Whereas the Bucs made it to the divisional playoff spherical within the NFC final season, they nonetheless should not getting the respect they deserve.
After ending the 2023 season with a 9-8 document, bringing again their big-name free brokers, persevering with so as to add depth throughout the roster with extra youth on the best way by way of the upcoming 2024 NFL Draft, there isn’t a cause why Tampa Bay shouldn’t be thought of the NFC South favourite heading into subsequent season.
In spite of everything, it’s a division the Bucs have received for 3 years in a row.
However regardless of this, the Bucs have been largely projected behind the Falcons, who’ve the entire sudden develop into the early favorites within the NFC South after including quarterback Kirk Cousins. After going via this final season, head coach Todd Bowles and common supervisor Jason Licht are snug with the crew being underestimated and are trying ahead to persevering with to get higher.
Todd Bowles And Jason Licht Are Positive With Bucs’ Function As Underdogs
When requested concerning the defending NFC South champions not getting any respect, Bucs head coach Todd Bowles responded by paying homage to the “Queen of Soul.” As an alternative of being concerned about what individuals are saying proper now, Bowles is unfazed that the crew has not made any horny strikes in free company.
Bowles simply desires his Bucs to win when it issues.
Bucs head coach Todd Bowles – Picture by: Adam Slivon/PR
“It’s no totally different,” Bowles stated Tuesday on the NFL Annual Assembly. “Once you discuss respect, Aretha Franklin might be the one one who will get that. Everyone else … you sort of glide. We’re not making an attempt to win the offseason. We’re making an attempt to win the season. So our focus would be the identical. It fuels a variety of us. It fuels a variety of the gamers. We prepare to come back again and attempt to defend our title like we did, and simply go additional within the playoffs. That’s all we fear about this time of yr.”
“That’s fantastic with me,” Licht stated. “I like being the underdog. This crew likes being the underdog. I like preserving receipts.”
Bucs Have A Promising Younger Crew That Is Solely Getting Higher
There’s a variety of promise within the Tampa Bay air after the Bucs efficiently transitioned from having the NFL’s oldest roster in 2022 to one of many youngest in 2023. That’s largely as a result of work that Jason Licht and the remainder of the Bucs’ entrance workplace have performed find expertise throughout the draft in current seasons and figuring out gamers to complement what stays of the Tremendous Bowl-winning core.
Bucs GM Jason Licht – Picture by: Adam Slivon/PR
Having a variety of younger gamers get playoff expertise is invaluable for the crew’s improvement in understanding what it takes to win huge video games and the arrow is just pointing upward.
“Simply understanding what this crew is able to, and we have been getting higher and higher as we went alongside through the season,” Licht stated. “So it’s not like we’re simply staying established order. I feel the gamers that we’ve are going to get higher. The crew goes to be higher. We’re going so as to add some extra youth within the draft, so I’m actually, actually excited.”
Because it stands proper now, the crew at the moment has solely three gamers beneath contract who’re over 30 years outdated (huge receiver Mike Evans, inside linebacker Lavonte David, and lengthy snapper Zach Triner), and every of them continues to be a high-level contributor.
For the remainder of the roster, the younger gamers have the prospect to proceed to develop collectively and develop into a viable contender for seasons to come back within the NFC South and within the NFC typically. Teetering between remaining aggressive and being a playoff contender is a skinny line, however Tampa Bay has been capable of stroll it with precision as they’ve efficiently stayed atop the division.
That ought to include a little bit extra respect – finally.
