One lingering question for the Buccaneers as training camp looms

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have won the NFC South for four straight seasons, tying the longest streak in division history. Although they have continued to make the playoffs, they have taken unfortunate early exits from their end goal of reaching the Super Bowl.

The Bucs' success as of late has been the result of how well their offense has performed, and less on the defense — a drastic contrast to when they won their last Super Bowl.

Head coach Todd Bowles has been adamant all offseason that they will be looking to turn things around on that side of the ball. They began this in the offseason, signing Haason Reddick in free agency and drafting two cornerbacks to go along with two trench players.

Tampa Bay seemingly has the pieces to roll out a balanced attack on both sides of the ball. However, there still seems to be one large question looming over them as they head into the summer break before training camp begins.

According to The Athletic, the one lingering question for the Buccaneers as they enter this off-period of the offseason is as such — will the changes in the secondary result in more consistency and big plays?

"The Bucs used the draft to infuse talent in the back end of their defense, taking corners Benjamin Morrison in the second round and Jacob Parrish in the third. Both could contribute as rookies, with Parrish expected to compete for the nickel cornerback spot," wrote beat writer Dan Pompei. "Second-year man Tykee Smith could continue to be a nickel corner, but he also could have an expanded role at safety, as the team released Jordan Whitehead. And coach Todd Bowles raised the possibility that Zyon McCollum, who has primarily played outside up to this point, also could play inside over the slot receiver. The team is also counting on more ball production with the return of safety Antoine Winfield Jr., who missed eight games last season with ankle issues."

Will the changes be enough?

Pompei did a great job of trying to figure out how the pieces will come together for the Bucs in the secondary. However, there are still question marks. How will Morrison bounce back from his hip condition? Will Smith be able to make a smooth transition to safety playing next to Winfield Jr.? Will the injury concerns to Winfield Jr. and Jamel Dean rear their ugly heads once again?

All of this is hard to gauge at this point of the offseason, but one thing is for sure — Bowles made sure to address areas of weakness and depth in his secondary with the hopes of creating more turnovers, something he harped on over and over again following the completion of the 2024 season.

In 2024, the Bucs' passing defense was pretty solid, ranking sixth in Defense-adjusted Value Over Average (DVOA) in the category. While they had high remarks when it came to actual coverage, what they lacked was getting turnovers.

Bowles wants aggressiveness from his defense, and the Bucs played all but that on the back end. In 2024, Tampa Bay had the fourth-fewest interceptions in the league with seven, marking the worst single-season interception total in franchise history. To make matters worse, there were plenty of times defenders could have had an interception but failed to do so, and their interception force rate (INTs per opponent pass attempts) ranked 29th in the NFL at 1.05%.

Things will need to improve for the Buccaneers in this area in 2025 if they hope to win the NFC South for a record number of consecutive seasons, make a deep playoff run and hoist the Lombardi Trophy. They believe they did what needed to be done this offseason, but players will have to step up in big-time moments and avoid the injury bug if Bowles' plans are to come full circle.

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