Bucs’ 2026 Opponents Officially Set

On the road, they’ll travel to face the Bears and Lions out of the NFC North and the Ravens and Bengals out of the AFC North.

And because they finished second in the NFC South after a stunning fall from 6-2 to 8-9, the Bucs will match up with the second-place teams out of the NFC West (at home) and NFC East (on the road). That means a home game against Rams and a visit to Dallas to face the Cowboys.

And finally, the rotating 17th opponent this year comes out of the AFC West. The second-place team in that division wound up being the Chargers, so they’ll visit the Bucs at Raymond James Stadium in 2026.

Here’s a full list of opponents for the Bucs as they look ahead to the 2026 season:

Bucs’ 2026 Opponents – HOME

Green Bay Packers
Minnesota Vikings
Cleveland Browns
Pittsburgh Steelers
Atlanta Falcons
Carolina Panthers
New Orleans Saints
Los Angeles Rams
Los Angeles Chargers

Bucs’ 2026 Opponents – AWAY

Chicago Bears
Detroit Lions
Baltimore Ravens
Cincinnati Bengals
Atlanta Falcons
Carolina Panthers
New Orleans Saints
Dallas Cowboys

Bucs Will See Some Of The NFL’s Top Quarterbacks In 2026

There’s plenty that stands out about Tampa Bay’s 2026 opponents, but one of the glaring takeaways is the sheer amount of quarterback talent the team will see in its 51st season.

The home slate features Green Bay’s Jordan Love, the Los Angeles Rams’ Matthew Stafford (assuming he returns for an 18th season) and the Los Angeles Chargers’ Justin Herbert, and there’s also the potential for one final visit from future Pro Football Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers, should he choose to return for one more season and sticks in Pittsburgh.

The road schedule features another impressive list of quarterbacks. There’s Chicago’s Caleb Williams, Detroit’s Jared Goff, Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson, Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow and Dallas’ Dak Prescott.

With all of that in mind, there has to be some pressure on the Bucs to make significant strides with their defense this offseason. The first decision they’ll have to make for the defense as well as the team as a whole is whether Todd Bowles should return. If he is allowed to return for a fifth season as Tampa Bay’s head coach, he’ll need to make some staff changes and think about making some tweaks to his scheme. He may even need to think about bringing in a new defensive coordinator and giving up the play-calling reins.

Of course, if the Bucs choose to fire Bowles or there’s a scenario where he retires/steps down, it’ll be on the new head coach to get the defense right as it gets set to face that impressive list of quarterbacks.

In either case, the Buccaneer defense needs some significant rebuilding and retooling. The unit has not been able to rush the passer, for one. Haason Reddick was a bust of a free agent signing last offseason, and while Yaya Diaby finished the year as the team’s leading sacker, he looks more like a No. 2 than the true alpha pass rusher the defense has been missing. Anthony Nelson is a solid reserve player and the Bucs will hope for a healthy 2026 out of 2025 fourth-round pick David Walker, but there’s serious work to be done in the outside linebacker room.

On the interior of the defensive line, Vita Vea is still good but aging, Calijah Kancey hasn’t been able to stay healthy and Logan Hall will be gone. Elijah Roberts had a promising rookie season, but again, there’s real work to be done here as well.

Inside linebacker rivals outside linebacker as the position group that needs the most attention this offseason. Lavonte David turns 36 in January and seems very likely to retire, SirVocea Dennis hasn’t done enough in 2025 to cement his place as a starter in 2026 and there’s no depth behind those two.

And there’s also the secondary, specifically the cornerback position. Zyon McCollum signed an extension last summer and will be back as one starter on the outside, though he needs to rebound from a poor season in 2025. As for the other side, Jamel Dean is likely to walk in free agency. Rookie Benjamin Morrison couldn’t stay on the field in 2025, nor did he do enough when he was on the field to deserve being handed Dean’s starting spot. So, Tampa Bay will have to go out and address that room and at least provide some competition for the second-round pick out of Notre Dame.

Improving depth at safety behind Antoine Winfield Jr. and Tykee Smith is another task on the list, too.

So, yeah. That’s a ton of work to do on a defense that ranked near the bottom of the NFL in just about every category in 2025 and will be facing some of the league’s top quarterbacks in 2026.

Let the offseason begin.