Bucs’ Todd Bowles: We’re not trying to win the offseason

ORLANDO — A year ago, the Bucs weren’t just picked to finish last in their division but also languish among the bottom feeders in the league.

It wound up becoming a motivating factor in their third straight NFC South title and fourth consecutive playoff appearance, the longest active streak in the conference.

This year, the pundits seem to prefer the Atlanta Falcons with new quarterback Kirk Cousins and head coach Raheem Morris.

Atlanta has finished 7-10 each of the last three seasons. But one gambling site has set the under/over for Falcons wins this season at 10.5.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T? Find out what it means to coach Todd Bowles.

“It’s no different. You’re talking about respect,” Bowles said Tuesday at the NFC coaches’ breakfast during the league meetings. “Aretha Franklin is probably the only one who gets that. Everybody else you just kind of go with the flow.

“We’re not trying to win the offseason, we’re trying to win the season. So, our focus will be the same. It fuels a lot of us. It fuels a lot of the players, and we get ready to come back and try to defend our title like we did and just go further in the playoffs. That’s all we worry about this time of the year.”

Bucs general manager Jason Licht echoed those sentiments.

“That’s fine with me,” Licht said of the Falcons being the favorite to win the division. “I like being the underdog. This team likes being the underdog. I like keeping the receipts.”

The Bucs focus this offseason was re-signing their own free agents, including quarterback Baker Mayfield, receiver Mike Evans and linebacker Lavonte David, and using the franchise player tag on safety Antoine Winfield, Jr.

The biggest change has come on the offensive coaching staff. With Dave Canales named the Carolina Panthers head coach, the Bucs hired former Rams and Kentucky assistant Liam Coen to replace him as offensive coordinator.

Mayfield spent five weeks with Coen and the Rams at the end of the 2022 season, and there are some similarities to the system deployed by Canales.

“It’s just the offensive coaching staff jelling so quickly with the guys we kept and the guys that (Licht) has brought in,” Bowles said. “It’s been a real joy to see. Those guys, when they go in and lock the door, I’ve got to get on Liam to give them a bathroom break because he doesn’t let them out of the meeting room. But they have a real good feel for each other and the chemistry is coming together how you want.”

Mayfield is coming off his best season as a pro, passing for 4,044 yards and 28 touchdowns while leading the Bucs to a wild-card win over the Eagles. He and his wife, Emily, are expecting their first child, a girl, in April. He recently purchased a home on Davis Islands.

What can Mayfield do for an encore in 2024?

“Just taking command of the offense and making the adjustments,” Bowles said. “He did that last year, but there’s still some nuances we can get better at. ... I’d like him to slide a little bit more when he can. I don’t want to take away none of his competitiveness, but just commanding the offense and getting us in great positions and putting the ball where it needs to be.”

The biggest change for the Bucs may come on defense. The addition of safety Jordan Whitehead provides Bowles with another “chess piece” that he can use at any level on defense.

“Right now, the chess pieces we have are Winfield, Lavonte, (Joe) Tryon-Shoyinka and (Zyon) McCollum,” Bowles said. “Those four guys can do a lot of jobs. Other people can do some jobs, but it’s those four guys in particular right now. And if you have more, you have more.”

Whitehead was drafted by the Bucs in 2018 and spent his first four seasons in Tampa Bay, winning a Super Bowl. But he signed with the Jets as a free agent following the 2021 season and spent the last two years there.

Bowles believes Whitehead is a better player than the one who left Tampa Bay.

“I thought he matured,” Bowles said. “I thought his hands worked extremely well with the Jets. I think he’s played back deep a lot better and he understood quarters and half coverage, where we used him more around the line of scrimmage. We used him back some. I think he became a very good third-down player. ”

Licht said Whitehead’s return was popular among players and coaches.

“It kind of seemed like since the day we let him out of the building that we were counting down the minutes until he came back,” Licht said. “… When he came back, there wasn’t a person in the building that wasn’t smiling.”

Now, considering how the Bucs are being overlooked again, those smiles are being replaced by more wry grins.

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