The question certainly doesn’t include if Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles will show any emotions.
If I were to even have half of what the USF fan base was smoking, I would think the Buccaneers would accomplish a perfect season. Unfortunately, I have to live in reality and address that this team is not perfect. A shame I know. But in my original schedule prediction, I said the Buccaneers would go 11-6. It’s probably more likely they go 10-7, but I still stand by that. However, this assumes that there will be improvement in very key areas. Which should happen, but until I see the team, I just won’t know.
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The big thing here is easily the rushing attack. It was bad last season, no getting around that. It got better as the season went along, but the first half was awful for Rachaad White. The main problem was the interior o-line. It stunk up the joint. Robert Hainsey took a step back, Cody Mauch had average rookie struggles, and Matt Feiler/Aaron Stinnie were substandard.
Well, now we have Graham Barton, Cody Mauch has had a year under his belt, and Ben Bredeson should hopefully be better at LG. Well, I wouldn’t count on Bredeson being this amazing upgrade at LG over last year. With that being said, the other two should (assuming Barton is that guy and Mauch improves off an ok season) be enough to make White’s job a little easier.
But there was another issue with this team in terms of rushing. The other RBs on this team were awful. White had the third most carries in the NFL, only behind Derrick Henry and Christian McCaffery. Not to bash White, but he is not nearly close to those guys’ level (the only guy in the top 5 that didn’t crack 1000). The reason he was up there is because the backs behind him were Chase Edmonds and the disappointment of Sean Tucker. I think Bucky Irving is better, but I also remember hyping Tucker to the moon after the preseason. Oh, and Tucker had a good preseason. The backs behind White need to get better so White isn’t having to play 100% of snaps every game.
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Then we get to the secondary. You can’t look anyone in the eye and say that getting rid of Carlton Davis will make a secondary that was already sucky better. Lack of picks aside, getting rid of good players doesn’t make you better. Now, I understand why the team did it and I don’t think it was a mistake. But, Jamel Dean and Zyon McCollum being CBs 1 + 2 respectively does worry me a little bit.
McCollum is actually not the one I’m worried the most about. It’s Dean. Dean was terrible last year after we thought we got a steal with his contract. No picks and 4 passes defended. Now, this is not a doom and gloom sort of thing. I think Bryce Hall can step in if one of the corners struggles (or in Dean’s case, gets injured) and I also worship Antoine Winfield Jr. But you would have to be crazy to fully trust the secondary at this moment in time.
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