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Return key to improvement?
Joe doesn’t know how anyone can objectively look at the Bucs roster before legal tampering began and after a week of free agency claim the team improved.
The Bucs lost a Hall of Fame receiver and their best corner. No team gets better doing that short of signing Tom Brady in free agency.
Re-signing Cade Otton is neither a step forward nor a step back. Signing Kenneth Gainwell was a nice addition, but let’s be real: He’s not entering training camp as a starter. Alex Anzalone is certainly an upgrade from SirVocea Dennis, yes.
Edge rusher Al-Quadin Muhammad could be a home run or could be a strikeout. Even though he had 11 sacks last year, he didn’t start. That is both fantastic and frightening. Why couldn’t he start? His previous season-high for sacks is six, so the jury is still out if Muhammad is a major impact player or a top-end Chris Braswell.
A’shawn Robinson replaces Logan Hall. Mabye the Bucs improved there but that’s a definite maybe.
Does that seem like the Bucs got better to you? Jourdan Rodrigue of _The Athletic_ thinks, at worst, the Bucs stayed the same and maybe got slightly better.
> Tampa Bay has always been good at re-signing its own talent, and did so by extending tight end Cade Otton. It’s an unsexy move, but new offensive coordinator Zac Robinson probably sees a block-and-catch role for Otton similar to Tyler Higbee’s in L.A. Another signing I’m higher on than some is the two-year, $14 million deal for running back Kenny Gainwell, who is fantastic after the catch and should be a nice complement to Bucky Irving as a runner.
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> The Bucs’ slide through the second half of last season was a bit shocking. But it’s hard to bet on multiple down years for one of the more fundamentally sound front offices in the NFL.
Rodrigue is basing the Bucs’ alleged improvement last week indirectly on Tyler Higbee? No offense to the East Lake High School grad (Bob Hudson’s a cool guy, really) but when was Higbee a game-changer? He’s not Cooper Kupp in his prime and he sure isn’t Puka Nacua and he’s certainly not Davante Adams. Nice player, but one should aspire to greater heights for a tight end than Higbee.
Joe cannot say any Bucs free agent signees were awful. But losing a Hall of Fame receiver and your best corner very much is and could torpedo the 2026 season. And no matter how you slice that, it’s not good.