The Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2025 have daring Super Bowl dreams thanks to Josh Grizzard's offense, but defensively, some have their doubts.
This offseason, general manager Jason Licht got to work and managed to sign stud pass-rusher Haason Reddick to bolster the defensive line, a problematic area last year.
But Reddick comes to the NFC South needing to prove he still has the "juice" after a poor year with the New York Jets last season. Granted, that was in part to the long holdout as he wanted a new contract.
Now, as a member of Todd Bowles' defense, Reddick will be looking to re-establish himself as a premier pass-rusher. For NFL.com's Tom Blair, Reddick is an easy player to root for in 2025.
"Reddick was quite the pass-rushing mercenary between 2020 and 2023, stacking up 50.5 sacks over four seasons with three different teams," Blair writes. "Now he's with the Bucs, a team on the upswing that also happens to roster a good number of likable players on feel-good career tracks.
"Reddick can restore his reputation as one of the NFL's preeminent QB-chasers-for-hire while keeping Mayfield, Mike Evans, Todd Bowles and Co. relevant in our lives as football fans, and that would be a win-win as far as I'm concerned."
Haason Reddick
Haason Reddick
FanStreamSports.com
You could make the case that from 2020 through to 2023, Reddick was one of the most consistent pass-rushers in football, grabbing two Pro Bowls in those four years, while posting at least 11.0 sacks in each season.
Yes, last season wasn't ideal, but now that Haason will get a full offseason to get into proper football shape, plus with the likes of Vita Vea, Calijah Kancey, and Logan Hall to take the pressure off, maybe Reddick will re-emerge as the game-wrecker we know him to be.
With a point ot prove to the NFL world, plus the dangling carrot of needing a new contract at the end of the year, Reddick has everything in front of him to get that monster deal.
He just has to produce on the field.