The Tampa Bay Buccaneers tumble down rankings after a disappointing season. Can the 2026 team improve its already mediocre standing?
The first collection of NFL power rankings of the offseason are out, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers landed in a place that reflects their 8-9 record in 2025.
NFL.com has the Bucs ranked 18th -- two places behind the NFC South champion Carolina Panthers.
ESPN has the Bucs at No. 17, which is five spots ahead of Carolina.
Fox Sports has the Bucs slightly lower, at No. 20, but those power rankings have the Atlanta Falcons, not Carolina, ahead of Tampa for the top spot in the NFC South.
The Buccaneers are coming off a 2025 season that started like a dream, but turned into a nightmare. Tampa started the year 6-2 and managed not to win the NFC South title, despite no team in the division finishing with a winning record. It was the first time this decade the Bucs didn’t win the NFC South, and to get back on top on 2026, the Bucs need to change some things.
ESPN’s Jenna Laine said the Bucs needs to "recapture their mojo."
Laine pointed out that quarterback Baker Mayfield struggled in the second half of the season.
Through Tampa’s first nine games, he threw 16 touchdown passes compared to just two interceptions.
In Tampa’s last eight, he threw 10 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
NFL.com’s Eric Edholm points out that Tampa struggled defensively, especially in the pass rush. He noted that the Bucs had 25 sacks in their first eight games, but 12 in their last nine.
Fox Sports’ Ralph Vacchiano gave Tampa the harshest evaluation along with the lowest rankings.
Although Vacchiano did point out that the Bucs had bad luck with injuries -- key players such as Mike Evans, Bucky Irving and Calijah Kancey all missed extended time -- but he isn't impressed by Tampa’s new offensive coordinator, Zac Robinson.
Vacchiano wrote that Robinson will need to do better with Tampa than he did with his last employer, the Falcons.
If he doesn’t?
"Expect more Todd Bowles-inspired mediocrity," Vacchiano wrote.
This is certainly a harsh evaluation, but not an unfair one.
Even when Bowles led the Bucs to three straight division titles from 2022-24, he did so with records of 8-9, 9-8, and 10-7.
What makes the 2025 collapse even more frustrating for Bucs fans is that last year’s team got off to the best start of the Bowles era, and even beat the eventual Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks on the road.
If the Bucs can keep that mojo all year, Bowles will keep his job going into 2027.
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