When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed Tom Brady in 2020, there were plenty of doubters who said the GOAT was washed up. Instead, Brady and the Bucs won the Super Bowl that year, and followed it up with two more NFC South titles.
After Brady’s retirement, those same doubters expected the Bucs to come crashing back down to earth with a brutal fire sale and a painful rebuild. Instead, they kept the band together and won the division for a third straight year, this time with Baker Mayfield at quarterback.
You’d think the naysayers would have learned their lesson by now, but heading into the 2024 season, the Bucs are still taking a back seat to the Atlanta Falcons in most preseason predictions for the NFC South, despite having the NFC’s longest active streak of postseason appearances, trailing only the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills across the rest of the league.
Appearing recently on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Bucs general manager Jason Licht acknowledged the constant disrespect, but he doesn’t seem to mind embarrassing those doubters on an annual basis:
If the Bucs win the division again this year, don’t be surprised when the same voices try and convince you why they won’t be successful in 2025. When they do, do yourself a favor and ignore them.
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