Buccaneers

Buccaneers HC Todd Bowles knows that the team could be looking for pass rushers and defensive linemen this offseason, as well as inside linebackers. Bowles felt the team got their best pass rushing from LB Yaya Diaby, and was still willing to take accountability for the defensive woes.

“[Diaby] was clearly our best pass rusher up front,” Bowles said, via Jenna Laine of ESPN. “I thought he had a heck of a season, especially in the second half of the season. He was one of our best players. He plays hard, he plays with a lot of energy, and we just have to help him out with the other guys up front.”

“I thought it was a tough year, defensively,” Bowles added. “It starts with me, because I’m the [defensive] coordinator as well, and the coaching staff, but we’ve got to rush better, and we’ve got to cover better. It works together. Sometimes the rush got there and the coverage wasn’t there. Sometimes the coverage was there and the rush didn’t get there. It’s not about the sacks — it’s more, for us, about the pressure and making the quarterback get rid of the ball and be incomplete. I don’t think we did that consistently.”

Buccaneers

• Per Greg Auman, Buccaneers head strength and conditioning coach Anthony Piroli has been removed from the team website after serving in that role for the past seven seasons.
• Auman adds that pass game coordinator Kefense Hynson and OL coach Brian Picucci have also been removed from the team website.

Falcons

• Falcons TE Kyle Pitts is set to be an unrestricted free agent. Josh Kendall of The Athletic writes that Pitts seems “likely” to be on next year’s roster. 
• Kendall wonders if Atlanta will sign Pitts to a long-term extension or place the franchise tag on him, worth $16.3 million. In the end, Kendall feels the tag makes the most sense. 
• After Pitts, Kendall writes that the Falcons’ most important roster decisions are LB Kaden Elliss and DT David Onyemata. 
• Kendall could see Elliss commanding a contract between $12 million and $17 million. As for Onyemata, Kendall expects him to be much more affordable, but has value because Atlanta still needs to shore up its run defense. 
• Kendall writes that OT Elijah Wilkinson is expected to return to a reserve role.
• Kendall also thinks one of Leonard Floyd or Arnold Ebiketie could be back following James Pearce‘s arrest. 
• Kendall calls Atlanta’s five biggest needs going into the offseason: defensive tackle, wide receiver, offensive line, running back, and safety.
• CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz reports the Falcons are expected to hire UConn DL coach LaTroy Lewis as an assistant DL coach under new HC Kevin Stefanski.
• Stefanski finished second in The Athletic‘s list of top offseason head coaching hires, with one anonymous executive saying, “He’s a really good coach. He’s a really good person. I like their staff. There’s something (different) about that organization, about the upper management, and the way it all mixes. There might be too many cooks in the kitchen to enact their process.”
• One former coach also weighed in on the situation: “Stefanski and Matt Ryan’s relationship will have stability for an organization that has lacked it. He has already shown he can win with less. Just needs to fix the QB situation.”