For the first time since he became head coach, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers belong to Todd Bowles. Tom Brady is gone, and Bruce Arians’s influence has faded with the firing of Byron Leftwich. Now firmly in the driver’s seat, Bowles and his defense will come to define the Bucs in 2023.
On its face, the defense looks much like it has over the past few years, still boasting headliners like Lavonte David, Vita Vea and Antoine Winfield Jr. However, the guts of the defense, its depth, is not what it once was.
When Tom Brady was their quarterback, the Bucs could load up their depth chart with veteran backups and rotational players. That is no longer the case, and the Bucs will be much younger and less experienced as a result.
Here is the Bucs’ projected 2023 defensive depth chart: