Not sure if you heard, but someone named Tom Brady signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in NFL free agency. To say that has changed the outlook of the 2020 Bucs is understating things just a bit. Here’s an overview of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and their NFL Odds as it stands.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL Odds After Free Agency Week 1
2019 recap
Tampa Bay finished 7-9 in Coach Bruce Arians’ first season. Jameis Winston led the NFL with 5,109 passing yards and was second with 33 touchdown passes but also led the league by far with 30 picks – the first-quarterback to ever have a 30-TD, 30-interception season. Fittingly, Winston’s final pass as a Buccaneer was a pick-six in a Week 17 28-22 overtime home loss to Atlanta. The game ended abruptly when Falcons defensive back Deion Jones broke in front of intended receiver Cameron Brate and skipped up the sideline to set off an end-zone celebration.
“It smells as bad as it could possibly smell,” Arians said of his team missing out an opportunity to finish .500 after a 2-6 start. The Bucs have missed the playoffs 12 years in a row, surpassed only by the Cleveland Browns. Winston is still on the market as a free agent after this writing as the Bucs are moving ahead with Tom Brady. The Bucs have never signed one of their starting quarterbacks to a second contract.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Offseason moves
Brady walks into a pretty good situation as the Bucs have arguably the best receiving duo in the NFL in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, who both topped 1,000 yards a year ago. Evans missed the final few games of last season due to a strained hamstring but still had 67 catches for 1,157 yards and eight scores.
The 26-year-old has been spectacular since being drafted as the No. 7 overall pick in 2014, joining Randy Moss as the only players in NFL history to record over 1,000 receiving yards through the first six seasons of their career. Evans also broke Tampa Bay’s previous franchise record for career receptions (430) with 462. Godwin was a breakout star in 2019, finishing third in the NFL in receiving yards with 1,333 and also tied for fourth in touchdowns (nine) despite missing his final two games with a strained hamstring.
The Bucs are a bit questionable at running back with Ronald Jones and Peyton Barber. Brady has leaned heavily on his running backs since turning 40 in 2017. Over that span, he has completed an NFL-high 364 passes to running backs. Buccaneers RBs have only caught 3 TD passes over that same span, tied for the fewest in the NFL.
The Bucs kept star pass-rusher Shaquil Barrett off the market by slapping the franchise tag on him. Barrett led the NFL with 19.5 sacks in 2019, setting a new single-season franchise record in his first year with the team. Barrett finished the season strong, with seven sacks in his last five games, including another three-sack game in the season finale against Atlanta that allowed him to pass Arizona’s Chandler Jones for the NFL sack title.
In all, Barrett finished with 58 tackles, 19 tackles for loss, 37 quarterback hits, one interception, two passes defensed and six forced fumbles to go with those 19.5 sacks. Those 37 QB hits tied him with Green Bay’s Za’Darius Smith for the league lead in that category as well.
The Bucs used the “non-exclusive” franchise tag on Barrett, meaning he can negotiate with other teams but Tampa Bay retains a right to match any contract offer. If Barrett does sign with another team and the offer is not matched, that team must send two first-round draft picks to the Buccaneers.
Tampa Bay got some protection for Brady is signing free agent offensive lineman Joe Haeg, formerly of the Colts, to a one-year, $2.3 million contract. The 2016 fifth-rounder appeared in all 16 games for the Colts last year.
The team also resigned Jason Pierre-Paul to a two-year deal. Despite playing in just 10 games with eight starts last year, Pierre-Paul produced 8.5 sacks, second only to Barrett’s league-leading 19.5 among Buccaneer defenders. Pierre-Paul missed the first six games of 2019 due to a neck injury suffered in a spring car accident.
2020 opponents
- Home: Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints, Green Bay Packers, Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Chargers, Los Angeles Rams, Minnesota Vikings.
- Away: Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints, Chicago Bears, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, Raiders, New York Giants.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Odds to win Super Bowl 55
The Bucs are +1200 Odds to win the Super Bowl LV in their own stadium next February. No team has ever reached a Super Bowl held in its own stadium.
