The article I wrote to end the season had my reasoning for why I thought the Buccaneers should move on from Todd Bowles. I thought the defensive staff needed to be changed, and Bowles was too loyal to his guys to make those changes.
However, Bowles will not be
fired this season, but change may be coming anyway. You see, what I didn’t expect was that someone would hire away Kacy Rodgers and Larry Foote. No team had shown interest before, and they don’t call plays for us, Bowles does. However, Detroit has already taken Kacy Rodgers and seem ready to poach Larry Foote for DC.
Now, I know I said before I wanted change, however, I do think that they will miss Rodgers. He is the d-line coach and by all accounts, has done a good job with developing players. I mean, look at Vita Vea and Calijah Kancey as evidence of that. Foote on the other hand is a different story. He is a smart guy and is well-respected. However, he is the LB coach and I know he didn’t have the greatest pieces to work with, but the LB pass coverage was lackluster to say the least. He will probably do good in Detroit as a play caller, but I think they needed to move off from him.
There is a question of how much will change given that Bowles was always the play caller. But I think for this year, he will look for someone outside the organization to fill the role. He will still call the plays, that’s not changing even if Bellicheck is brought in. But having an outside voice can be helpful in game planning. If I had my choice, it would be Robert Saleh. Saleh is a mediocre HC, but he is a fantastic defensive mind.
The thought was always he will be a Jaguars HC or go back to the 49ers. That was before this role opened up though. I think this defense is talented enough to make him look this way. It’s always possible that Bowles just promotes from within, but to get someone like Saleh or another talented defensive guy would go a long way in improving the defense.
