Twenty Coaches Got Better Player Grades Than Todd Bowles
March 1st, 2025
So Joe wrote about some results from the Bucs’ 2025 players union report card, a compilation of player assessments of various team aspects.
Todd Bowles got a “B+” grade from Bucs players. That’s a strong grade until further review, with an assist to ProFootballTalk.com.
Twenty NFL head coaches got a better grade.
Why would 20 head coaches get higher grades from their players?
Bowles treats players with respect, the team had a winning record, he goes easy on practice compared to other coaches and Bowles doesn’t throw players under the bus publicly.
Interestingly, Bowles’ grade went up from a B- a year ago, and the Bucs didn’t have a ton of roster turnover. So that’s a strong sign.
How does Bowles grade himself? Joe’s not sure, but Bowles did tell Joe in an exclusive sitdown this week at the NFL Scouting Combine. “I coach my ass off.“
You can hear that exchange below:
Of course, players loving a head coach deeply doesn’t equate to wins. Falcons head man Raheem Morris got an A+ grade after his first season in Atlanta. Panthers head coach Dave Canales, the 2023 Bucs offensive coordinator, got an A-.
March 1st, 2025 at 4:49 pm
Because maybe the players see the same things many of us fans see. Bowles is stubborn, archaic, slow to change, doesn’t put players in the best position to succeed, employs a soft scheme, and coaches in a very conservative ‘play-not-to-lose’ way.
March 1st, 2025 at 5:10 pm
Bowles is just good enough to be hard to replace with someone better, but just bad enough to make you wish you could find someone better.
March 1st, 2025 at 5:10 pm
A bit under Bowles .500 average.
March 1st, 2025 at 5:13 pm
But Bowles won one more regular season game than last year! And he made the playoffs!! Plus, according to Ira, Bowles gets credit for developing Shaq in to a19 sack a year pass rusher!!!
That means he made progress!
We should all rejoice!!
March 1st, 2025 at 5:25 pm
That’s a .529 average, Grover. LOL.
March 1st, 2025 at 5:38 pm
What would the players know? We have pompom waving cheerpontiffs on this site who claim this is not possible. I mean Todd won the Super Bowl 4 years ago, right?!
Frankly, it’s surprising he didn’t have more coaches ahead of him.
March 1st, 2025 at 5:49 pm
Morris being all palsy with his players is essentially what got him fired here. Seems he hasn’t learned.
March 1st, 2025 at 6:04 pm
“Why would 20 head coaches get higher grades from their players?”
Lol… Because you live in a buccaneers bubble
March 1st, 2025 at 6:12 pm
If Bowles were to grade himself he’d probably grade himself as the best coach in the NFL of course. He stands there on the sidelines like a statue like he’s constipated or something basically off in another world. I’m sure the players do notice some of the same things everybody else notices, too! The fans aren’t dumb. They just don’t wanna make changes.
March 1st, 2025 at 6:15 pm
This can’t be! Bowles is supposed to be a player’s coach. He should demand a recount.
March 1st, 2025 at 6:32 pm
Hearty Dickerson is spot on.
Too slow to make changes – JTS and Devin White comes to mind.
Does he really put his players in the best positions to win?
Is he really a defensive guru?
Maybe too Stubborn to make necessary changes?
Maybe he needs to take a lesson from Nick Sirianni ….
Be THE Head Coach and hire a great DC.
March 1st, 2025 at 6:50 pm
I dont think I need to say anything here other than LMAO.
March 1st, 2025 at 7:00 pm
Man yall just wanna go back to the Suckaneers days the way you guys wanna run Todd out of here. Enjoy the success. Go outside.
March 1st, 2025 at 7:01 pm
I don’t know what grade Dan Quinn got in DC but he just got Deebo on his roster.
March 1st, 2025 at 7:46 pm
So Todd actually overperformed with his 11th place trophy in coach of the year voting. ROFL.
March 1st, 2025 at 7:57 pm
Bowels is in the bottom few at His position and a large portion of fans KNOW it!
March 1st, 2025 at 8:23 pm
Morris getting an A+ proves these ratings are a complete joke. Morris. lol! Trash.
March 1st, 2025 at 8:37 pm
Sean McDermott and John Harbaugh both got Bs. Let that sink in.
March 1st, 2025 at 9:21 pm
Yall put way too much stock into these rankings….
The context is important here….Bowles got a UNANIMOUS A/B grade among players….
Very clear at this point…the players love Bowles, the fans (and Joe) do not.
March 1st, 2025 at 9:53 pm
“That’s a .529 average, Grover. LOL.”
Better than all but two of all of the HC’s the Bucs have ever had including Chucky but don’t let that sway you. You’re minds are made up!
March 1st, 2025 at 9:56 pm
@Hearty Dickerson – fully agree. I think players know when things just arent working and know when change is needed. Change and Bowles in the same sentence….nah. Also lacks aggression in his game plans and game situations, I dont think the players like it in their body language.
March 1st, 2025 at 9:58 pm
The Bucs could do a lot worse than TB.
2025 might be the year.
March 1st, 2025 at 10:19 pm
Falcons head man Raheem Morris got an A+ grade after his first season in Atlanta. Panthers head coach Dave Canales, the 2023 Bucs offensive coordinator, got an A-.
Bowles went 8-9 his first year so first year record doesn’t always tell the tale. Canales is a motivator and Raheem relates more with more energy. See the reaction after the first win against the Bucs
March 1st, 2025 at 10:24 pm
The thing about the grades is that we really do not know how they are tabulated as in number of players who voted and which players voted. Certain players who might have an axe to grind and give a D or an F on any of the categories. Heck some players who voted may not be on that team anymore. I noticed that the Glazers also got a grade which ranked them in the bottom 10 as owners….. Anyhow, I am not sure if I would take some of these grades seriously unless the comments reveal a real issue like SARS in the locker room……..
March 1st, 2025 at 11:09 pm
Wonder how many of those 20 had winning records. Won their division…
It is irrelevant. I despised one of my coaches. He was a very good coach but an utter asshat.
Go Bucs!
March 1st, 2025 at 11:33 pm
he’s probably the 20th best coach on the field too
it’s right. spot on.
March 1st, 2025 at 11:49 pm
I’m waiting for the news to drop that Bowles has signed an extension.
Will not shock me one bit. The three division titles give him years of coverage even if they miss the playoffs multiple years in a row.
GM’s love coaches that will not push back or rock the boat.
28-27
March 2nd, 2025 at 4:51 am
Bowles is better than many because he has winning seasons and makes the playoffs. Many didn’t. No drama from the our locker room either, except for the bad smell listed on the NFL survey by the players. Go Bucs!
March 2nd, 2025 at 7:17 am
Is the roster awesome like licht has told us or isn’t it?
If it is, 28-27 is not acceptable. If the roster isn’t great then the Bowles has done a good job.
Can’t have both.
March 2nd, 2025 at 7:40 am
“Because maybe the players see the same things many of us fans see.”
Yeah like a Division Title every year he’s been HC for the Bucs?
Even after paying the cap price(talent) for mortgaging the future to win a SB?
He’s made the playoffs EVERY year he’s been an HC for the Bucs.
He’s now the 3rd winningest coach in Buc HISTORY!
THOSE ARE FACTS!
“stubborn, archaic, slow to change, doesn’t put players in the best position to succeed, employs a soft scheme, and coaches in a very conservative ‘play-not-to-lose’ way.”
That’s a fact free OPINION! Everybody is entitled to their opinions that’s for sure! Personally I prefer FACTS to opinions because as the saying goes…..everybody has one.
Anybody can type their opinions but they have far more meaning if you back them with some FACTS!!!
March 2nd, 2025 at 9:26 am
Facts:
Todd Bowles
HC record 53-65 (.449)
Playoff record 1-3 (.250)
Last season 1 score record 1-6
Last season overtime record 0-2
9 seasons as a head coach-3 winning seasons-6 losing sessons
March 2nd, 2025 at 10:19 am
Objective fans know that with this roster, with this offense, 10 wins is the worst this team could have done. A ChatGPT bot could have gotten us 12 just by using Madden coverage rules and simple game management decisions. Rich Kotite could have gotten us 11.
This guy is by all accounts a great dude, but his under-performance year after year is now legendary.
But he has an eleventh place coach of the year trophy to admire! LOL
March 2nd, 2025 at 10:32 am
“He’s now the 3rd winningest coach in Buc HISTORY!”
My gosh, how many times are you going to quote this useless fact? Daniel Jones was the best QB to come out of Duke. Does that make him good? Quit comparing Bowles to lousy past Bucs HCs to evaluate his quality.
Here’s a fact: Compared to the other 31 HCs in the NFL, Bowles has the 22nd best winning percentage.
March 2nd, 2025 at 10:38 am
I think when it comes to the player grading we’ve seen lately for the coaches, owners, etc., we are seeing a reflection of the culture. I think the culture of this team is “we can always do better…we can always find ways to improve”. And I think that mindset applies to every individual of this team, including the coaches, front office and owners.
So if you ask anyone in the organization for a grade, they are never going to give you top marks. I’d bet that Bowles himself would never grade himself higher than a B.
I’m okay with the player grading I’ve seen lately and not surprised by it at all.
March 2nd, 2025 at 11:43 am
WOW
my surprised look 😱
March 2nd, 2025 at 11:43 am
Free ATRAIN
March 2nd, 2025 at 12:26 pm
One disgruntled player can send you from an A- to a B-. These stupid grades are like draft slots, one point in a tie breaker can set you back 5 slots.
March 2nd, 2025 at 1:32 pm
A+ may mean a Super Bowl winner or pushover.
B+ may mean has a backbone and is competitive and respected.
March 2nd, 2025 at 1:39 pm
Maybe the quality people on the Bucs roster are just more honest than others. When I was dealing with grading on both sides (giving and getting), a B+ meant
Very Good. I think Bowles is very good. Players on other teams with, shall we say, less honesty and fairness, may feel insecure in organizations that are unfair and vindictive. A player on the team’s roster bubble might not want the coach to wonder whether that player was one who gave him an F. Or players on teams that don’t make the playoffs may be saying, “We won’t blame you coach if you don’t blame us.” I suspect many an A+ comes with a shot of cynicism or sarcasm.
March 2nd, 2025 at 3:55 pm
” Quit comparing Bowles to lousy past Bucs HCs to evaluate his quality.”
So you’re saying Chucky was a “lousy” coach. Bowles is ahead of him.
“Here’s a fact: Compared to the other 31 HCs in the NFL, Bowles has the 22nd best winning percentage.”
Question. Are you counting his “entire” HC record as in with the NY Jets which a poster had to grasp for to make Bowles look bad. Of course even that is misleading since Bowles was the ONLY NFL coach in the past decade to win TEN games with the sorry New York Jets.
It’s sad to me that so many of you feel the need to work your arses off to make Todd “look” bad. I’m not saying he’s great, his record does not indicate that…yet!
Life is graded on the curve. The Bucs have had 12 coaches over their close to FIFTY years of existence. That’s a fair number of guys who had a shot to do what Todd did.
Two of them…Gruden and BA came to teams that were SB ready and needed only a QB…Brad and then Brady!!! Gruden went into the toilet after that loaded team aged. BA retired in the nick of time before Brady went south.
It’s one thing to see the glass half empty, but some of you (fill it the blank yourself) are so desperately negative that you see a half full glass as MOSTLY EMPTY!!! I pity you. Negative attitudes do not produce winning results in life.
March 2nd, 2025 at 5:26 pm
A sanctimonious person is someone who pretends to be morally superior to others, even though they are not. The term is often used to describe someone who is hypocritical or self-righteous.
Examples of sanctimonious behavior
Attacking others for their perceived wrongdoings while ignoring their own
Giving smug lectures to others about how they should behave
Writing smugly or hypocritically
Synonyms for sanctimonious hypocritical, pious, smug, and self-righteous.
March 3rd, 2025 at 2:37 pm
If you believe there are 20 Coaches better than Bowles do you believe there are 27 better Team Owners too? That is what that survey determined. Glazers are a couple ticks better than David Tepper in Carolina? Bucs D+ to Panthers D-
All depends on what you look at. Burrow, Goff, and Mayfield were top 3 QB’s in the league in 2024 if you look at Passing Yards but Daniels at 16 was clearly better than all three.