6 Bucs who need to make a big leap in 2023

Despite a losing record in his first season as the team’s head coach, Bowles likely bought himself at least one more year by winning the NFC South and making the playoffs.

Firing Byron Leftwich and overhauling the offensive staff gives Bowles an opportunity to hand-pick his own coaches on that side of the ball this time, something he didn’t get to do when Bruce Arians retired in late-March last year.

It’s hard to put the offense’s struggles this season on Bowles, and it’s easy to wonder if his defense would have been more effective had the offense pulled their weight. That said, his performance in the big-picture head coach responsibilities (clock management, timeouts, fourth-down decisions, etc.) left much to be desired. Put simply, he’ll have to be better in 2023 if he wants to coach the team again in 2024.