Retooling, Not Rebuilding
July 13th, 2026
Moves were needed.
Joe is quite sure Bucs coach Todd Bowles would not react well to the following question:
“Todd, is this a rebuilding year for the Bucs?”
Coaches often recoil at the word “rebuilding.” To them, that means tanking, which also means the team already decided the veteran coach can’t win this year. Often, it’s just a matter of time before he’s given parting gifts.
It’s common for a coach to crash out at the term “rebuild.”
On one hand, Gilberto Manzano of SI.com wonders how the Bucs can be considered talented if they cannot win a trash division like the NFC South landfill. But Manzano types in a Bucs 2026 season preview it would be dishonest to suggest the Bucs don’t have enough talent to win.
…The disappointing season resulted in the Buccaneers making tough decisions, such as firing offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard and special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey. But the biggest move was letting star receiver Mike Evans walk in free agency after 12 years with the team (though the team did make a push to bring him back and he wanted to go to San Francisco).
With these decisions, the Buccaneers are clearly retooling, but that shouldn’t be confused with rebuilding. They are still loaded with depth and young talent, which didn’t do them much favors last year due to a massive wave of injuries. With better injury luck, Tampa Bay could regroup and take steps forward with all the offseason changes. The notable newcomers are known for their tenacity on the field, perhaps an indicator of how coach Todd Bowles wants his team to play in 2026.
Well, if getting rid of not-so-special teams coach Thomas McGaughey was a “tough decision,” then there are much bigger problems at One Buc Palace. That move was a total no-brainer.
In fact, Bowles should have faced heat for not running McGaughey sooner. Hell, Sean McVay booted his special teams coach right before Christmas. A head coach has to be serious about winning.
And with Grizzard, why was that a tough decision? If a head coach really thinks his offensive coordinator was dragging down the team, then the answer to that is beyond easy.
If Joe has a gripe about Bowles’ coaching moves after last season, it’s that he probably didn’t go far enough, especially on defense.
July 13th, 2026 at 11:05 am
Might just be rebuilding again next year
July 13th, 2026 at 11:11 am
This is my biggest gripe about this team. The don’t correct bad situations soon enough. A blind analyst could have told JL/TB that JTS did not belong on the field. And how many years did he last? ST coach should have been launched mid-season- -but no.
Maybe they get it from the Glaziers. TB should have been launched this last year if not before.
July 13th, 2026 at 11:13 am
Every team retools every year. Rebuilding is usually only done when you’re last in the division, and you’re drafting a QB high to lead your franchise. If the Bucs were rebuilding they’d be trading players like Winfield, Wirfs, Vea. They’d also wouldn’t have kept Mayfield knowing he can win half the games he starts. Rebuilding teams don’t want to win, they want to tank. It might be true we don’t have enough talent to win it all, but if we were rebuilding, we wouldn’t keep highly paid vets. That tells me we’re in the hunt.
July 13th, 2026 at 11:19 am
He is not a manager. If his lack of feel for game flow didn’t make it obvious the special teams situation should have.
How a HC can let that linger is beyond insane.
July 13th, 2026 at 11:30 am
When the rebuild happens, Todd won’t be with the Bucs. This season isn’t a retooling, its the start of a renovation. This team needs to be torn down to the studs and rebuilt with a new team identity in mind. Dragging the same bad roster into a new season one year older minus a HoFer with a bunch of rookies and 2nd tier FAs. Apparently this is the best and only plan of action they could go with.
Todd has friends all over this team and thats what matters most. Friends and family working together while racking up losses. Its a Bucs life.
July 13th, 2026 at 11:31 am
“It’s common for a coach to crash out at the term “rebuild.””
Do they crash out “at” the rebuild, or do they crash out “over” the rebuild? AAVE needs it’s own curriculum
Anywho, roster churn at the pro level never stops and as commonly as this term is used in reference to football. It’s more the buzz term journalism has tied to the act of teams hitting the “reset” button or “re-shuffling the deck” on building their roster in a given season.
Problem with the idea of a rebuild, is that it’s always takes > a year, though you’ll hear the “rebuild year” term as if teams are for sure they won’t be back to square one in a years time. Take us for example what the team was from the end of 2009 through and to the end of 2010, was a far cry from what we were in 2013.
July 13th, 2026 at 11:46 am
If this team starts 1-3 or 2-4 I wouldn’t want to be Todd Bowles. The backlash will be insane.
July 13th, 2026 at 12:07 pm
Devin White flaked out
Calijah Kancey is injury prone
JTS, Chris Braswell and Logan Hall were high picks that didn’t (haven’t) worked out.
Is that Bowles fault? or Jason Licht’s? Or the scouts?
July 13th, 2026 at 12:10 pm
When special teams give up the ball at the 50 bad things happen. Seriously, how in the freaking Hell did the special teams coach get hired to begin with? Then to keep him? Just this puts Bowles on the hot seat in my book.
July 13th, 2026 at 12:13 pm
“A head coach has to be serious about winning.” 🎯
Nothing since Bowles took over as the HC proves that he’s serious about winning.
Doing just enough to keep his job and get an extension are his only motivation.
Todd didn’t say “We” won three division titles, the term used was “he” won three division titles.
Of course there was zero push back from the media to remind him that the Bucs went 1-3 in the playoffs after “he” won the division thrice times.
Still wondering why Mike left for less money and higher taxes??????
🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡
July 13th, 2026 at 12:15 pm
My biggest issue with the quote from Mr Manzona is his take on Mike Evans leaving.
The Bucs didn’t “let him walk”. Evans made the decision to leave. And as has been reported here by Lee and Steve, he took less money and went to a worse state for taxes and cost of living to leave Tampa.
That, to me is very telling of his mindset.
July 13th, 2026 at 12:21 pm
Alanbucsfan, I’m not a Bowles basher but the fact that he is/was considered a specialist or Genius then there is enough talent on this team to be average. Finishing last in any category is simply unacceptable.
July 13th, 2026 at 12:23 pm
They didn’t let Mike Evans walk. He chose to leave.
July 13th, 2026 at 12:28 pm
Like I said in a previous post, call it what you want, but think this is samantics. When you don’t address dire core needs like the cb postion, which in my humble opinion they have one starter Parrish, and no depth at LB, then you are rebuilding. The Bucs are counting on 3 rookies to play like All Pro starters and hope their CB’s whom on many teams would be backups and ST players at best. This is pure fantasy. With that said they on paper have made changes and hopefully are better than last year. However, they have a lot of ifs and some huge needs that have not been addressed.
I call this rebuilding. If they wwre retooling then all those postions of weakness would have been fixed and they are not.
I have trouble believing that Mc Column and Morrison are starters and I think Bowles and Licht know too, but are currently either in denial or are slowing REBUILDING the defensive roster.
July 13th, 2026 at 12:38 pm
Bee, you know as well as I do that any real change starts at the top and not the GM but the owners! For any huge long lasting change, the Bucs need to be sold. New owners would bring new coaches, players and ideas. The big question “are Bucs fans willing to wait 3-5 years for success?
July 13th, 2026 at 12:40 pm
The Bucs problem is the head coach. If Liam Coen or Sean McVay were the head coach the Bucs would be a legit threat to win the Super Bowl. The Bucs had Liam Coen in the building it was obvious he was an elite coach, but they let him go to stick with Bowles. The franchise is paying for that dumb decision.
July 13th, 2026 at 12:41 pm
If the Bucs have less than 3 wins by the bye week, Bowles needs to be shown the door. The problem is the Bucs may be close to .500 by then with Bowles saying the same old crap week in week out that he’s said for the last several years to just keep his job. Time will tell, but get the antiacids when they’re BOGO at Publix just in case.
July 13th, 2026 at 1:20 pm
Jason and todd are a pair of tools and not the ones that work im talking about those that break down when doing a job
July 13th, 2026 at 1:33 pm
In not too many weeks, I hope we are hearing less and less about Bowles and Baker and more and more about the football team down in Tampa.
July 13th, 2026 at 1:35 pm
Sorry about the “hope” Joe. That needs to be replaced with “expect”.
July 13th, 2026 at 1:51 pm
Since we are stuck with Bowles for another year, I would like to see how he performs with a healthy team and a descent Offensive Coordinator. I’ll give him the benefit of doubt since the Bucs had one of the worst injured prone teams last year.
July 13th, 2026 at 2:10 pm
“If Joe has a gripe about Bowles’ coaching moves after last season, it’s that he probably didn’t go far enough, especially on defense.”- Joe
Yeah
Todd should have fired the DC. lol
July 13th, 2026 at 2:36 pm
“A head coach has to be serious about winning.”
We haven’t seen it from Todd.
No timeout after the Lions playoff blunder cause game was decided to Todd. Nothing crazy has ever happened at the end of an NFL game.
Taking the ball from Brady, giving the ball to Mahomes and Allen in dubious circumstances… the list goes on and on.
July 13th, 2026 at 3:42 pm
Todd’s saving grace is drafting Bain….(well Jason) we just might have something here if Jason can convince Todd to stop dropping pass rushers (the main ones) into coverage. Let them be dogs and eat!!
July 13th, 2026 at 4:16 pm
I think we took logical steps to address our weaknesses and improve across the board. And that includes letting Mike go chase his targets elsewhere. If Mike had stayed it would have interfered with EE, J-Mac, Hurst, Tez development.
Without doubt we have the most talent we’ve had since Brady and company split.
July 13th, 2026 at 5:36 pm
Allowing Bowles to not hire a DC is criminal. Theft from the ticket holders. Bowles is clearly incompetent at one or both of his titles. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, he should have hired a DC without a doubt. The giant egos in the front office and coaching are the death of this team.
July 13th, 2026 at 6:00 pm
Spot on analysis @Football1
Not addressing the lack of depth or starting talent at CB and ILB is more of the hubris from JL and his belief he is a genius. Competent FA should already be in place at CB. Quality, reasonably priced FA were widely available at the start of free agency. JL declined to sign any of the young guys……not serious about winning.
July 13th, 2026 at 6:12 pm
There are not ant no brained decisions when it comes to the Glazers. Firing Boweos has been a no brained for years. Yet, here he remains.
July 13th, 2026 at 6:38 pm
Until the team’s biggest problem is doing something else for a living, the suckage is simply going to grow, and the promising young talent will continue to become confused, disinterested and disillusioned. Only six more months of this dumpster circus, if that.
July 13th, 2026 at 7:59 pm
We kept the same tool as our head coach and DC, so I guess we did retool.
July 13th, 2026 at 8:47 pm
3.28 , mob = 💩🤡 trolls. Go back to watch your aints. Y’all still mad the Bucs beat the aints in the 2020 playoffs to send Bree’s into retirement. 😂