Former NFL GM: Bucs Are NFC South Favorites Until They Are Not
March 17th, 2024
Ex-NFL suit reacts.
A guy who spent nearly 40 years as an NFL suit and was a general manager for two different teams doesn’t want to hear about the Dixie Chicks and people who are crowning their asses as the 2024 NFC South champs as a result of free agency.
The Bucs, he typed, are still the beasts of the division and will be until they are not.
That’s the word from Randy Mueller. Typing for The Athletic, Mueller loved Bucs AC/DC-loving Jason Licht’s wheeling and dealing last week during legal tampering/free agency.
Mueller said the fact Licht kept the ruling NFC champions together may fly under the radar, but it shouldn’t. He lauded Licht for “protecting the fort.”
…No GM has protected his roster and re-signed his core guys like Licht. After tagging Pro Bowl safety Antoine Winfield Jr., he re-signed quarterback Baker Mayfield and wide receiver Mike Evans and found a way to keep linebacker Lavonte David. Licht also brought back defensive tackle Greg Gaines and safety Jordan Whitehead, who was on the Super Bowl champion team in 2020. The band is back together just in the nick of time.
Licht also acquired a third-round pick to supplement his roster with some youth come draft day by trading cornerback Carlton Davis (who had a hefty cap number in the last year of his contract) to the Detroit Lions. That was another shrewd move, in my view. Sportsbooks have made the Atlanta Falcons clear favorites to win the NFC South after they added Cousins and others, but I would still favor the Bucs after they maintained continuity.
There is a lot to be said for keeping the gang together. It wasn’t like Licht kept everyone home. Licht mentioned on the “Ira Kaufman Podcast” the Bucs needed to get bigger on the offensive line and he let Aaron Stinnie, Matt Feiler and Nick Leverett walk.
But guys that Licht valued he kept. No small feat when there likely would have been a big market for Mike Evans and Antoine Winfield, among others.
March 17th, 2024 at 12:07 am
The falcons suck and will continue to suck
March 17th, 2024 at 12:26 am
Even with the somewhat questionable Davis trade, I still have a high respect and full confidence in Jason Licht to have us in an even better spot than we were in.
And I gotta say, I for one am Excited to see What the draft haul will be this year. Excited to see the talent he lands for us…. Christmas in April is Coming!
March 17th, 2024 at 12:34 am
If only the Bucs could upgrade at head coach through Free Agency.
March 17th, 2024 at 12:36 am
“The Bucs, he typed, are still the beasts of the division and will be until they are not.”
umm it took to the last game to win the division. Les calm down. Thats not “beasting”.
March 17th, 2024 at 12:38 am
Passss ruuussssssshhhhhhhh
March 17th, 2024 at 12:45 am
Raheem Morris has a lot to prove. Career record is 21-38. Never made the playoffs as head coach. May win it but should not be favored. Cousins one career win in 15 years. Team lost to Carolina. Achilles injury to an already immobile QB. Overrated.
March 17th, 2024 at 1:15 am
The one thing I don’t think nobody’s looking at when they think Atlanta will now win the NFC South is, the Bucs have a winning record against K Cousin led teams.
March 17th, 2024 at 1:30 am
Popcorn Mike – true. Cousins is the one “higher tier” QB who Bowels seems to have an answer for.
March 17th, 2024 at 1:41 am
Where is your daily rant about edge rushers Joe? Im ALL FOR IT. Let’s BlTCH until they do something. Let’s also not forget about DT. Just looked up Logan Halls resume and IMO he actually got worse. He started ZERO games as a rookie and had 7 SOLO, 5 ASTs and 5 TFL. He started 13 games last year and had 11 SOLO, 11 ASTs and 2 TFL. Im sorry but those numbers SUCK.
2 TFL ALL SEASON.
Teair Pop Tart had 8 TFL last season and is a True run stopper who punched a guy in practice and got kicked off Tennessee’s team. He could probably be had for a ham sandwich and would be an immediate UPGRADE. Hell, Greg Gaines is probably better.
For comparison Gaines started 13 games for the Rams 3 years ago, his most starts in a season. He had 28 SOLO, 27 ASTs and 4.5 SACKS. Hall has 3 sacks in his career.
What is it about the loyalty by Licht and Bowles for drafted guys. Hall was the 33rd OVERALL pick and has BUST written all over him. It is really irritating me that we have done NOTHING to upgrade our D Line. Starting Gaines would “Help” but just admit you were wrong and move on. It literally happens to EVERYONE.
March 17th, 2024 at 1:42 am
Licht isnt even close to being done working his magic. He still has the draft, and more cap room shenanigans resigning Wirfs. I cant believe we are going to be competing for our 4th straight division title. That may even be a milestone for this humble franchise. Its also sustainable, because we arent going to be in cap hell like the Saints and Dirty Birds, and we arent the Panthers.
March 17th, 2024 at 1:43 am
I don’t think Cousins is great, but it’s hard for me not to pick the falcons as favorites today. They made 2 huge upgrades. Raheem > Arthur and Cousins > Ridder. Probably the 2 most important spots on the team. I would rather have Baker than Kirk and we will see what Morris can do but it’s likely he is an upgrade on Bowles. Let’s see how their DL comes back… Jarrett or Onyemata was injured right? They lose Campbell who still had an impact at 37 years old but he is a replaced with 8th overall edge Turner or Verse.
Up to Lichts draft and Bowles coaching whether the Bucs stay on top imo. Obviously which team can stay healthy will also decide as it does every year in the NFL.
March 17th, 2024 at 1:56 am
Ill also say this. The year we got great production from Shaq and JPP, we had Suh on the interior. He had 6 sacks and 9 TFL. Vea only played 5 games but was huge next to him in the playoffs in 2020 and Gholston was 3 years younger.
What Im getting at is sometimes beastly interior guys help the edge rushers.
When I look at Reddick and Graham and Sweat and CO. I see production by several guys and IMO, it’s their interior that gets pressure causing the QB to MOVE off of his preferred spot, usually into the arms of edge rushers.
This is why Im excited to see a FULL YEAR of Kancey and Vea together, but we need that 3rd guy in a 3-4 defense. Bowles LOVES to stop the run and HALL, should NOT be that guy. Maybe some spot duty when he is ultra fresh, but certainly not a starter unless injury and even then, I would rather have about 5 current FAs instead.
March 17th, 2024 at 2:01 am
They might have some really good players in London,Pitts,two solid rb’s, and a veteran quarterback but they got Raheem Morris as head coach. Enough said, Tampa will be just fine beating them as long as we get some pressure right Joe? Lol
March 17th, 2024 at 2:37 am
But we haszn Kyle Trashk! The secret weapon.
March 17th, 2024 at 3:53 am
Pshh! All good around here so far ladies. Jackson Powers/Cooper DeJean 🙂
March 17th, 2024 at 3:57 am
Saskbucs … ‘Up to Lichts draft and Bowles coaching whether the Bucs stay on top imo. Obviously which team can stay healthy will also decide as it does every year in the NFL.’
That’s a GRRREAT bottom line. Bucs have FOUR Top-3 picks this year, and it’s not unreasonable to believe that we’ll get 2 starters and 2 rotational players out of that bunch based on how well we’ve been selecting players lately AND how well we’ve been developing them. But like you said Saskbucs, staying healthy is always critical.
March 17th, 2024 at 4:09 am
BullyBucco … Great analysis; agree 100% that ‘sometimes beastly interior guys help the edge rushers’. Personally I think that’s usually the case; for the edge rushers to feast in today’s NFL, the interior guys have to get the QB to move out of his comfort zone. We’ve seen far too often what happens when any NFL QB is given too much time to make his throws.
Joe’s right about our need for an improved pass rush, but there are many ways to attain that goal. The blitz being one, although it can (and often does) leave you vulnerable IF the opposing QB is good at neutralizing the blitz like Tom Brady was. Much better IMO to bring pressure from all across the front, although not that many teams seem capable of doing that nowadays (talent-intensive, which is costly).
Like you, I’m not a big fan of Hall (probably because he replaced Suh who was one of my favorite DLinemen of all time). Kinda feel the same about JTS (again probably because he replaced JPP who was another one of my favorites). Hard to replace 2 guys though who IMO have earned HOF attention.
March 17th, 2024 at 6:11 am
Agree with Duane in Sanford. Jason Licht isn’t done, and we have the draft. Hoping JL has some surprises coming up too.
It seems as though the sports media always jump on the next big thing such as Cousins going to the Falcons. Just like they thought our Bucs wouldn’t make it last season. We did, and we will again. Go Bucs!
March 17th, 2024 at 7:37 am
“If you wanna be THE MAN, you got to beat THE MAN”
Thank you Rick Flair.
Bucs are the NFC South CHAMPIONS, until somebody beats them!
And not on paper.
March 17th, 2024 at 8:19 am
For starters I’m a long time Bucs fan and yes I know they won the division last season. However you have to be able to admit when the opponent is better than you. The ATL Falcons are a threat to be a lot better than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next season. I’m just being honest. If I had to choose a healthy Kirk Cousins Vs a healthy Baker Mayfield I’d choose Cousins. If I had to do this vs many positions on their team I’d choose a lot of players from ATL right now. Our O line isn’t as good right now. We have the better individual star OL, but that doesn’t mean anything. Have to have a wall to stand up against what comes during the playoffs. With Carlton Davis gone I’m counting about 4 starters Tampa Bay still needs on defense to be considered top-10 like we were last season. I’m just not seeing it right now. We are very well in position to get two very good long term replacements in the draft. Still need 2 more. We’re likely not getting them in FA. Oh to make matters worse need to find a C and we haven’t won’t do that this year probably either. Yeah so Tampa Bay has some real life problems. Which is cool can’t be great forever right? Lol.
Anyways ATL has a real chance to run through our defense.
Kirk Cousins
Drake London
Kyle Pitts
Decent Oline
Decent RB – The kid from Texas forgot his name.
They probably draft an OLB like Dallas Turner if I had to guess. They have a serious chance to be SB nasty in two years time. Both of the next two years in TB though looking like a thin to no chance at all of competing for playoff spot. Unless a wildcard spot which is very rare I must admit.
Some people are firm believers in the oh your the division champs so you should be considered that until you aren’t 🥱. I’m not a believer of this saying or take. It’s nonsense. We did win last year sure. Nex year it don’t matter much. So let’s not live in the past. Put up or shut up time Tampa.
March 17th, 2024 at 9:04 am
Outside of the person from Philly whose last name starts with an R (if I type his name the mod program stomps me) I see no path to upgrade our pass rush before the draft
March 17th, 2024 at 9:58 am
Every year they find a reason for some team other than the Bucs to win this division. Last year it was the Saints because of Derek Carr. This year it the Falcons and Cousins. Keep lining em up and we’ll keep knocking them down!!!!
March 17th, 2024 at 10:06 am
Thataint
Lmao. You’d choose Cousins? 36. Immobile BEFORE a complete achilles tear.
Brittle.
You can have him.
If the Bucs find a decent Pass rush- the Falcons wont be able to beat the
Baker-Mike- Chris connection.
Go root for the Falcons if you like. They are still losers
March 17th, 2024 at 10:17 am
Hey it’s getting pretty close to draft day,
Can you get draft guru Sean Sullivan to provide some analysis of this years draft class, Bucs remaining needs after this week’s wave of signings (yeah I hear you Joe, edge rusher in the first round), maybe some analysis of his likely to be there when the bucks pick and what draft candidates fit the typical “Jason Light Bucs mold”?
Sean will deliver. Patience.–Joe
March 17th, 2024 at 10:25 am
Sports are cyclical. How about this thought. Perhaps the NFC South will no longer be the NFC whipping boys. Maybe the ENTIRE Division is set to improve.
If you just look at the QB’s in the Division it actually seems very interesting with a lot in common for three teams.
I group QB’s in “franchise” (able to carry a team to the SB…Brady/Mahomes) NFL PROFESSIONAL QB…capable of winning a SB with the right TEAM…and the rest are just place holders or busts.
I think Mayfield, Cousins, and Carr all three are capable of winning an SB with the right team. Carolina has to hope their “savior” QB is the real deal or they’ll have to head back to “GO” and try another roll of the die at QB.
I think the Falcons have a “team” around Cousins that certainly can challenge the Bucs. I think the Saints just don’t have their spit together. So I don’t know about favorites but I certainly consider the Falcons the Bucs biggest challenger and fans of both teams have a lot to be happy about.
Personally I’m rooting for the Bucs to win 12 and the Falcons win 11. Not predicting but hoping. Both make the playoffs and the NFC South at last gets a little respect. Not that they’ve earned any the past couple of years.
March 17th, 2024 at 10:30 am
Didn’t you guys ever play King of the Hill? You must knock the baddest dude off of the hill before you are the king. That is done on the football field. It isn’t done in free agency or the draft and definitely not done in the newspaper. It can only be done on the field. And until the king is knocked down he will always be the king. Just the rules of the playground
March 17th, 2024 at 10:49 am
Same Randy Mueller/Big Wig that was at the Chargers when they were top of their Division and with them to second then third then last over the next 10 years?
Miami Gm that went from 2nd to 4th in Division?
How about the guy that got to the Saints as GM when they happened to win the Division that year , one playoff game and right to the bottom?
Have to hand it to him he is having some luck with the XFL. I didn’t see the Salt Lake Stallions, Seattle Sea Dragons or Houston Roughnecks on the schedule this season.
Looks like this guy has been a Good GM until he’s not a few times. 2000 Saints were Division Champs until the were not in the time span of a year.
Another handpicked guy that folks are just to assume they are good because they have had the title GM and quoted by Joe.
Maybe he is better at sifting through the lower level talent of the XFL.
March 17th, 2024 at 11:20 am
MadMax… Jackson Powers would be awesome.
March 17th, 2024 at 11:46 am
Can we please sign some DEs please!
March 17th, 2024 at 2:59 pm
“trading cornerback Carlton Davis (who had a hefty cap number in the last year of his contract) to the Detroit Lions. That was another shrewd move”
What an idiot… you trade easily your best corner for a late 3rd round pick – and this dope is talking about his contract when it frees up just $5m. This hack is clueless.
March 17th, 2024 at 5:02 pm
Last year, about this same time of the year, I nailed what the Bucs record would be at the end of the season. I had far more optimism than most people here last year.
This year, I can’t say the same. I don’t see the Bucs finishing with any more than 9 wins and that could dip to as few as 7 (but I’ll predict 8-9 right now). I, too, see Atlanta as the division winner in 2024 – NOT because I think they have a better team, but because they have a far easier schedule as the third place team. The Falcons have three almost guaranteed wins in the same divisional matchups the Bucs will have almost guaranteed losses this year (Bucs play Lions, Ravens and 49ers – Falcons play Vikings, Steelers and Seahawks). Even if that’s not three wins vs. three losses, it’s probably at least two. THAT is a BIG advantage!
The only way the Bucs have a chance to win the division is if they beat the Falcons both times they play them. If that happens, they might have a chance to get to a 9 win season and maybe win a tiebreaker.