An optimist's guide to the 2024 Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers continued their unprecedented run atop the NFC South last season, winning a third straight division crown. Before 2022, the franchise had never even won back-to-back division titles.

We're in the golden age of Buccaneers football and here are three reasons why the era should extend through 2024.

1. The gang is back together

The Bucs succeeded in keeping their best free agents this offseason, re-signing quarterback Baker Mayfield, wide receiver Mike Evans and safety Antoine Winfield Jr. 

Mayfield, a former No. 1 overall pick by the Browns, had his best season in the pros last year. He threw for a career-high 4,044 yards and 28 touchdowns. In December, he posted the first perfect passer rating by a visiting quarterback at Lambeau Field, which opened in 1957. 

With another 1,000-yard season in 2024, Evans can tie Hall of Famer Jerry Rice for most consecutive seasons with 1,000 receiving yards (11). 

Winfield was a first-team All-Pro selection in 2023 and finished sixth in the Associated Press Defensive Player of the Year voting. He had 122 tackles, three interceptions, 12 pass deflections, a league-leading six forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries.  

2. Defense has elite talent on every level

In addition to Winfield Jr., defensive lineman Vita Vea and linebacker Lavonte David give the Bucs three playmakers at every defensive level. Per Pro Football Focus, Vea was graded as the 15th-best interior defensive lineman out of 130 and David was 25th out of 82 linebackers in 2023. 

According to PFF data, Vea had 39 total pressures, including the postseason. His missed tackle rate (4.7%) was the second-lowest among 47 interior linemen with at least 600 total snaps. David had 134 tackles, his most since 2015 and was credited with 70 stops, which PFF defines as "tackles that constitute a 'failure' for the offense," the third-most among all linebackers.

3. They've been the NFC South's best for the past three seasons

To be the best, the rest of the division must beat the best, which it hasn't done since 2021. Tampa's demise post-Tom Brady was greatly exaggerated and the team actually fared better in 2024 than during Brady's swan song, winning one more game in the regular season and advancing further in the playoffs, its fourth postseason appearance in a row.

Tampa Bay survived the league's worst run offense over the past two seasons and its first-round selection of interior offensive lineman Graham Barton might help kick-start the rushing attack's turnaround. That would make the Bucs harder to topple in the NFC South.

They've never reached the playoffs for a string of five consecutive seasons. But until another team takes the division crown from them, the Buccaneers are who everyone else is chasing.