3 positives to take away after Buccaneers’ disappointing season

As the Tampa Bay Buccaneers look to turn the page on the disappointment that defined their 2025 season, it's important to acknowledge that not all hope is lost.

Despite the many challenges the team faced this past season, there are still several positives that can be taken away from the experience. Let's break down what exactly those positives are, and how the Tampa Bay Buccaneers can use them to their advantage heading into next season.

Talent

Chris Godwin and Emeka Egbuk — Sep 28, 2025; Tampa, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Emeka Egbuka (2) celebrates with wide receiver Chris Godwin Jr. (14) during the second half against the Philadelphia Eagles at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images | Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

Despite their struggles in 2025, the Buccaneers are still loaded with extremely talented players at a variety of key positions.

Offensively, success starts in the trenches, and the Bucs have one of the best offensive lines in football. This group is anchored by two bookend tackles in Tristan Wirfs and Luke Goedeke, both of whom are among the best in the league at their respective positions and under team control through 2029. Along the interior, Cody Mauch and Graham Barton, both with multiple years of starting experience, are still on their rookie contracts, and veteran starting LG Ben Bredeson is on a below-market deal for the next two years. The Buccaneers have one of the more promising OL groups in the entire NFL moving forward.

Tampa Bay remains loaded at the skill positions as well with Bucky Irving, Emeka Egbuka, Jalen McMillan and Chris Godwin all under contract for several more years. That’s plenty of ammunition for quarterback Baker Mayfield to work with next season, but it’s important to note that Mike Evans is more than likely going to run it back on another short term deal, solidifying the Bucs’ WR corps even further to cement the room as one of the league’s best.

Although the defense struggled mightily this season, there are still a number of quality pieces to be excited about. Among the front 7, Vita Vea, Calijah Kancey, and Yaya Diaby are all high-quality starters. On the back end, promising youngsters like Tykee Smith, Benjamin Morrison and Jacob Parrish will all be key pieces of the Buccaneers secondary for years to come. That’s without mentioning Antoine Winfield Jr., who remains one of the best safeties in the entire league, and Zyon McCollum, a supremely talented player who I expect to bounce back after a disappointing 2025.

Health

Oct 20, 2025; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans (13) lays on the turf after an injury against the Detroit Lions during the first half at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: David Reginek-Imagn Images | David Reginek-Imagn Images

In 2025, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were absolutely ravaged by injury. Although they were able to weather the storm early in the season and get off to a hot start, those injuries — combined with other issues — really caught up with them as the season went on.

There are no excuses in the NFL, especially when all teams deal with injury issues on a daily basis. Look no further than the San Francisco 49ers, who despite losing Joey Bosa, Fred Warner, Trent Williams, George Kittle, Brandon Aiyuk, Ricky Pearsall and Brock Purdy for extended periods of time in 2025, still finished the regular season with a 12-5 record before knocking off the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in the first round of the playoffs just this past Sunday.

As impressive as the 49ers’ resilience has been this year, that doesn’t change the fact that Tampa Bay’s injury issues were a major reason why they did not meet expectations in 2025. So how is this a positive? Well, that’s simple — because it’s highly unlikely that it will happen again, at least to the extent that it did this past season.

Pressure on Jason Licht

Not only does Bowles now have a ton of added pressure to perform in 2026, but so does general manager Jason Licht.

Based on Licht’s lack of urgency to address the inside linebacker position last offseason, one might conclude that he was a little too comfortable to begin with. Not only that, but when the team’s starting roster was eviscerated by injury early and often in 2025 and the losses continued to pile up, Licht didn’t pursue any sort of upgrades via free agency or a midseason trade. Maybe that didn’t make a difference, but Licht’s lack of urgency certainly didn’t help his roster improve when they desperately needed a boost.

Other members of the organization will have pressure on them as well, of course. Most obvious among them would be Bowles and Mayfield. That said, the head coach and quarterback are always under a microscope. It’s fair to say that because Jason Licht has earned such a strong reputation from his work over the past half-decade or so, he’s been afforded a very comfortable situation behind the scenes with such stable job security.

Although Licht’s position atop the player personnel totem pole in Tampa Bay remains secure, there’s no question that the Bucs’ GM will be feeling a lot more pressure to solidify all of his position groups this offseason. As a result, Licht will no longer have the luxury of sitting back and waiting for his prospects to develop into the players they were expected to be when he drafted them, like SirVocea Dennis this past season.

Jason Licht should feel much more desperate to address his football team's weaknesses heading into this offseason. And in order to do so, he’ll need to extend his team-building philosophy beyond the cozy ‘draft and develop’ approach he’s become so comfortable with.

If he doesn’t, and the Bucs struggle yet again in 2026, Jason Licht could very well find himself on the hot seat come this time next year.

Stick with BucsGameday for more coverage of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers throughout the 2025 season.

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