Tag: Thad Lewis

Bucs QB coach Thad Lewis has high expectations for offense in 2024

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterbacks coach Thad Lewis says the sky’s the limit for his offense this season

Last season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers surprised many fans and analysts by winning the NFC South for a third straight year and making a fourth consecutive trip to the playoffs. Despite Tom Brady’s retirement, the Bucs offense still put up solid numbers with Baker Mayfield under center.

Now, the Bucs head into the 2024 season with an opportunity to prove that last season wasn’t a fluke for Mayfield and the GOAT-less offense, and with the majority of the unit returning from last year, expectations are high they can deliver another stellar campaign.

Bucs quarterbacks coach Thad Lewis recently spoke to the media about his high expectations for the offense this season:

Mayfield should have an improved offensive line, as well as one of the league’s best receiving tandems returning with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. The running game should also be better this season, and a more balanced attack should lead to more sustained success for the entire unit.

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Bucs interviewing two in-house candidates for OC job

Tampa Bay has been thorough during their OC search, and now, it turns to its own staff to interview a hot candidate in the cycle.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have done well to look outward during their offensive coordinator search, and now, they’re looking inward.

The NFL’s Ian Rapoport announced Wednesday that the team is set to interview quarterbacks coach Thad Lewis for their offensive coordinator job. Lewis has been a hot candidate in the cycle across the league, being asked to interview for the Las Vegas Raiders, the Cincinnati Bengals, the Tennessee Titans and the Buffalo Bills.

Lewis was Baker Mayfield’s quarterbacks coach in 2023 and oversaw one of the best years the signal-caller has had, with Mayfield throwing for 28 touchdowns and 4,044 yards while completing over 64% of his passes. He has not called plays, like former Bucs OC Dave Canales hadn’t before doing so last year, but he’s been a coach for far less time — while Canales had coached in the NFL for 13 years prior to calling plays for Tampa Bay, Lewis has only been an NFL coach since 2021.

Additionally, the team is set to interview another in-house candidate. The Bucs are also interviewing tight ends coach John Van Dam, who as it stands right now is the longest-tenured coach at one position on staff since taking on the role in 2022.

Under Van Dam, Tampa Bay’s tight ends caught 55 passes for 515 yards and five touchdowns.

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Titans interviewed Bucs QBs coach Thad Lewis for OC job

The Titans reportedly interviewed Bucs QBs coach Thad Lewis for their offensive coordinator vacancy.

The Tennessee Titans reportedly have a third candidate for their offensive coordinator vacancy.

According to ESPN’s Kimberley A. Martin, the Titans interviewed Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterbacks coach Thad Lewis for their offensive coordinator job on Monday.

Lewis is the third offensive coordinator candidate the Titans have either requested or completed an interview with.

Tennessee reportedly interviewed Jacksonville Jaguars passing-game coordinator Nick Holz on Monday, also, and the team has reportedly requested an interview with Miami Dolphins associate head coach and running backs coach Eric Studesville.

Lewis started his coaching career at UCLA, where he served as an offensive analyst from 2018-19. After that, he was hired as the Bucs’ assistant wide receivers coach before being promoted to quarterbacks coach in 2023.

In his first season in that position, the Bucs saw veteran signal-caller Baker Mayfield resurrect his career, which helped lead Tampa Bay to an unexpected playoff appearance and win over the Philadelphia Eagles.

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Report: Bills plan to interview Thad Lewis for OC position

Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reported on Friday that the Buffalo Bills plan to interview Thad Lewis for their offensive coordinator position.

This is the time of the NFL calendar where teams like the Buffalo Bills are dealing with changes amongst the roster and the coaching staff. With Buffalo’s offensive coordinator position still open, there is another person that the Bills are planning to interview for that role.

According to a report on Friday by Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, the Bills plan to interview Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterbacks coach Thad Lewis for the offensive coordinator position. Fowler mentioned in his post on “X” that Lewis is expected to be a candidate for multiple OC openings due to the great work that he did with Baker Mayfield this season.

Per various reports, Lewis is also in consideration for the same position with the Las Vegas Raiders so it looks like he is fairly sought after this offseason. Lewis, 38, played quarterback for the Bills in the 2013 season and amassed a 2-3 record while throwing for 1,092 yards, four touchdowns, and three interceptions.

Under the tutelage of Lewis, Mayfield went 9-8, accounting for the second-best season he has had as a starting quarterback in the NFL in terms of win-loss record. Mayfield also put up a career-best in completions, completion percentage, passing yards, and touchdown passes along with the second-lowest interception percentage of his career.

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Bills request to interview Bucs QB coach Thad Lewis

Lewis also has an interview scheduled with the Las Vegas Raiders.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers may have only gone 9-8 in 2023, but a Divisional Round appearance has seen many other teams interested in their offensive staff.

Bucs quarterbacks coach Thad Lewis is already set to interview for the Las Vegas Raiders’ offensive coordinator job, and it seems like he’s getting other attention as well. ESPN reporter Jeremy Fowler reported that the Buffalo Bills are set to interview Lewis for their OC job as well.

Lewis played for the Buffalo Bills in 2013, so there’s certainly a connection there. The Bills fired their offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey midway through the season, and Dorsey is set to interview with the Bucs in the coming days.

Lewis does not have much experience as a coach. He joined Bruce Arians’ staff in 2021 as an assistant wide receivers coach and was then promoted to quarterbacks coach in 2023. Despite this lack of experience, though, Fowler noted that he could get some other looks at OC as well — he may interview for Tampa Bay’s own opening, too.

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Raiders request interview with Buccaneers QB coach Thad Lewis

Raiders request interview with Buccaneers QB coach Thad Lewis

The success of the Buccaneers this season has caused a lot of other teams to take notice. And it’s leading to the expected poaching of their coaches. Mostly from the offensive side of the ball, where they shocked the NFL with journeyman Baker Mayfield at quarterback, making it all the way to the Divisional Round before just falling short to a tough Lions team.

Friday the Panthers nabbed Bucs OC Dave Canales as their new head coach. A short time later, news broke via the Tampa Bay Times that the Raiders have requested an interview with QB coach Thad Lewis.

The Raiders have several interviews lined up this week to fill their offensive coordinator position on the staff after a disappointing season under former head coach Josh McDaniels, OC Mick Lombardi, and then interim OC Bo Hardegree.

And like many Raiders hires of late — including head coach Antonio Pierce — Lewis is a former NFL player.

While the Bucs offense was just 20th in points and 23rd in yards, Mayfield had easily his best season, passing for 4044 yards with 28 touchdown passes and 10 interceptions. You can see how a lot of teams would want that for their quarterbacks in their offense.

Raiders put in request to interview Bucs QB coach Thad Lewis

Tampa Bay’s offensive staff has been getting some attention during this latest coaching cycle.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dave Canales recently took his second interview with the Carolina Panthers, but he isn’t the only offensive staffer getting looks from other teams.

The Tampa Bay Times’ Rick Stroud reported on Thursday that the Las Vegas Raiders have put in an interview request for Bucs quarterbacks coach Thad Lewis. It’s currently unknown which position Lewis is interviewing for under coach Antonio Pierce’s staff, though as Stroud mentions, it makes sense that it could possibly be a promotion such as offensive coordinator or passing game coordinator.

Lewis’s tenure with Tampa Bay so far is his first NFL coaching stint, having joined the team as an assistant wide receivers coach in 2021 and then being promoted to quarterbacks coach in 2023. Lewis worked with Canales in coaching the quarterbacks in 2023, and that work resulted in one of QB Baker Mayfield’s best seasons in years.

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Bucs to promote assistant Thad Lewis to quarterbacks coach

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are promoting from within for their new quarterbacks coach

The revamping of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ offensive coaching staff continues with the promotion of assistant wide receivers coach Thad Lewis to quarterbacks coach, according to a surprising source: Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith (via Fox Sports’ Carmen Vitali).

While the contract has not been signed according to Fox Sports’ Greg Auman, Smith does likely have an inside source, his former QB coach and new Bucs offensive coordinator Dave Canales.

Lewis joined the Bucs’ staff in 2020 as a coaching intern through the Bill Walsh coaching fellow program before he was promoted to assistant WR coach where he served for the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Before joining Tampa’s staff, Lewis was an offensive analyst for the UCLA Bruins under Chip Kelly.

A journeyman quarterback in the NFL, Lewis entered the league as an undrafted free agent in 2010 and spent time on nine different team’s rosters until 2017. He started one game for the Cleveland Browns in 2012 and five games for the Buffalo Bills in 2013, but never saw the field outside those two seasons.

One of the few holdovers from the offensive staff brought in by former head coach Bruce Arians, Lewis appears to be on the fast track towards more prominent coaching positions. This appears to be what Arians had in mind for Lewis according to the Tampa Bay Times’ Rick Stroud:

Lewis should be a key staff member for the Bucs in 2023. With Kyle Trask the only quarterback under contract, the Bucs have little certainty at the position. They will need Lewis to provide a steady hand to guide the quarterback room and potentially develop a new, young starter.

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