Buccaneers star playmakers endorse new OC Josh Grizzard

With Coen on the outs, the Bucs were once again in a position to find a new offensive coordinator. Showing their acumen for hiring great young talent to the position, they hired from within, promoting pass game coordinator Josh Grizzard.

2025 will be the first season for Grizzard calling plays, and while he doesn't have the experience of doing so, the confidence is there for him to perform to the standards the team has. Grizzard brings a wealth of knowledge and over 13 years of coaching experience, with much of that coming from his time with the Miami Dolphins, where he learned from great minds such as Mike McDaniel.

The confidence seems to be resonating with the Buccaneers players as well. Following their last mandatory minicamp practice, star wide receiver Mike Evans talked about how his new OC is taking on his role.

"Josh – Coach 'Grizz' is… Last year, we talked a lot but he didn't talk as much in groups, and he does a really great job of talking in front of everybody," Evans commented. "We didn't get to see that last year but he's a really great coach and I look forward to having a great season for him."

As the passing game coordinator, Grizzard spent a large portion of his time commanding the Bucs' third-down offense. In fact, Grizzard was so good in this area that the Bucs ended the season as the best team in the NFL on the all-important down, converting over 50% of the time.

The media also spoke with rising superstar Bucky Irving, who reiterated Evans' sentiment regarding Grizzard while adding that he had a hand in his rookie development at the running back position.

"I mean, we all know 'Grizz' has stepped up to be our new offensive coordinator but the craziest thing about it is last year, I was pretty close with 'Grizz' because I'd be wanting him to coach me up on different things like screens and things like that and he always had an answer for me like, 'Yeah Bucky, we need you to do this and that'," said Irving. "We all know he's a smart guy, so being able to know that he's coming in, [he has] a high role to do – just being able to follow his lead and know that he will put us in the right position and just going out there and executing at a high level for him."

Grizz seems to be fitting snugly into his new position despite never calling plays in his career. He will likely start to feel more comfortable as practices continue into training camp and the preseason, especially when it comes to "call-it" periods.

The Bucs' offense will look fairly similar to what we saw a season ago, with some slight tweaks from Grizzard. However, there has been an emphasis early on that they want to see more explosive plays this upcoming season, with getting vertical being a main theme thus far throughout the offseason.

Grizzard is lucky. He has one of the deepest and most talented offensive rosters in the league. It would be hard to mess things up due to that, but if he plans on maintaining the success we saw from a season ago, he will need to make sure he is focused at all times — play-to-play, drive-by-drive, and game-by-game.