The Tampa Bay Buccaneers front seven is going to be different in 2026. The question is how much better the changes will be under the same coaching staff, per a recent analysis by Matt Verderame of Sports Illustrated.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers Are Giving Todd Bowles What He Wants
The Bucs have not been good enough on defense to continue to have a defensive head coach. Instead of changing the coach, the team did a massive personnel overhaul.
On the interior defensive line, the Bucs signed A’Shawn Robinson and Rakeem Nunez-Roches. They also drafted DeMonte Capehart in the fifth round last year. When you add in that Calijah Kancey missed almost all of last season with a pectoral injury, the team might have four new names who were not in the mix last year.
Last season, Vea played 761 snaps, Logan Hall played 611 snaps, Elijah Roberts played 506 snaps, and Greg Gaines played 369 snaps. No other interior lineman was over 100 snaps.
This year, Kancey will take the snaps Hall had, Robinson and Nunez-Roches combine to average the snaps that Roberts and Gaines played last year, and does not even add in that they are bringing back Roberts, and could get some work from Capehart. To say that they are deeper upfront is an understatement.
GettyReuben Bain was drafted 15th overall
Buccaneers Get Infusion of Edge Rusher Help
The edge rusher room should see a big increase in talent as well, considering they replaced Hasson Reddick and his 2.5 sacks last year with Reuben Bain, one of the premier edge rushers in the NFL Draft. Even if Bain is slow out of the gates, the odds are that he is going to bring more than Reddick did last season.
Beyond that, they added Al-Quadin Muhammad to be their third edge rusher. He broke out last year out of nowhere, but did record 11 sacks. Either way, he is better than the duo of Chris Braswell and Anthony Nelson, who shared the third rusher spot last year. That duo is now competing for the fourth edge rusher. So, their third and fourth edge rushers last year are competing for the four and five spot, with the number two spot being upgraded along the edge. On the interior, the number two spot is also upgraded, and the number four interior lineman is now pushing for the sixth spot. The
GettyAlex Anzalone will start for the Buccaneers
Buccaneers Have Options at Linebacker
Last year, it was SirVocea Dennis and LaVonte David at linebacker with very little behind them. Now, David is retired, and Dennis is likely the fourth option who will compete for special teams snaps.
The Bucs added Alex Anzalone and Christian Rozeboom in free agency and then drafted Josiah Trotter in the second round of the 2026 NFL Draft. Rozeboom and Anzalone should start early, and the team can sub out whoever is struggling the most when the rookie is ready to step up.
It is clear that if the Bucs’ defense is not drastically improved, they are going to fire Todd Bowles. The group is night and day on paper, and Bowles cannot blame personnel after this offseason.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Offseason Leaves Todd Bowles No Excuses