Just one season removed from the “Fire Schiano” campaign, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have evolved into a different team over night.
During this past offseason, the team hired Head Coach Lovie Smith, General Manager Jason Licht and picked up some big-name offensive weapons. The Bucs had the best offseason in the entire league, according to NFL.com.
This is a sharp contrast to last season, where the Bucs finished 4-12 and missed the playoffs for a sixth straight year.
The new general manager, Licht, assists Smith in finding players suitable for the team and controls player transactions. Licht has the power to fire Smith if he chooses.
Smith is 84-66 all time as a head coach. While coaching for the Chicago Bears, he won three division titles and went to the Super Bowl. He coincidently lost to Tony Dungy’s Colts. When Dungy coached the Bucs from 1996-2000, Smith was the linebacker coach.
Also from the Bears comes former backup quarterback Josh McCown. McCown played behind Jay Cutler for three seasons while in Chicago and picked up a lot of playing time during Cutler’s injuries. Smith instantly named McCown the starting QB after he had signed with the team, leaving Mike Glennon on the bench.
The Bucs continued to bring in more well-known names after Smith and McCown.
The organization selected Mike Evans from Texas A&M with the seventh overall pick during the NFL draft. The wide receiver scored 12 touchdowns and had 1,394 receiving yards as a junior before declaring for the draft. Evans was named to the 2013 AP All-American Team, First Team. Evans will start on the opposite side of the ball from WR Vincent Jackson.
With the second team pick, tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins was selected. Seferian-Jenkins had 13 touchdowns and 1390 receiving yards in his final year with Washington. He has the size of a Jimmy Graham or a Rob Gronkowski and can grab a pass in tight coverage. Along with Jackson and Evans, Seferian-Jenkins is 6-foot-5.
To address other needs, the team traded their other tight end Tim Wright for guard Logan Mankins to the Patriots. Mankins is a six-time pro bowler and appeared in two Super Bowls while protecting Tom Brady. Mankins will protect McCown as he searches for his multiple towering receivers.
Although the Bucs are among the four teams in the division, there has yet to be a back-to-back champion in the NFC South. In the last three seasons a different champ was crowned (2011 Saints, 2012 Falcons and 2013 Panthers).
Bucs fans hopeful of a division championship will be able to see if all the change worked on Sept. 7 when the Bucs host the Carolina Panthers for the season opener.
