Buccaneers Tabbed as Middle-Tier in ESPN's 2024 Power Rankings

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers ended their 2023 NFL season on a positive note, winning five out of their last six regular season games to secure the NFC South and eventually upsetting the reigning Super Bowl runner-ups, the Philadelphia Eagles, in the Wild Card game before getting knocked out of the playoffs by the Detroit Lions.

Finishing 9-8 and winning a playoff game was a huge success for the Buccaneers, who were tabbed as a bottom dweller of the league entering the season. Now they will turn their attention to the 2024 offseason where more moves will need to be made to retain some continuity from this season.

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With the Super Bowl now in the books, we turn our attention to the upcoming 2024 season, and according to ESPN's way-too-early power rankings, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers find themselves sitting squarely in the middle as they are listed as the 16th strongest team heading into 2024.

Per ESPN's Jenna Laine,

"Offensive coordinator Dave Canales took the Panthers' head-coaching job, and WR Mike Evans and QB Baker Mayfield are set to become unrestricted free agents, so it was imperative that the Bucs found a new offensive coordinator who could build off what Canales installed in Tampa and do so without too much change. Liam Coen brings not only that but also a previous working relationship with Mayfield from when the two were with the Rams. Both are very high on each other, and with Evans, Canales' system is one he liked.

So now it's really about dollars and cents in re-signing two of the Bucs' key offensive players, in addition to safety Antoine Winfield Jr. (their top defensive player last season) and inside linebacker Lavonte David."

The Buccaneers will have to make some key moves to retain their top players this offseason, but there is optimism that all of the aforementioned players end up back in Tampa Bay in 2024. If they can keep the core of this unit together, the Buccaneers could likely move up in the power rankings as other teams start to make moves leading up to the beginning of the season.

The full ESPN way-too-early 2024 power rankings can be found here.

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

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