Across the league, final rosters are being set. Cut downs have been made and everyone is ready for the regular season. The long march to the Super Bowl starts now.
Of course, that is the goal for every team. However, some teams are more realistic in reaching that goal than others. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are one of these teams with legitimate Super Bowl aspirations.
I have said throughout the offseason that the Bucs have one of the best rosters in the NFC and even the NFL overall. Anything less than multiple playoff wins would be a failure in my book. Not winning a championship would be a disappointment.
Some might say that I am delusional with my belief in this team. Afterall, many respected analysts project the Bucs to be floating around a .500 record this season. Despite that, I stand firm in my evaluation of how good this roster is.
So I wanted to take the time to put it out there before the season starts and this team shocks the world. Here are three reasons why the Buccaneers will win the Super Bowl.
Trench Play
I’m a believer that elite strengths win championships. Weather that be quarterback play, coaching, defense, etc. A championship level team has to be great, borderline unstoppable in some aspects.Â
For the Bucs, I believe they could be that in the trenches. They have arguably the best offensive tackle duo in the NFL with Tristan Wirfs and Luke Goedeke, as well as one of the best defensive tackle duos in the NFL in Vita Vea and Calijah Kancey. Those core players are surrounded with talent on both sides of the ball.
Cody Mauch has pro bowl potential at right guard. I would say the same of Rueben Bain at Edge. Add in quality starters such as A’Shawn Robinson, Yaya Diaby, and Graham Barton and the Buccaneers are one of the most talented and deep teams in the NFL on both the offensive and defensive lines.
Lack of Weaknesses
There is no perfect team in the NFL. Every single roster has flaws and weaknesses. The goal is to have as few question marks going into the season as possible. The Bucs have achieved that.
Top to bottom, it’s hard to find a weakness on this roster. You could say that you wish the cornerback room had more experience or the linebacker room had more depth, but you compare those groups to other contenders and this team stacks up pretty well.
This isn’t a team like the Detroit Lions who don’t know who their starting secondary will be. Or even the Buffalo Bills who were one of the worst run defenses in the NFL last year and did very little to address that. Even the really good teams have a hole or two in the starting lineup, but this Buccaneers team does not.
An Embarrassment of Riches With Playmakers
So much of the conversation this offseason was about the Bucs losing Mike Evans. That’s understandable considering he is a future Hall of Famer who spent his first 12 seasons in Tampa. His loss is significant.
With that said, the Bucs were ready to move on. Maybe not emotionally, but Jason Licht has stockpiled wide receiver talent to where the loss of Evans shouldn’t hurt this team on the field. I would argue that this is the deepest pool of wide receivers in the NFL, even if they don’t have a star number one guy.
The same is true at running back. You won’t find many more balanced duos than Bucky Irving and Kenneth Gainwell. Both are capable runners and pass catchers. Add in Sean Tucker, who is the most physical and explosive back on the team, and this is one of the better running back rooks top to bottom.
Of course, I also have to mention Cade Otton. He is as solid as a rock as both a pass catcher and a blocker. He’ll consistently give you 500 yards per season and add to the running game.
It’s hard for any defense to take away that many weapons from one offense.
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