Analyst addresses questions about Buccaneers going from Liam Coen to Josh Grizzard as OC

Outsiders understandably are wondering if the Tampa Bay Buccaneers can replicate the success they enjoyed last season playing under offensive coordinator Liam Coen, who left the club to become the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars this past winter. 

Tampa Bay replaced Coen by promoting Josh Grizzard from his role as the team's pass game coordinator. During a recent appearance on "The Mina Kimes Show," NFL analyst Ben Solak of ESPN explained why Buccaneers fans should be excited about the team's offense heading into the summer months.

"Top-five in all of success rate -- (expected points added) per play, points per drive and downside conversion rate — one of three offenses to be top-five in all of those metrics," Solak said while speaking about the 2024 Buccaneers, per the JoeBucsFan website. "They were the best offense in the league in terms of third-down conversion rate. They converted on 50.4 percent of their third-down conversions despite having the 16th-most yards to go on third down. ...New offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard…was the third-down guy last year. He designed the third-down offense. It was the best third-down offense in football."

According to ESPN stats, Coen's Tampa Bay offense finished the 2024 regular season ranked third in the NFL with 399.5 total yards gained per game, third with 250.4 passing yards per contest, fourth with 149.2 rushing yards per game and fourth with 29.5 points scored per game. 

Quarterback Baker Mayfield enjoyed the best campaign, to date, of his pro career that began back in 2018, and rookie running back Mar'Keise "Bucky" Irving finished the season ranked 10th in the NFL with 1,122 rushing yards.

"Irving's 37.1% missed tackle percentage led the NFL and his 76 missed tackles forced ranked first among rookies," Brianna Dix of the Buccaneers' website mentioned back in February. 

Perhaps the most promising thing regarding what Grizzard may accomplish as a first-year coordinator is the fact that Tampa Bay is running it back with Mayfield, Irving, star receiver Mike Evans, wideout Chris Godwin Jr. and its same offensive line. The Bucs also made promising receiver Emeka Egbuka the 19th overall pick of this year's draft. 

Regardless of Grizzard's inexperience, it's clear that the pressure is on the Buccaneers to do more than simply return to the playoffs under head coach Todd Bowles. Fair or not, Grizzard could be viewed as a disappointment if the Buccaneers aren't responsible for a top-five offense by the time the upcoming regular season wraps up in January.