The NFL dominates almost an entire calendar year’s worth of headlines. Of course, there are all the happenings of the regular season starting in September through the culmination of the season with the Super Bowl in February, and every sort of power ranking you could think of every week.

For some, there is no rest for the wicked because free agency opens in March. Which, of course, means post-free-agency power rankings and grades. As that is going on, we are preparing for the NFL Draft in April. Which leads into watching college game film, understanding a team’s needs, creating at least 400 mock drafts each year, and debating it with anyone who will listen.

What happens after the Draft? Grades and power rankings. April is also the month when minicamp begins, with rookie minicamp starting in May and running through OTAs and mandatory minicamp in June.

June 19th is the last day for remaining teams to hold their mandatory minicamps, which naturally means that this provides more opportunities to grade and rank teams because we really don’t do that enough. On The Mina Kimes Show featuring Lenny, ESPN’s Kimes and Ben Sloak ranked their Top 10 offenses heading into the 2025 NFL season; they each had the Bucs sliding in at ten and seven, respectively.

Kimes said that she watched more of the Bucs from last season than any other team to try and prep, because the numbers last season were “so insane for them and it feels slept on for how good they were last year.” So why the ranking so low for a team that had one of the most prolific offenses in 2024, returning all 11 starters, and added a first-round pick at wide receiver in Emeka Egbuka in the Draft? Is it because Mike Evans is a year older, and Chris Godwin is coming off a brutal ankle injury? Nope.

“I have to ding them for sorta shaky quarterback,” Kimes said of Baker Mayfield. “He’s good, I’m just saying, that and the loss of the coordinator [Coen], so that was it for me,” she continued. As we know, Mayfield loves it when the media discredits his body of work, and is always looking for a reason to play with a chip on his shoulder. Maybe there is a bit of natural regression down from the 4, 500 yards, 41 touchdowns, and 16 interceptions due to the Coen leaving for Jacksonville.

It’s a safe bet that Mayfield will still fall into the Top 10 range simply because there are too many offensive weapons on the Buccaneers roster, paired with one of the best offensive lines in the league, for the Bucs offense to hang on to a Top 10 position by a thread.

The Bucs are a team that does not see the national spotlight as much as they deserve. Outside of what they do on the field, it is a group of tight-knit players that seldom make big headlines. Despite that, the talent they possess, particularly on the offensive side of the football, has become impossible to ignore.

That is why a recent ranking of the NFL’s top 10 offenses should make fans happy, as Tampa Bay received plenty of recognition for being one of the best units in the league.

Bucs Offense Ranked Second-Best In Football

NFL.com’s Gennaro Filice surprisingly ranked the Bucs as having the second-best offense in the league. In outlining his reasoning, Filice takes the time to point all of the weapons at Baker Mayfield’s disposal, as well as an offensive line that is as good as any.

My colleague Judy Battista listed Baker Mayfield among her dark-horse candidates for MVP. Makes plenty of sense to me. I mean, shoot, look at the supporting cast around the 30-year-old quarterback. It starts up front with one of the premier offensive lines in the game. First-team All-Pro left tackle Tristan Wirfs is the headliner, but this could be the best starting five this side of Philadelphia.

The receiver room is loaded with talent, young and old. With veteran wideout Chris Godwin working his way back from a season-ending ankle injury, Jason Licht just spent his first-round pick on Emeka Egbuka, who happens to offer a Godwin-like skill set. Bucky Irving was a revelation last year as the top rookie running back — and frankly, one of the most exhilarating newbies in the entire draft class — while Rachaad White and Sean Tucker provide solid backfield depth.

It’s easy to see why — despite a new offensive coordinator — Mayfield can have just as much success this season as he did last year.

After reaching another level and having elite production, there is optimism that the good times will continue rolling this year. The difference this time around in the veteran quarterback switching playcallers is that Josh Grizzard was in the building and the two already have established a relationship. It worked out well the last time the Bucs brought in someone he knew in Liam Coen, as the two worked together with the Rams in 2022 and set scoreboards ablaze in Tampa Bay. Filice wrapped up his reasoning with similar logic.

It’s all there for Mayfield, who just tied for second in the NFL in touchdown passes (41) while finishing third in passing yards (4,500) and completion percentage (71.4), to enjoy an even better season in 2025. The potential fly in the ointment: Savvy offensive coordinator Liam Coen left to become the head coach in Jacksonville. On the plus side, the new play-caller isn’t a new face, as Josh Grizzard was internally promoted after serving as Tampa’s pass game coordinator last season. Not to mention, this is nothing new to Baker, who’ll be playing under his fifth OC in as many seasons.

Bucs Believe Being The Best Offense In The NFL Is “Definitely Achievable”

The Bucs’ offense returning all 11 starters from a year ago as well as a promoting internally bodes well for them remaining one of the top scoring teams in the NFL. At mandatory mini-camp last week, right tackle Luke Goedeke shared how confident he is that they can be the best of the best when it is all said and done.

“I feel like the sky is the limit for our O-line and our offense as a whole,” Goedeke said. “I’d like to see our offense as the best O-line and best offense in the National Football League. That’s the goal among every team but I would say we’re definitely a team [where] that’s definitely achievable. Everyone strives for that and that’s great and everything, but I think the Bucs, here, as we stand today, they’re in a good spot to achieve that this year.”

Based on what the Bucs did last year and how things are projecting this year, it is hard to argue with what the national media says about them this time around.

Buccaneers Just Miss Top 10 NFL Power Rankings Placement originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been trending upward since Todd Bowles took over as head coach for Bruce Arians after the 2021 season.

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Bowles was just rewarded with a three-year contract extension, along with general manager Jason Licht.

Heading into 2025, the Bucs return all 11 starters on the offensive side of the ball, for a unit that ranked in the top five of most statistical categories last year.

Defensively, the team will hopefully improve coming off a season where Bowles’ unit struggled to get pressure on the quarterback and in pass coverage.

Licht focused on the defense in both free agency and the draft, and hopes are high that Bowles can turn the defense around next season.

Matt Johnson of Sportsnaut ranked all 32 teams this offseason and the Buccaneers just missed out on the top 10 at No. 11.

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“Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have demonstrated they can overcome the loss of an offensive coordinator without skipping a beat offensively,” Johnson wrote. We’ll also highlight the fact that new play-caller Josh Grizzard was directly responsible for the best third-down offense (50.9 percent) in the NFL last year. Tampa Bay is also getting back Chris Godwin (ankle) and it added another potential No. 2 receiver in Emeka Egbuka to pair with Mike Evans.

“Defensively, Tampa Bay even strengthened its pass rush with the Haason Reddick signing. We’ve seen enough in the last two seasons to believe the Buccaneers will remain a very good team.”

Related: Buccaneers’ Baker Mayfield Was Better Last Season In One Key Passing Stat

Related: High-Priced Buccaneers Cornerback Could be Trade Bait Ahead of 2025

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 28, 2025, where it first appeared.

The 2024 Tampa Bay Buccaneers proved to be an excellent example of a value offense in fantasy football. The 2023 version of the team featured a potent offense under the guidance of then-OC Dave Canales, finishing an unexpected 12th in EPA per play and reviving Baker Mayfield’s career. With Canales gone to the head coaching gig in Carolina, there was some skepticism about the 2024 Bucs offense with Liam Coen taking over.

[Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2025 NFL season]

Coen shockingly proved an upgrade on Canales’ strong foundation and the Bucs finished last year as a top-five offense by any advanced measure. However, just about every player from their offense could be had at a depressed ADP. League-winning rookie back Bucky Irving was the RB53 in ADP last summer as a barely draftable option, Chris Godwin way outkicked his summer position when healthy and Mayfield finished as a top-10 passer. The list goes on.

Here, we’ll look at five teams that could similarly provide value to fantasy drafters based on a change in circumstances from the previous season. To qualify, they can’t have any players going inside the top 10 of their position in early consensus ADP (Mike Evans was the highest-drafted Buccaneers player at WR16 last season).

Editor’s Note: We are using consensus ADP in order to encompass the scope of early completed drafts.

Chicago Bears

An obvious candidate for a leap this season after the hiring of Ben Johnson to replace a coaching staff that was very much out of sync last season, the Bears’ offense should be much improved. The degree to which Johnson will make a difference is up for debate and the play of Caleb Williams will largely determine his success, but there’s little doubt in my mind that this offense will not be a bottom-10 unit this year. The players are too good and Johnson has too bright a schematic mind for a full bottoming out.

While everyone acknowledges that Chicago is once again at the center of offseason hype, you aren’t required to pay much at the ADP table to get some fantasy exposure in drafts. The highest-drafted Bears player at the moment is DJ Moore, with a WR21, 40th overall consensus ADP. The next two don’t come until the 70s with Rome Odunze at WR70 and D’Andre Swift at RB25.

Odunze is someone I plan on drafting a lot because I loved his prospect film, he played better in isolation as a rookie than credited and is now getting a whole new set of circumstances in Year 2. Rookies like Luther Burden III and Colston Loveland are appealing late-round targets if they can get healthy for training camp. I have plenty of faith in Johnson to right the ship for a long-stagnant Bears offense.

Carolina Panthers

The aforementioned Canales took over as the Panthers’ play-calling head coach and, after an early-season benching, played a big role in getting Bryce Young back to playing confident football. On the season, the Panthers were a bottom-10 offense but from Week 10 on, they ranked 12th in EPA per play and 13th in points per game.

Early ADP has not baked in the possibility of the Panthers playing at that level over the course of 2025. The earliest drafted Panthers player is Chuba Hubbard at RB18, 47th overall. That’s shy of his RB12 finish from last year. The Panthers added depth to the rotation in Rico Dowdle and Trevor Etienne, but neither is set to unseat Hubbard, fresh off signing a multi-year contract from 2024.

Rookie Tetairoa McMillan is the next highest-drafted Carolina player, selected 55th overall and ranked as WR25. McMillan has the skills to step in as a Day 1 starting X-receiver and will allow other players in the room to slot into more comfortable roles.

Not only is McMillan firmly in my draft plans at WR36, but I don’t mind making bets on the complementary options like Xavier Legette, Adam Thielen and my favorite deep sleeper, Jalen Coker.

As for the distributor himself, Young currently carries a QB24 ADP. He’ll outkick that if he plays at the level he did down the stretch of 2024. There’s upside now that more talent has been added to the skill-position groups.

Tennessee Titans

If you squint, you could see the 2025 Titans following the same path as the 2024 Commanders, who finished as a top-five offense in points per game.

The Commanders had a veteran receiver in Terry McLaurin as the No. 1 target, who had run into some deployment and quarterback troubles over the course of his career. Calvin Ridley might not be at McLaurin’s level but he was productive on a bad offense last year and remains a strong route runner. The Commanders had a solid running back duo that offered some weeks for gamers last year. Tony Pollard played well last season and Tyjae Spears has some juice, as well. Washington’s offensive line played well above expectations last season and the Titans added to their front-five this year to avoid disaster.

To complete the analogy, we need rookie QB Cam Ward to play at a transformative level, similar to what Jayden Daniels did last season. While that may be unlikely, Ward can still have a strong rookie season and lift this offense from its 30th finish in EPA per play from last season. No Titans player comes off the board until the 70s, where I’m happily taking the plunge on guys like Pollard and Ridley, who could be nice ADP-beaters.

Los Angeles Chargers

Without question, this is the most cheating answer based on my “no players with a top-10 positional ADP” because Ladd McConkey is the WR11 right now. However, his 24th overall ADP is enough of a value that I want to include this group

I’m still not sure people understand that McConkey was the best rookie wide receiver on film last season.

Beyond McConkey, rookie running back Omarion Hampton is the next Charger off the board at RB17, 46th overall. He’ll have to split some carries with Najee Harris, especially early on, but he’ll rip big plays and should be the clear starter by midseason. After the backs, Justin Herbert goes off the board as QB15 but can carry that ceiling if Tre Harris is a quick learner at X-receiver to boost the passing game. Remember that Herbert is coming off a career high in carries and was used as a proactive runner once he got healthy from a training camp high-ankle sprain.

I was more bullish than most on the Chargers offense heading into last season and it still feels like the market is behind and unclear on what this coaching staff wants to be. Los Angeles was second in neutral pass rate following the Week 5 bye in 2024, has a superstar receiver and an excellent passing quarterback. The Chargers won’t be some ground-and-pound team just for the sake of it. I like this unit to be a fringe top-10 offense league-wide next season.

Seattle Seahawks

Of all the teams included, I’m the least confident that the Seahawks can pull this off but they count for the exercise after an offseason of change. Seattle completely dismantled a unit that had plenty of brand names but finished 21st in points per game and 19th in EPA per play. It began with hiring Klint Kubiak to be the play-caller in place of an overmatched Ryan Grubb, in hopes that his tried-and-true Shanahan tree concepts could revive a flailing run game and protection scheme.

The next domino was moving out Geno Smith for Sam Darnold and trading DK Metcalf away. All of these variables make Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who is the highest drafted Seahawks player at WR12, 28th overall, a tricky projection. I’ll never flat-out bet against a good ascending young receiver talent who is the clear No. 1 target on his team but the pass rate in Seattle is likely to come down with Kubiak taking over, and Darnold is far from a sure thing. Beyond JSN, lead back Kenneth Walker III is outside the top-40 overall picks and no one else goes inside the top 80.

In my view, the Seahawks have the makings of being an average offense if Darnold plays well, they can protect him and Kubiak adds some juice to the run game. That’s a lot of “if” statements just to start and the depth in the pass-catching corps is questionable with Cooper Kupp in clear decline. It’s a high-wire act for Seattle to push for a top-10 offensive finish after all this change but it does, as mentioned, qualify for this exercise.

Honorable mention: New Orleans Saints

I couldn’t quite get the Saints into the top-five candidates because I’m skeptical of their quarterback room with second-round rookie Tyler Shough in position to start. However, I’m pretty confident that if — heavy-lifting word here, I know — both Alvin Kamara (RB15) and Chris Olave (WR34) stay healthy, they’re good bets to outkick those ADPs. Even Rashid Shaheed at WR57 is a more than palatable bet at the moment. The offensive line looks like it’s in a good spot after adding rookie Kelvin Banks at tackle.

There is a lot that needs to come together and break right in Kellen Moore’s first year on the job but there is talent on the roster enough to make me want to take discounts on some of the skill-position guys.

There are some who debate whether Baker Mayfield can put together a quality postseason and lead the Bucs to the Super Bowl.

Mayfield doesn’t get a whole lot of respect from folks outside the Tampa Bay area as a top-shelf quarterback. So some don’t think so.

Robbie Chosen (aka Robbie Anderson) isn’t one of them. He was a teammate of Mayfield in 2022 when both were with the Stinking Panthers. They only played a half-dozen games together before the Stinking Panthers released Mayfield upon his request.

Still, speaking last week on “Good Morning Football” seen on NFL Network, Chosen came away impressed with Mayfield.

When asked if Mayfield could lead the Bucs to a Super Bowl, Chosen responded in so many words, Why not?

“We obviously didn’t have too much time together, but the time we did, we know we did some big things together,” Chosen said. “But I feel with Baker’s situation, it shows that sometimes it’s not always the players. Sometimes [it’s] the situation. “Obviously, he wasn’t in the best situations [Stinking Panthers]. He got to Tampa, and you know, he has flourished and shown [why] he was a number one pick in the draft.”

So does Chosen think Mayfield can get the Bucs to a Super Bowl?

“He has that capability.”

Joe isn’t ready to crown the Bucs the next NFC champs. Yet. On paper do the Bucs have the talent to make a run in the playoffs? Joe is confident they do.

If the following two questions can be answered in the affirmative, the Bucs have a Super Bowl shot:

1. Can new offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard keep the offense humming?

2. Can SirVocea Dennis stay on the field for 15 games?