With the preparations for the National Football League 2024 season continuing, plenty of franchises are continuing to tweak their rosters and are doing deals to see unwanted players move on, with fresh blood coming in to replace them and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are no different – but their most recent addition to their staff has been on the coaching side of the game.
It has been confirmed that The Buccaneers have decided to make a new coaching hire. They brought in a new offensive coach to add to offensive co-ordinator Liam Coen’s new staff.
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On Wednesday, they confirmed that agreement had been struck with former Atlanta Falcons tight ends coach Justin Peelle, and that the 45 year old would now take up the identical role at Tampa Bay this pre season and you do not need a betting guide to tell you what he will bring to the franchise. As a result of that hire, former tight ends coach John Van Dam will remain on their staff, but take up the new designation of being a passing game assistant.
Peelle has a good association and history with the NFL, having been a player and a tight end himself for a full decade, turning out for the San Diego Chargers, Miami Dolphins, Atlanta Falcons and the San Francisco 49ers during his professional playing days. When he retired from the game and ended his career he had 123 receptions for 1,003 yards, with 12 touchdowns to his name.
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Having entered the coaching side of NFL life as he extended his working career in the game of football, he started in 2013 by being an assistant tight ends coach for the Philadelphia Eagles, eventually taking over the full role in 2015 and many commentators would argue that his most notable player development project so far, would be Zach Ertz, who he worked with for the first eight years of his career.
Ertz obviously went on to eventually win Super Bowl LIII with the Eagles as they faced off against future Bucs quarterback Tom Brady. He also went on to break the NFL record for the most receptions by a tight end in a single season, picking up a total of 116, and Tampa Bay made quite the play of that being a record that still stands today in their press release on Peelle’s hiring.
Having been with the Atlanta Falcons for the last three grid iron seasons, under his charge, tight ends Jonnu Smith and Kyle Pitts led the league in receiving yards (1,380) whilst also ranking fifth in receptions (114) and ninth in touchdowns with seven.
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Following the appointment of Coen to the Bucs role by Todd Bowles after Dave Canales left to become the head coach of the Carolina Panthers, he has been slowly building up his squad and Peelle becomes another new hire onto the team as he continues his own preparation plans for the coming season.
With a good few months left before things kick off for real, we can expect plenty of further changes for all NFL sides, not least the Bucs and who knows, maybe we have an eye on somebody at this weeks NFL Pro Day at the University of South Florida that we are willing to take a punt on and see how they fit in with an eye to the future. It has to be remembered that this year, all 32 franchises have been given an additional place in their practice squads specifically for international player pathway contenders, so that will definitely be something to watch.
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