this is a unit that didn’t even have anything it reliably did well last year now with new leadership and pieces. Just being healthy doesn’t make that any less relevant.
June 1st, 2026 at 11:25 am
If there e any doubts about how well the offense will perform its
Coming down to oline health and stretching the field. It they cant do
Either one its going to be a 6 or 7 win year
The defense should be better getting to the qb but we all know
The stats of this team without godwin and Evans. Evans gone but
Hopefully Chris can play more then 7 games this year.
Special teams will be better. But alot of questions this year falls
On the offense and what they’ll be able to do with a injury prone
Wr group
June 1st, 2026 at 11:30 am
SlyPirate. “Your saving grace in all this is that you’re far from the only one of those on this thread”. Confirmed. Thanks SlyPirate.
June 1st, 2026 at 11:43 am
I don’t think the offense will replicate ‘24 but there’s enough talent to land in the top 10 if the line can stay relatively healthy and we can run the ball effectively.
Then baker should be able to move the ball thru thr air also.
June 1st, 2026 at 11:54 am
This guy’s an idiot and has no idea what he’s talking about. You have to know the team to be able to evaluate the team.
“As for the line, should it be judged on its ugly season last year when the projected starting five played just a handful of snaps together?”
Nope, the normal starting lineup didn’t play any games together.
But the time Wirfs came back, Mauch was gone for the season.
It’s pretty obvious to most in here that Baker was playing injured for half the season.
You can’t use last season as a measuring stick for this offense. Too many missing pieces or damaged pieces that weren’t playing up to their normal ability.
For the defense, I have no explanation but we have upgraded in a lot of areas.
And of course this idiot doesn’t even mention the defense.
June 1st, 2026 at 11:58 am
Bucs heading for an awesome, more well balanced season. With no major injuries to the O-line and Baker, we will run the football spectacularly again. This will open up the pass significantly and play action will get our receivers open deep and the line will give Baker time to find them. The defense will be ranked 10-15 with some pass rush finally!
12-5 is the ceiling without impactful injuries to starters. It quickly goes down from there the more starters that are out long term.
June 1st, 2026 at 12:00 pm
And what about special teams? We’ll have one or two more wins just based on the new/old coach!
LOL
Seriously, our special teams wasn’t average or kind of mediocre, it was straight up terrible.
Take the kicker out of the equation and we’re bottom of the barrel.
He was our only saving grace. Dixon was supposed to be a solid punter but he was pretty average. He had his moments but he also had his really bad moments.
June 1st, 2026 at 12:06 pm
I see munchkin jr saying Baker cost us the playoffs game. What happened after the turnover and the score ? Baker and the offense drove down the field our rookie center screwed up the snap while going for a first down. Bowles went for the field goal to tie it. Then his DEFENSE does what it does. Let the Commanders drive down the field. Kancey gets left holding a towel on 4th down. They kicked the lucky field goal to win..
June 1st, 2026 at 12:36 pm
Golly… how is it that all the talent around Baker all fail to produce, all at the same time? Gosh darn it, I just can’t figure it out.
June 1st, 2026 at 12:36 pm
DBS Says:
June 1st, 2026 at 12:06 pm
I see munchkin jr saying Baker cost us the playoffs game. What happened after the turnover and the score ? Baker and the offense drove down the field
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…and got a FG when they needed a TD.
June 1st, 2026 at 12:52 pm
Anyone who thinks the Bucs are going 12-5 in 2026 needs to be drug tested.
The high water mark under Bowles was 10 wins, and we still lost that playoff game.
Coen was the best OC we’ve had since the 3rd and 28 regime took over.
He went on to get the Jaguars into the playoffs as the HC and resurrected Lawrence’s career.
Our fifth OC in as many years was on an 8-9 team and two of those wins were due to having the gift of the wide open Swiss cheese scheme to absolutely torch. With a washed up backup QB.
No way will we eclipse 8 wins at best. Let’s stay in reality folks.
June 1st, 2026 at 12:59 pm
Munchkin who’s decision was it to go for the field goal.clown?
June 1st, 2026 at 1:10 pm
DBS Says:
June 1st, 2026 at 12:59 pm
Munchkin who’s decision was it to go for the field goal.clown?
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Well on that we agree, Bowles is a d-bag.
June 1st, 2026 at 1:20 pm
The only mystery is why Liam Coen is not the Bucs head coach