Many serious Bucs fans will consider this nugget downright frustrating but somewhat uplifting at the same time.
Last year, Todd Bowles said over and over and over the Bucs had strong leadership. Joe, however, didn’t see that materialize into reality in December and January. And listening to Bowles this week, it seems the quality leadership of which the head coach and others spoke of was never really there.
Consider how Bowles answered a very broad questioned posed to him this week on The Rondé Barber Show. He was asked to state what he thinks is the biggest 2026 change in the entire team.
Rondé Barber prompted Bowles with suggested answers: Is it the addition of Bain or new offensive coordinator Zac Robinson? “What is going to be the biggest change that we see from this team? Barber said to close his question.
Bowles’ reply was stunning.
“The biggest change for me is A’Shawn Robinson and Nacho (aka Rakeem Nuñez-Roches) because they bring attitude, they bring accountability, and they call people out on it,” Bowles said. “And they did that from Day 1 when we got in the offseason program — and that made everybody else snap into shape and fall in line. And that was the biggest change for me. That was the biggest thing.”
So where was this kind of leadership, the kind Bowles deems necessary, from players last year? Why didn’t Bowles pull Lavonte David and Vita Vea or YaYa Diaby aside and demand they speak up and toughen up because the season was on the line along with a lot of jobs?
Bowles’ comments further solidify how shamefully soft the Bucs were last season after the bye week. Soft. Soft. Soft.
This actually encourages Joe to a degree. If this is the “biggest” change in the team for the head coach, then maybe the shameful softness problem is actually fixed.