New Buccaneers OC Josh Grizzard reveals one new point of emphasis for offense

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a fantastic offense in 2024 under offensive coordinator Liam Coen. the Bucs were a top-five unit in multiple facets and averaged 29.0 points per game (No. 4) in the league, but there was still a facet of the offense that it didn't utilize very often — the deep ball.

Coen's offense was far more focused on yards after catch and the short to intermediate passing game, and it was highly successful. But the deep ball has been a hallmark of Tampa Bay's offenses in the past, and new offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard recently spent time with the Miami Dolphins, where it's a staple of Mike McDaniel's offense.

When asked about bringing that aspect back to the Buccaneers, Grizzard agreed that the team needed to plan for it more and said that it will be a point of emphasis going forward.

"I do think moving forward, that is something we're going to put an emphasis on," Grizzard said of the deep ball. "Not that we didn't do it last year, but I think we can put even more on trying to create more explosive plays."

Baker Mayfield was 29th in the NFL in completed air yards — that is to say, the amount of yards a ball traveled in the air before being caught. He managed just 5.1, per Pro Football Reference, so the Bucs will certainly want him to air it out more and rely less on yards after catch like Coen's offense did in 2024.

It has the benefit of more yards, obviously. But to Grizzard, it also means calling less plays, and that means keeping your offensive players in shape for the rest of the game.

"Seven or eight-play drives [could] be 12 if you're not having a 25-yard pass," Grizzard said. "So it's definitely something that just limits the amount of plays in a drive, which is always a good thing."

The Bucs will get some continuity from Liam Coen's offense in Tampa Bay with Grizzard at the helm in 2025, but it looks like at least one facet of the passing game may look a little bit different.

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