Could the Glazers force Buccaneers' Todd Bowles to retire?

Things didn’t go the way the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were hoping for on Sunday, leaving them out of the playoffs and with plenty of questions going forward.

Perhaps the biggest domino is the future of head coach Todd Bowles.

Bowles has conducted business as usual and has taken the “until I’m asked to leave, I’m coming to work" approach. He did his normal end-of-year press conference and his final Todd Bowles Show with Casey Phillips on WDAE. When asked how long his evaluation of himself, his players, and his coaches would take, he offered days to weeks as a timeline.

Bowles certainly doesn’t feel pressure from inside the building at the moment, and the players didn’t seem to feel like their coach was about to be fired either. However, that hasn’t stopped speculation, even after multiple insiders saying he’s likely safe, that that is indeed the case.

A loud contingent of fans is certainly calling for Bowles' job, and some in the local media are calling for a change. Will that noise reach the Buccaneers owners Avram, Edward, Bryan and Joel Glazer and Darcie Kassewitz-Glazer, and prompt them to reconsider their current stance? Could the surprise firings of John Harbaugh and Kevin Stefanski make them want to go in a different direction? And if that’s the case, how would they approach it?

The obvious way is to just fire him.

However, after doling out a three-year extension to Bowles before the season, the Glazers might not want to be on the hook for all the guaranteed money he’s owed. Although if they could try to coerce him into retirement, here are three ways they could do it.

Give him an ultimatum

After taking their time to review all the information and meet with Licht and Bowles, the Glazers could simply decide they want to move on from their head coach. As a show of good faith, they could ask Bowles to retire with some sort of buyout package so that he isn’t publicly fired. But it’s unlikely he would move into some sort of front office role.

Bowles has publicly stated he's “closer to the end” and doesn’t want to be coaching in his 70s. At nearly 62 years old, he is unlikely to have another head coaching opportunity again. If the Glazers were to present something like, “we’re moving on from you, you can either retire and we’ll buy you out, or we can publicly fire you and you can collect the next two years," it would put him in a tough spot.

Bowles made it clear he thinks he’s earned the chance to continue coaching the Bucs another season after winning three straight division titles. Would he accept a retirement deal, or would he welcome a firing to collect what he’s guaranteed and maybe retire on his own or try and find a defensive coordinator gig? If the Glazers put forth an ultimatum, Bowles would face a difficult decision.

Strip play calling duties

If the Glazers are serious about changes being made to the team, it starts at the top. Bowles serves as both head coach and the de facto defensive coordinator with play-calling duties. Whether it’s due to personnel, injuries, or an inability to adapt, the defense has struggled in multiple areas over the last few seasons.

Part of the issue may be that Bowles has spread himself too thin. Over the last three seasons, he’s needed to pay more attention to the offensive side of the ball with three first-time play callers. That likely meant less time for the defense than in previous years.

All that to say, the Glazers may ask Bowles to hand off play-calling duties, along with a defensive coordinator title to someone else so he can focus more on the overall team in a role similar to the one Bruce Arians held while he was head coach. That could be something Bowles isn’t open to doing and was bullish when asked about it in his closing remarks to the media. If he’s unwilling to give up those duties, see above.

Make him execute multiple coaching moves

Some of the coaching changes should be done anyway, starting with special teams coach Thomas McGaughey. The Bucs' special teams were atrocious this season. They were so bad that Bowles openly admitted to kicking touchbacks because they couldn’t cover kickoffs, not to mention the blocked kicks and lack of explosive returns.

Where things could get sticky is if they ask him to move on from his guys. Cornerbacks coach Kevin Ross was his teammate at Temple, and safeties coach Nick Rapone was his coach there. Both units have had middling success over the last few seasons, especially with turnovers, and the two are 63 and 69, respectively. George Edwards transitioned into a defensive pass game coordinator after two failed seasons producing a double-digit sack, but failed in this role as well. The Bucs finished 27th in pass defense, allowing 30 touchdowns and an average of 238 yards passing per game.

It's probably time for a complete overhaul on the defensive side of the ball. None of the Bucs' defensive units stepped up this season. The move of Larry Foote back to outside linebackers coach did not help the room flourish as hoped. Mike Caldwell’s return to coach the inside linebackers didn’t produce results. Charlie Strong got some of the best play of Logan Hall’s career and helped Elijah Roberts blossom early when they needed him to step up. Outside of Strong and nickel coach Rashad Johnson, it was a rough showing for the Bucs' defensive staff.

If the Glazers ask Bowles to get rid of his longtime coaches, mentors and friends, would he be open to that? Or are we right back where we started?

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