Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Strategic Offseason Moves 2026
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, amid contract issues and rebuilds, aim to dominate NFC South and clinch a playoff spot. The team recently agreed with Vita Vea.
Video Transcript
You know, one of the teams that I thought was gonna really make some noise this off-season was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Bucs a year ago did not have a good finish to their season.
They got out to a six and two start, and really you thought you were gonna see some great things with that football team a year ago, but what happened?
They ended up fading due to injuries and due to the play of Baker Mayfield.
Make no mistake about it, they end up going into the off-season, and one of the most catastrophic things happened to them.
They lost their leader in Mike Evans.
He leaves, and he ends up going to San Francisco, and they're leaderless.
Jason Licht had quite a rebuilding job this off-season to try to put that football team back into a position of being a Super Bowl contender.
Then they got into a contract conversation with Vita Vea.
Look, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are not going anywhere with that defense if Vita Vea, that horse, is not in the middle of that football field.
There is no way.
He is arguably the second-best defensive player that they have had in the last 25 years, next to Warren Sapp.
No question about it, that guy is a stopping block, and that guy is a road grader.
They end up coming to terms with him on a one-year deal for the 32-year-old player, and they're gonna have him until the year 2030.
That is an enormous move for them.
Now, one of the other story lines with the Buccaneers has to be the direction of where the franchise is going with Baker Mayfield.
Look, Baker Mayfield, no question, wanted a contract, and he wanted to make sure that his future was secure in Tampa.
He wants to stay in Tampa.
He wanted a three-year contract in the mid $55 million, $60 million range.
Look at the market prices right now, obviously with Patrick Mahomes getting $63 million.
His representatives wanted to be in the middle, in there around $55 million.
Buccaneers came back, Jason Licht, the general manager, and offered a two-year, $50 million deal, which Baker rejected with his team.
You know, I gotta hand it to the Bucs here.
I think they're doing the right thing.
A motivated Baker Mayfield is a better Mayfield.
Mayfield loves to gamble on himself.
Mayfield is a player that has done this in the past.
He did it at Texas Tech when he was a walk-on, and he did it at Oklahoma when he was a walk-on there.
What the result was, he would go on and win the Heisman Trophy and be the number one overall player taken by the Cleveland Browns.
I like the fact Remember something too with the Bucs, they have control of the player.
They can franchise tag him for the next two years at around $50 million, where I think they wanna pay him.
And quite frankly, I'm not in agreement with management a lot of the time, but I gotta hand it to them, I think they're right here.
A 31, 32-year-old quarterback, are you really gonna invest 60 million annually in a player that runs into walls and really doesn't play with great caution out there?
Mayfield's gotta learn how to protect himself.
There's so many quarterbacks that Tom Brady points out, one of the things they don't do in today's game is protect yourself.
I think the Bucs are right here in how they've handled both Vita Vea, an aging defensive tackle, and also how they're handling Baker Mayfield.
I want a motivated Mayfield.
I think Mayfield's better when he's motivated, and this should result in a really good season for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Look, that NFC South is wide open.
Carolina is not a world beater.
The Saints, a lot of people like what they're doing there with Kellen Moore.
But at the end of the day, folks, I think the Bucs are in a prime position to get that NFC South title and move on into the playoffs.
And let's see what happens if you have a motivated Baker Mayfield
