Glazers May Have Blown It

With the report from Jeremy Fowler that embattled Buccaneers Head Coach Todd Bowles met with ownership on Tuesday and is set to meet with his staff on Wednesday, one thing is clear – the Glazer family may have missed a chance to capitalize on this championship window. Yes, the Buccaneers faltered and fizzled down the stretch, dropping from 6-2 to 8-9 and missing the postseason for the first time since 2019, but that doesn’t mean the roster isn’t still loaded with talent. Enough talent that they could be right back in the mix in 2026. Well, with the right leadership, anyway.

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Problem is, Todd Bowles doesn’t appear to be that leader. I understand some of the positives for keeping him around – three straight division titles, won a Super Bowl as the defensive coordinator, the coaching market isn’t as strong as it’s been in years past. That is, until John Harbaugh became available. Now, the Glazers have an opportunity staring them in the face and if they balk, it could signal the start of a complete rebuild. Todd Bowles, for all his accomplishments in Tampa, still doesn’t hold a strong resume as a head coach. Two of his four seasons in Tampa he finished under .500 and in the three years he won the division, there was only one instance where a team finished above .500 that wasn’t the Bucs – and that was the Saints in 2023 who finished 9-8. So it isn’t as though his three straight division titles were among elite competition. He was simply the least mediocre team in a terrible division. And that’s where the Bucs stand today – a mediocre team that doesn’t have the leadership or coaching to help them reach their full potential.

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You can point to injuries as a reason they struggled. That’s true and valid. You can point to the offense losing 7.1 points per game from 2024 to 2025 under Josh Grizzard, also extremely valid. What you can’t do is deny that the defense in Tampa has underperformed since the 2021 season and it’s only getting worse. Some of that is on Jason Licht for not bringing in the elite talent we all hoped he would. Chris Braswell is essentially a bust as a second round pick, Haason Reddick never regained that 2023 form, and Calijah Kancey can’t stay healthy. But at the end of the day, these were players Bowles signed off on to run his system, so you can place just as much blame on him as you do Licht. The question that remains is this; What kind of coaches do you think Bowles is going to be able to bring in if he’s retained? The answer isn’t going to make you any happier if you’re on the “fire Bowles” side of the aisle. The top candidates for coordinator and position coach jobs aren’t going to flock to Tampa despite the talent that is in the building. Why? Because they know it’s a sinking ship that could lead them to the unemployment line again next year. The top offensive coordinators are going to look to places like Atlanta, Baltimore, Kansas City – where there’s going to be stability and job security beyond 2026. Make no mistake, if Bowles is retained, he’s on his last leg and HAS to win next season.

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What kind of coaches are going to come running into that kind of situation? And what kind of improvements could Bowles possibly make with that cloud hanging overhead? This is where keeping Bowles is a mistake. If you want me to give you hope, I can offer you this; the meeting with the Glazers and scheduling the meetings with individuals on the coaching staff happened before Harbaugh was let go from Baltimore. We know that teams that don’t have vacancies reached out to Harbaugh’s agent, so the Bucs could be among them. That said, if the Glazers can’t get a guarantee that Harbaugh is coming, they don’t appear in any hurry to oust Bowles from his spot. Maybe it’s the buyout (which I find hard to believe) or maybe it’s the coaching landscape right now – but the situation is still fluid for the coming days. I just can’t see what the attraction is to retaining a coach that lost seven of his last nine games, ran a defense that finished in the bottom 25% of the league in red zone efficiency, goal to go efficiency, pass yards per game allowed, and sacks per pass attempt, and that has a career coaching record of 61-74 while being 35-33 in the last four seasons in a division where every other team finished below .500 but one.

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So, unless the plan is to retain Bowles while making a massive splash in the off-season – that would mean trading for Maxx Crosby or signing Trey Hendrickson among other things – and hiring an elite offensive coordinator to revive the 2024 offense, then you’re going to lose more than games next season. You’re going to lose the support and faith of the fan base while losing countless season ticket holders. Because, quite frankly, they know they deserve better as fans and they know the players on this team that actually want to win deserve better than what they got this year. You now set yourself to go all the way in on one season because the alternative is moving on from Bowles after 2026 – and potentially being forced to blow the entire thing up and start from scratch.