Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images How much improvement is to be expected from this year’s Buccaneers? Grades for Jason Licht’s offseason have fallen somewhere between Nicely done and How does he do it?! Tampa Bay’s maneuvering, planning, and decision making since the end of last season have left little for fans to complain about. No matter the team’s success a year ago and in seasons prior, 2024 will be its own season. The Buccaneers will start 0-0, just like the rest of the league. Once again, Tampa will be competing for the NFC South title and jockeying for a playoff spot. The Bucs have three consecutive NFC South crowns and have been to the playoffs every year since 2020. Playoff games played since 2020 pic.twitter.com/MXGXtsriYt— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) May 18, 2024 Coming off an offseason as impressive as Jason Licht’s has been, Tampa Bay should be back in the driver’s seat— Favored to four-peat as division champs. Is that the reality? Jason Licht’s mantra, as of late, has been retaining talent. It’s a difficult job, but he’s managed to do it and the Bucs have had good talent (also a credit to Licht’s drafting) so the logic stands firm. The problem— Retaining talent is not adding talent. 
Photo by David Berding/Getty Images Tampa Bay finished last season 9-8. The season came down to the Buccaneers needing a win on the road, against the Carolina Panthers, to qualify for the postseason. The Bucs have done an excellent job keeping the core of that group together, but that group was a 10-point outing by Bryce Young away from vastly different offseason conversations. Yes, draft picks can equate to improvements, Jordan Whitehead is back home, and 2024’s team will have some new coaches in place— Is that enough to offset the improvements from the field? Meet the Atlanta Falcons. The Atlanta Falcons have been riddled with the notoriety of being an NFL meme since Tom Brady summoned up an NFL moment for ages and left them in weeping disbelief back in 2017. The past set aside, Atlanta did get better this offseason— undeniably better. While they did themselves no favors and attempted to keep their meme-status alive on draft night, the 2024 Falcons are improved from last year’s model. 
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images Atlanta has a quarterback. Kirk Cousins is not Joe Burrow, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, or even Matthew Stafford. He’s 35 coming off an Achilles injury, he might not even be Baker Mayfield next year— But does he have to be? Taking the New York teams off the table, the Atlanta Falcons have a very legitimate argument that they had the worst quarterback play in the NFL a season ago. Desmond Ridder had under 3,000 yards passing, 12 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. With that level of quarterback play, the Falcons gave the Bucs all they could handle. During Tampa’s late-season surge, the race for the NFC South was neck and neck. Desmond Ridder’s Falcons beat the Bucs last season, they were actually a last-minute Baker Mayfield game-winning touchdown toss to Cade Otton away from sweeping Tampa Bay. Atlanta ended last season with a 7-10 record. Kirk Cousins isn’t Lamar Jackson, but he isn’t Desmond Ridder either. Cousins has never thrown for under 4,000 yards in a season where he started every game. He’s thrown 270 touchdowns in the NFL and he’s had a passer rating over 100, four of his last five seasons. Cousins has a bit of a reputation for being a stat compiler, without substance. That may be true, however, what would the 2023 Atlanta Falcons have looked like with a 4,000 yard passer who had a 2:1 touchdown to interception ratio, rather than Ridders 1:1? Atlanta may not have an elite quarterback in 2024, but do they need one? Tampa has had a very solid offseason, Jason Licht should be proud and Bucs’ fans should feel satisfied. The Buccaneers had a competitive team in 2023 and they made sure to keep most of the those pieces around for 2024. Did the team get markedly better though? The field might have. For more Bucs coverage check us out here: @Will_Walsh_NFL(X) @Bucs_Nation(X) @Will_Walsh_NFL(YouTube) https://www.bucsnation.com/2024/5/21/24 ... cs-falcons
