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Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles was feeling especially salty to kick off training camp.
Bowles, who is entering his third season with the Buccaneers, addressed his team on the first day of training camp on July 23 and espoused on expectations for the upcoming season and what he expects out of players who ultimately make the roster.
Bowles’ speech was posted to the Buccaneers’ official X account.
“The expectations for us shouldn’t be just the division,” Bowles said. “It’s got to be the Super Bowl. We won the division the last two years. Our expectation has got to be how we can be great.”
Bowles singled out quarterback Baker Mayfield, who signed a 3-year, $100 million contract in the offseason.
“Bake, you run the show,” Bowles said. “It’s your team.”
Where Bowles really got rolling was when he talked about what he expects of the 53-man roster. The main message? Don’t just show up to cash a check.
“I want nobody trying to make the team,” Bowles said. “I’d rather (expletive) cut you and have somebody that’s busting their ass than for you to just make the team. You’ve got to want to be something on this team and that’s what the (expletive) I’m looking for. We can get that done, we’re going to be a hell of a team.”
Bowles as Head Coach: Losing and More Losing
There is little about what Bowles has done as a head coach that would lend itself to thinking he might coach a team that makes it to the Super Bowl one day.
In three games as an interim head coach with the Miami Dolphins in 2011, four seasons as the head coach with the New York Jets from 2015 to 2018 and the last two seasons as Tampa Bay’s head coach, Bowles is 15 games under .500 with a career record of 43-58.
Even while Bowles has had his most success as a head coach with the Buccaneers, that’s kind of deceiving. Tampa Bay won the NFC South Division title in 2022 with an 8-9 record then won it again in 2023 with a 9-8 record.
Bucs, Bowles Deal With Drama to Start Camp
Bowles had one fire to put out at the start of training camp after free agent outside linebacker Randy Gregory was a no-show, which followed Gregory’s unexcused absence from minicamp, which cost him approximately $100,000 in fines.
Bowles refused to add fuel to the fire the day after players reported on July 24 in comments to ESPN’s Jenna Laine.
“We’re gonna talk about the players that are here,” Bowles told ESPN. “He’s not here. We’ll deal with that internally. And obviously he’s on the do not report list and we’ll go from there.”
Gregory was placed on the Reserve/Did Not Report list after he didn’t show up on July 23. The Buccaneers were counting on Gregory to add much-needed depth to a group of young edge rushers led by second-year outside linebacker YaYa Diaby.
Diaby led the Buccaneers with 7.5 sacks in 2023 despite playing in just 46 percent of the team’s defensive snaps.
