Tampa Bay’s 2025 offseason is here due to a 23-20 loss to Washington in the Wild Card playoffs. But before we dive headfirst into free agency and the 2025 NFL Draft, let’s hand out our final round of 2024 Bucs Season Awards
On Saturday, the Pewter Report staff voted on the Bucs’ 2024 MVPs, Best Assistant Coach and Rookie of the Year. On Sunday, the PR staff voted for the Most Improved and Most Disappointing Bucs from the 2024 season. Now it’s time to dish out the final round of awards to Todd Bowles’ troops with the 2024 Bucs Season Awards. These are seven more player distinctions, plus an early 2025 record prediction.
Best Free Agent Acquisition: LG Ben Bredeson
Sometimes the best free agent acquisitions aren’t the splashiest. That was the case with Tampa Bay’s one-year, $5 million deal for unheralded pass rusher Shaq Barrett in 2019. Barrett erupted for a league-high and franchise-record 19.5 sacks that year, earning his first ever Pro Bowl berth in the process. The signing of veteran offensive lineman Ben Bredeson certainly wasn’t that impactful, but for $3 million on a one-year deal, he did upgrade the left guard position.
Bucs LG Ben Bredeson – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
Bredeson is the easy winner for Best Free Agent Acquisition, which goes annually to a newly imported player to Tampa Bay via free agency – not a re-signing of one of the team’s own players. The Pro Football Focus grades may not reflect it, but Bredeson did prove to be an upgrade over Matt Feiler and Aaron Stinnie from the 2023 season. Bredeson started all 18 games and was a factor in helping the Bucs go from the league-worst ground game to the NFL’s No. 3 rushing attack in 2024. He’ll be a free agent again in 2025 and should warrant another one-year deal with a pay raise – perhaps up to $4 million.
Many assumed strong safety Jordan Whitehead would be the best free agent acquisition in the 2024 offseason, but injuries and ineffectiveness stymied his return to Tampa Bay. Because the Bucs spent the 2024 offseason re-signing most of their own free agents, general manager Jason Licht did not have the cap room to do much else in terms of importing new free agents.
Newcomer of the Year: NCB Tykee Smith
Tampa Bay’s 2024 draft class was full of hits from first-round pick Graham Barton, who was the team’s starting center, to fourth-round running back Bucky Irving, who topped 1,000 yards and was the Bucs’ leading rusher. But nickel cornerback Tykee Smith, who started all 13 games he was healthy to play, really made a great impact on Todd Bowles’ defense.
Bucs NCB Tykee Smith and Chiefs TE Travis Kelce – Photo by: USA Today
Smith proved to be an upgrade over last year’s slot cornerback Christian Izien, who spent most of the 2024 season as a fill-in starter at safety. He was Pro Football Focus’ 38th-ranked cornerback in the entire league, earning a 72 overall grade, a 70 coverage grade and an impressive 90.3 run defense grade.
In what was a down year for Bucs safety Antoine Winfield Jr., who was an All-Pro in 2023, Smith picked up the slack and was the primary playmaker in the secondary in 2024. Smith had 54 tackles and seven passes defensed, and was tied for the team lead with three forced fumbles. He also recorded two interceptions, which was also tied for the team lead. The future is bright for this tough, hard-nosed defensive back and it’s great that Tampa Bay has added another playmaker to the secondary.
Unsung Player of the Year: DT Calijah Kancey
Imagine how many sacks Calijah Kancey could have if he played all 17 games in the regular season? That’s what the Bucs have to be wondering after their first-round defensive tackle missed nearly four games at the start of the 2023 regular season as a rookie and then missed the first five games in 2024 – both due to calf injuries.
When Kancey returned to action in his second season, he came back with a vengeance and wound up leading the Bucs in sacks with a career-high 7.5. Kancey and Pro Bowler Vita Vea, who had a career-high seven sacks in 2024, formed one of the league’s best one-two punches at defensive tackle. If he can manage to put his calf injuries behind him and stay healthy for an entire season in 2025, Kancey could reach double digits in terms of sacks and become a Pro Bowler like Vea.
After a disappointing playoff game in which he missed corralling Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels a few times in the backfield, Kancey should have plenty of motivation to train even harder in the 2025 offseason. If he can manage to stay healthy, the upcoming season could be Kancey’s best. But the 12 games the Bucs got out of him in 2024 made him this year’s Unsung Player of the Year.
Most Inspirational Player: WR Mike Evans
Does it get any better than seeing Mike Evans haul in a 9-yard catch to eclipse the 1,000-yard receiving mark for an NFL-record 11th straight season? Not only did the Bucs win the NFC South division for a fourth straight season in 2024 with a 26-19 win over the Saints in Week 18. Tampa Bay also saw Evans reach that milestone on the game’s final play, as he needed just five more receiving yards to hit 1,000 for the year.
Bucs WR Mike Evans – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
When Evans made that historic catch, he tied Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerry Rice for the most consecutive 1,000-yard seasons in NFL history. And Evans added another year to his own league record of 11 straight 1,000-yard seasons to start a career, which no other player has ever done before. Everyone in the organization and in the Bucs fan base already has a love affair with Evans, but this iconic moment – and the way it happened on the game’s final play – was amazing to see.
To make his record even sweeter, Evans missed three and a half games with a hamstring injury and needed a furious finish down the stretch after the bye week to hit 1,000 yards. In fact, he had the most receiving yards in the NFL from Week 12 on, which was 669 yards, including a pair of 100-yard receiving games at Carolina and Los Angeles – all while helping Tampa Bay finish 6-1. That makes Evans an easy selection for Most Inspirational Player in 2024.
Most Overrated Player: SS Jordan Whitehead
Bringing back strong safety Jordan Whitehead was heralded as the Bucs’ greatest move in free agency outside of re-signing the team’s own free agent stars. Tampa Bay was unable to keep all of its free agents in 2022, the year after finishing with a franchise-record 13 wins. Whitehead was one of the few that the Bucs just didn’t have the salary cap room for and he signed with the New York Jets instead.
Chiefs TE Travis Kelce and Bucs SS Jordan Whitehead – Photo by: USA Today
Whitehead was a starter on Tampa Bay’s Super Bowl defense and had carved out a role as a tough run defender in the box and a solid underneath coverage safety. He rotated with Mike Edwards, who primarily played on obvious passing downs and third-and-long situations due to his better coverage ability. But Whitehead seemed to improve in coverage while playing in the Jets’ Quarters defensive scheme, and had a career-high four interceptions in 2023.
But when he suited up for the Bucs again, Whitehead had a terrible season outside of the first two games of the season and maybe the San Francisco game. He failed to create any takeaways, looked lost in coverage at times and missed some tackles. Whitehead had the second-worst year of his career, according to Pro Football Focus, who gave him a 58 overall grade and a 53.5 coverage grade. He missed four games with a pectoral injury and then the final two games due to a car accident.
The Bucs need to look at finding an upgrade over Whitehead in case he can’t return to form in his contract year. He was easily the Most Overrated Player in Tampa Bay this season.
John Lynch Gentleman’s Award (Best Interview): CB Zyon McCollum
Several Bucs players were very accommodating with their time when it came to the media in 2024. Tampa Bay has a very media-friendly locker room and there were plenty of candidates to choose from for Pewter Report’s John Lynch Gentleman’s Award, which annually goes to the best interview. Wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin were in the running, as was left tackle Tristan Wirfs.
Bucs CB Zyon McCollum – Photo by: USA Today
But cornerback Zyon McCollum, who also won the PFWA Mark Cook “Good Guy” Award that the media voted on, deserves this recognition. McCollum was always friendly and willing to speak to the Pewter Report staff and the local media whether it was after a win or a loss, and whether it was during the week or after the game.
McCollum didn’t pull any punches with his words in interviews, either. He told the truth in a very respectful way, but was very poignant in his remarks to the media. For his candid approach and his honesty, McCollum is very deserving of this honor because Lynch was the same way with the media back in his days as Tampa Bay Buccaneer. We’re looking forward to McCollum’s ascension on Tampa Bay’s defense as he has the charisma and leadership ability to one day possibly become a team captain – perhaps replacing Lavonte David one day.
Best Play of the Year: Baker Mayfield To Jalen McMillian TD In Week 18
There were plenty of fantastic plays to choose from in Tampa Bay’s 10-7 season in 2024. There were a handful of electrifying runs from rookie Bucky Irving. There was Mike Evans’ 57-yard catch-and-run at Los Angeles and his record-breaking 9-yard catch to reach 1,000 yards in the season finale against New Orleans. And who could forget Antoine Winfield Jr.’s scoop-and-score touchdown at New Orleans in his first game back from injury?
But out of all of those plays, perhaps the best – and most meaningful – was the 32-yard touchdown pass that Baker Mayfield threw to rookie receiver Jalen McMillan in the fourth quarter of the 26-19 win over the Saints in Week 18. That touchdown gave Tampa Bay a lead it would never relinquish and helped the team capture its fourth straight NFC South championship. Mayfield scrambled to his right and threw a laser to McMillan, who toe-tapped in the end zone to record the eighth touchdown catch of his rookie campaign.
Bucs’ Record Next Year: 11-6
Bucs HC Todd Bowles and OC Liam Coen – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
This is always a difficult projection to make each year so early into the offseason. But Tampa Bay has stair-stepped its way from eight wins in 2022 to nine wins in 2023 to 10 wins last year. With an easier schedule due to just five playoff opponents in 2025, why not go with an 11-6 record, which would be a one-game improvement over 2024?
It appears as if Todd Bowles will return to Tampa Bay as head coach and Liam Coen will back as offensive coordinator barring a team hiring him as a head coach, and Coen has only interviewed with Jacksonville. With that continuity and some improvements coming to the defense by way of free agency and the NFL Draft, it stands to reason that the Bucs could continue to improve their regular season record in 2025.
But can Tampa Bay level up when it matters most, which is in the playoffs? Bowles has a 1-3 record in the postseason, including a pair of home playoff losses in the Wild Card round in 2022 and 2024. That will be worth watching in 2025.
