What Separated The 2023 Bucs From Super Bowl Contenders?

It was there that their season came to an end, but it was still a resounding success for Tampa Bay in the context of what was expected after Brady’s retirement and everything that came with it. In fact, because they played on the Sunday slate of Divisional Round Weekend, the Bucs were one of the last six teams remaining on the road to Super Bowl LVIII.

But in the end, it wasn’t the Bucs playing for the Lombardi Trophy in Las Vegas on the second Sunday in February. It was the 49ers representing the NFC and the Chiefs representing the AFC and ultimately completing their quest for back-to-back championships.

So, what separated the Bucs from the 49ers, Chiefs and other Super Bowl contenders like the Lions and Ravens? Tampa Bay general manager Jason Licht, who built a Super Bowl roster and got the team to a championship level in 2020, took a stab at answering that question during his media availability on Tuesday morning at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.

“It was a lot closer than we thought, and that was good to see. That’s the sign of a great organization, scouts, coaches, players,” Licht said. “I think when you look back to 2020, we had a lot of depth. Some veteran depth, some young depth, but we had a lot of depth. And I think depth might be the key.”

There’s truth in that, of course, as the 2020 Bucs were deep at just about every position. The 2023 Bucs weren’t at that same level, as they had high-end talent at a lot of positions but lacked the depth they needed to contend with the top teams in the NFC. With that in mind, Licht and his staff will be looking to build out some key areas of their roster to complement the talent it already possesses.

Todd Bowles said during his own NFL Combine media availability that he doesn’t see much of a gap between the Bucs and the top NFC teams, though he did allude to having a roster that has stars as well as role players and how important it is to have everyone playing together.

“I don’t think that it’s a gap. I think there’s mistakes and I think there’s non-mistakes. We were tied with Detroit going into the fourth quarter int the playoff game. They made some plays, give them credit. They had a heck of a team. San Fran had a heck of a team. It takes a lot to get to the Super Bowl. We just have to shore up the things that we need to shore up.

“You’re never going to have 10 Pro Bowlers on each side of the football. You’ve got some star players, you’ve got some role players and you’ve got some guys that have got to understand their role. And if you can get those guys to play together and not make mistakes, you have a chance. When you don’t beat yourself, you have a chance.”

Bucs Looking For More Depth At A Variety Of Key Positions

The backfield is one of the big areas that needs reliable depth, as the Bucs were quite fortunate that Rachaad White played 19 out of 19 games during his first full year as a starter in the NFL.

White had 272 carries and 64 catches, totaling out to 336 touches. Whether it’s about adding depth in the backfield or making better use of depth, Licht said they’d like to have someone to complement White and lessen his workload in 2024.

“We definitely would like to have more depth there. Or the use of more depth there, I should say. Because I think Chase [Edmonds] did some really good things for us too. We’d like to have Chase back, too. We’d like to have a complementary back there, whether it’s Chase or somebody else, that can take a little bit of that load.”

Bowles echoed those thoughts on Tuesday, saying that while White can handle a heavy workload, they need to take some of the burden off of him buy getting another capable running back who can stay healthy and contribute.

“I’d definitely like to have another back in here to take some of the weight off of him,” Bowles said. “I think if you carry the ball that much, injuries are bound to happen. We can take some of the load off of him. With Chase getting hurt a little bit last year and a couple of guys just being young, we didn’t have that much to go off of.

“But he carried it well and he did a heck of a job. He’s young and I think he can do it, but we always want to take the pressure off of him if we can.”

Considering the uncertainty surrounding what 2023 undrafted free agent Sean Tucker will turn into, perhaps the Bucs do bring back Edmonds and add another back to the room through the draft. That would give them depth like at the position that they haven’t really had since 2020, when they had both Ronald Jones II (a 978-yard rusher that year) and Leonard Fournette, who was a postseason hero.

It’s not just in the backfield where the Bucs lack the depth they need. At various points throughout his press conferences on Tuesday, Licht mentioned inside offensive line, wide receiver, tight end, outside linebacker and safety as position groups that they’re always looking to add to.

Adding a center and having a two-year starter in Robert Hainsey as a backup, then finding a starting left guard but still bringing back Aaron Stinnie would qualify as building depth on the interior of the offensive line. Getting another receiver or two to have behind Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Trey Palmer and Rakim Jarrett makes sense, and rather than finding a complement to Cade Otton, having Otton as a complement to a new No. 1 tight end with a higher ceiling would be ideal.

After the release of Shaq Barrett, another pass rusher or two is needed to deepen the outside linebacker room. And while Licht says the team feels good about Kaevon Merriweather and Christian Izien as options to play opposite Antoine Winfield Jr., he also said that’s a position where they want to make sure they have depth.

So, it feels like there’s a ways to go before Tampa Bay has the type of deep roster it needs to make a deep run at a third Lombardi Trophy. And of course, any additions this offseason are going to be value signings and new draftees. But if the Bucs can bring their big free agents back while shoring up their depth over the next offseason or two, they’ll feel very good about their chances at competing for a Super Bowl again in the near future.