Why the Buccaneers are looking for more explosive pass plays in 2025

If it ain't broke, don't fix it, as the old adage goes. But there's nothing wrong with some insurance, and that's exactly what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' offense is looking to do in 2025.

It's undeniable that the Bucs were one of the league's most vaunted offenses in 2024 under offensive coordinator Liam Coen. The team was fourth in the NFL in points per game (29.0), third in yards per game (393.2), first in third down conversion rate (51.11%) and fourth in red zone scoring percentage (66.67%). The team was dominant in the passing game, clocking in at fourth in pass yards per game (246.7), but they also complemented that by being the third-best rushing team in the NFL on yards per rush (5.2). Tampa Bay's offense played great football, but there's an inherent caveat in how well the offense played — they were extremely efficient, but they weren't very explosive.

The Buccaneers have made their intentions to become more explosive well-known this season. New Buccaneers offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard learned from current Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel, and that could bring a more vertical offense to Tampa Bay. Quarterback Baker Mayfield mentioned during minicamp that the Bucs are aiming to get a bit more explosive in the passing game this next season, which could see him throwing deep a lot more.

“We’re trying to get some more explosive [plays] in," Mayfield said. "Obviously, when you look at the stats – I’m not a big stats guy, but we weren’t as much down the field explosive. We were creating a lot of open, in the middle, and guys getting some YAC (yards after catch)... Obviously, you would love to have more down the field shots, but any completion is a good one.”

So if Tampa Bay's offense was so good last year, why the big change? We'll take a look at just what a more explosive offense could mean next year.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield rolls out during the first quarter of a NFC wild card playoff. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Setting the fuse

Everyone seems to have their own definition of what an explosive play is. We'll go with Warren Sharp's methodology for this one, which is a pass play that gets 20 or more yards and a run play that gets 10 or more yards. We're focusing on pass plays, so we'll take a look at that — and as it turns out, the Bucs not only did well in that regard, but they led the league in explosive pass plays with 82 and were eighth in the league in explosive pass rate with 10%. So what's the problem?

The problem is that most of those explosive plays came from yards after catch, or YAC yards. Baker Mayfield threw 570 passes last year, some of the most in the NFL, but his intended air yards per pass was just 7.0 — that's 28th in the league. Mayfield was 26th in the league in air yards per completion (5.1) and the Bucs had the second-most YAC yards of any team in football (2439), per Pro Football Reference. As a result, most of Tampa Bay's lethal passing game came from yards after catch as opposed to deep shots, so while the Bucs were explosive, their offense relied on their receivers to make things happen more often than not.

Liam Coen's scheme certainly helped those wideouts find space, and Tampa Bay's wideouts took care of the rest. But is that style of offense sustainable in 2025? It could be, if offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard can do that as well as Coen could, but that may not be the case. That's where that "insurance" comes in — if the Bucs can generate more explosive deep shots this upcoming year, they could add a new level to their offense while continuing to put up yards.

So how do they do that? They could put four wide receivers on the field a bit more than they have been.

A wealth of weapons

There are two personnel groupings in the NFL that would call for four wide receivers. There's 10 personnel, which is four wide receivers and one running back (no tight end), and 01 personnel, which is four wide receivers and a tight end (no running back). Tampa Bay rarely ran 10 personnel, only doing so on five plays last year, and it never ran any plays in 01 personnel. With Tampa Bay's electric receiving corps, the Bucs could do this a bit more often.

Tampa Bay has Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Jalen McMillan in their receiving corps, but the Bucs also have to find room for Emeka Egbuka, who they drafted in the first round this year. Tampa Bay will want to get everyone on the field, so it's definitely possible that the Bucs will try and mix up their personnel usage next year. This, in turn, could create some more explosive plays, but it will still be up to Baker Mayfield to hit those deep balls. Mayfield completed just 38.5% of his deep balls last year, per PFF, coming in at 15th among qualifying quarterbacks.

it's unknown just how much the Bucs will try to generate more explosive plays next year, but if it works, it could create a monster in Tampa Bay for the second year in a row.

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