In 2023, Thad Lewis was in his first year as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ quarterbacks coach after spending the previous two seasons as an assistant wide receivers coach. That promotion came with much more change than just the sign on his office door; Lewis was working for a new offensive coordinator in Dave Canales and coaching a starting quarterback new to the team in Baker Mayfield.
It went well. Mayfield rebounded from a couple unsatisfying years of bouncing between multiple teams to have the best season of his career, ending up in the Pro Bowl. The Buccaneers won the NFC South for a third straight time – defying national expectations following the retirement of Tom Brady – and advanced to the Divisional Round of the playoffs. Mayfield got a new deal in March to remain the Bucs’ starter for multiple years to come.
This year, Lewis knows who the starting quarterback is going to be well ahead of the season, and that quarterback is fully confident in his position. There is, however, still going to be plenty of change for those two to navigate. Canales used his strong first season as a coordinator to catapult him to a head coaching job in Carolina, which means the Bucs’ offense will have a new director once again. That is Liam Coen, who has roots in the Los Angeles Rams’ system with Sean McVay and most recently was calling plays at the University of Kentucky.
As the Bucs work through the early stages of installing and absorbing Coen’s offense, Lewis has already noticed one major change compared to how the Bucs’ operated last season.
“I would say the motions and the shifts and things like that,” said Lewis. “We didn’t do much of it; we did some of it. But right now I would say you’ll see a lot of it, just trying to dictate the defense, getting man/zone intel. I’m pretty sure the guys will talk to you about that, but the motions and shifts I would say for sure is the biggest thing. You can count on that being done. It will definitely be more than last year for sure.”
According to ESPN analytics, the Buccaneers’ offensed used motion before or at the snap on 42.8% of its snaps in 2023, which ranked 25th in the NFL. The Miami Dolphins led the NFL in that category, using motions and shifts on 82.8% of their offensive snaps. It likely is not a coincidence that one of the coaches the Buccaneers added to their staff this season to help Coen fashion a prolific offense is from that Dolphins system. Josh Grizzard, the Bucs’ new…
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