Buccaneers Called Out for ‘Disastrous’ Contract Extension

It’s kind of a shame the Tampa Bay Buccaneers decided to do the contract extensions for both head coach Todd Bowles and general manager Jason Licht at the same time, announcing both deals on June 26.

It’s a shame because it took away from Licht’s moment — or all intents and purposes, one of the NFL’s truly brilliant general managers for the last decade-plus. He deserves whatever extension he gets.

It’s a shame because Bowles, in terms he’s certainly familiar with, should be in a “Prove It” year in 2025 and not have his services locked up through the 2028 season.

His extension makes no sense and could be disastrous for the Buccaneers moving forward — even in a world where we understand NFL teams have so much money paying a fired head coach not to coach is hardly a drop in the bucket.

From Buccaneers owner Joel Glazer’s official statement: “Jason and Todd’s leadership has been critical to our organization’s success. The winning culture they have established has us well positioned for the future. The continuity and stability they provide will play a large role in our ability to compete for additional championships.”

While anything is possible, the odds of the Buccaneers winning a championship with Bowles outside of an NFC South Division title seems far fetched.

No matter how brilliant Licht might be at his job, Bowles has not shown he can be anywhere close to that good at his — and definitely not deserving of such an extension.

Bowles Made Some Bizarre Decisions in 2024

It was pretty hard to imagine Bowles receiving a contract extension when the Buccaneers were sitting at 4-6 during the 2024 regular season and seemingly dead in the water when it came to their playoff hopes.

While the Buccaneers recovered to go 10-7 and make the playoffs — they were upset at home by the Washington Commanders in the NFC Wild Card Round — a little closer examination shows Tampa Bay was successful more in spite of Bowles than because of him.

In a particularly disastrous Week 7 performance against the Baltimore Ravens, Bowles was seen laughing and chatting it up on his headset just moments after wide receiver Chris Godwin suffered a grotesque, season-ending injury when he dislocated his left ankle.

Against the Carolina Panthers in Week 13, Bowles and his staff saw their leading rusher, Bucky Irving, go down with an injury returning kickoffs. After the game, it wasn’t totally clear if Bowles even realized Irving was still returning kicks headed into the game.

“Bucky Irving should’ve no longer been returning kickoffs,” wrote the Tampa Bay Times’ Rick Stroud on his official X account. “He’s their top RB. He shouldn’t be near special teams. RB1 doesn’t play special teams.”

Even with all of that, Bowles’ biggest failures have come on defense. Remember that Bowles is such a defensive whiz he doesn’t even employ a defensive coordinator.

The Buccaneers finished 18th in the NFL in team defense in 2024 — their second consecutive season in the bottom half of the league. In 6 seasons as a head coach with the New York Jets and Buccaneers, Bowles’ defenses have finished in the Top 10 twice — in 2015 (fourth) and 2022 (10th).