News Bucs Team Notes

[Tampa Bay Buccaneers]

Buccaneers top offseason needs

The Buccaneers find themselves in a bit of unfamiliar territory here as they have missed the playoffs for the first time since the 2019-2020 season. A disappointing finish leaves them at 8-9 for the season and sitting at home instead of playing postseason football. With that, it is clear that this team needs a lot of work in order to get back on track. It’s not impossible, but it also will be difficult to fill every hole in one offseason. However, Tampa Bay can certainly make sure they cover some of their bases at important positions. Let’s take a look at some of their top needs for this upcoming offseason.

EDGE Rusher​

Tampa Bay finished the 2025 season tied for 18th in the NFL in sacks with a total of 37. It is their lowest sack total as a team since 2017 when they had just 22 total sacks. The Bucs had 16 different players show up on the stat sheet with a sack this season. The issue? Tampa Bay’s edge rushers only contributed 14 sacks for the entire season. Yaya Diaby led the team with seven total sacks so that means that Diaby was responsible for half of the edge group’s production and that is simply not good enough.

Diaby is a solid player, but he is likely better suited as a number two or even number three pass rusher than he is a top option. The Haason Reddick signing did not work out the way the Bucs envisioned when they signed him last offseason, David Walker went down with a season ending injury in the preseason and Chris Braswell did not develop the way the team had hoped. Whether it is through free agency, trade or the draft they need to look for an upgrade at edge rusher. Reddick likely won’t be back, so you are likely looking at Diaby, Anthony Nelson, Braswell and Walker being the current room in 2026. That won’t get the job done against good offenses. I’d expect Tampa Bay to be involved with many different pass rushing options this offseason.

Inside Linebacker​

Some people will argue that inside linebacker is the team’s biggest need this offseason and for good reason. Long time Buccaneer great Lavonte David is about to turn 36 and it seems that retirement is pretty likely at this point. The SirVocea Dennis experiment did not work at all and at times became a liability on the field and none of their depth options really worked out. This is probably the one room on the entire team that might need a complete overhaul. Dennis is still on a rookie contract and can serve as cheap depth so you likely aren’t moving on from him, but the rest of the room may look a lot different in 2026.

Needing two, maybe three quality linebackers in one offseason might prove to be a tall task, but that shouldn’t stop them from trying. Linebacker has been an issue for this team for a few years now and the Bucs have tried to develop their own guys with K.J. Britt and Dennis and neither one worked out. It’s time to invest some serious resources for outside help. I wouldn’t be shocked if they targeted a top linebacker in free agency and also looked to draft one fairly early. That may seem like a lot of resources to dump into one spot, but that may be what is required to turn this room around.

Offensive Line Depth​

When healthy, Tampa Bay’s offensive line is one of the top units in the NFL. The key words there are “when healthy” which is not something they had the luxury of in 2025. The Bucs intended starting five of Tristan Wirfs, Ben Bredeson, Graham Barton, Cody Mauch and Luke Goedeke played ZERO games together this past season. Wirfs, Bredeson and Goedeke all dealt with injuries throughout the year and Mauch suffered a season ending injury in week two. For the final few games of the season, games that Tampa Bay needed to win, they had to start Dan Feeney and Mike Jordan at the guard spots. Neither of those guys were on the Bucs original roster to start the season and they both struggled at times.

Robert Hainsey departed the Bucs to join Liam Coen in Jacksonville, and the team also allowed Justin Skule to depart for Minnesota. They replaced Skule with veteran Charlie Heck, who was fine but had his down moments as well and the team even resorted to starting undrafted free agent Ben Chukwuma at left tackle when Tristan Wirfs was hurt. The depth along this offensive line cost them last year and it is something that needs to be fixed this offseason. They can hope for better health for the unit but ultimately, they need to make sure they are better suited to handle injuries in 2026.

It is a big offseason for Tampa Bay. There are more needs than just these three, but these ones feel like spots they must find upgrades back if they want to find themselves back in the playoffs in 2026. Failure to do so may result in even bigger changes next offseason so the time is ticking to get it right over the next couple of months.

Source: https://www.bucsnation.com/tampa-bay-buccaneers-analysis/66723/buccaneers-top-offseason-needs