The Buccaneers interviewed one of their own assistant coaches for a potential promotion on Wednesday.
Pass game coordinator Josh Grizzard interviewed for the offensive coordinator vacancy that was created when Liam Coen left to become the head coach in Jacksonville. Grizzard is the first internal candidate to interview for the position.
The 2024 season was Grizzard’s first in Tampa. He spent the previous seven seasons with the Dolphins as a quality control coach and wide receivers coach.
The Bucs have also interviewed Rams quarterbacks coach Dave Ragone, Rams offensive assistant/pass game specialist Nate Scheelhaase, Rams tight ends coach/pass game coordinator Nick Caley, Chargers pass game coordinator Marcus Brady, and Vikings assistant offensive coordinator/assistant quarterbacks coach Grant Udinski.
Buccaneers quarterbacks coach Thad Lewis has interviewed for the Texans’ offensive coordinator job, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports.
Lewis received several requests for offensive coordinator interviews but declined the others, per Rapoport.
Lewis and DeMeco Ryans were teammates with the 2015 Eagles.
Lewis spent time with eight teams over eight seasons in his playing career as a quarterback. Immediately after retiring as a player, Lewis began coaching.
He spent two seasons at UCLA (2018-19) as an offensive analyst under Chip Kelly before interning with the Bucs in 2020.
Lewis was the assistant wide receivers coach in Tampa Bay in 2021-22 before a promotion to quarterbacks coach in 2023.
The Texans are seeking to replace Bobby Slowik, who was fired last week, and the presence of franchise quarterback C.J. Stroud makes the job an attractive one.
Jayden Daniels and the Commanders got the better of Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers in the playoffs and Daniels got the better of Mayfield in the initial Pro Bowl voting, but Mayfield will be in Orlando for this week’s skills competitions and other festivities.
Mayfield has been named to the team as a replacement for Daniels, who pulled out after last Sunday’s loss to the Eagles in the NFC Championship Game. It’s the second straight year that Mayfield has been selected for the NFC roster.
Mayfield set career highs with by passing for 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns while completing 71.5 percent of his passes. Mayfield also set career highs in those three categories in 2023, so playing in Tampa definitely seems to agree with him.
Jared Goff of the Lions and Sam Darnold of the Vikings are the other quarterbacks set to represent the NFC.
As the late, great Michael Corleone once said, “It’s not personal. It’s strictly business.” While some with the Bucs might have taken last week’s ghosting from Liam Coen personally, Coen views it differently.
“At the end of the day, it came down to business,” Coen told Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times regarding Coen’s clandestine exit. “It did. It came down to family and business and a dream that was right in front of you. Not maybe down the road. How do you say no to that? . . .
“It started to become more clear with every hour that this was an opportunity that you just can’t pass up, for so many different reasons. And you ultimately wanna do truly what’s best for you and your family. And that’s what this came down to.”
Coen claimed to feel no extra pressure to stay put from the unenforceable side deal that he wouldn’t interview for the job in Jacksonville after getting a contract that would have made him the highest-paid offensive coordinator in the NFL.
“No, not really,” he said. “None at all.”
Still, he secretly left Tampa for Jacksonville last week, after verbally agreeing to the contract to stay with the Buccaneers. If his secret exit wasn’t prompted by concerns that the Bucs wouldn’t react well to a perceived reneging on the handshake understanding, then maybe it traces to the Jaguars’ effort to satisfy the Rooney Rule by interviewing Patrick Graham in person before it became publicly known that Coen was the guy.
Previously, Coen withdrew his name from consideration from the supposed dream come true in Duval. After the Jaguars parted ways with G.M. Trent Baalke, everything changes. During Coen’s introductory press conference, he was asked whether the departure of Baalke changed Coen’s mind.
“This was completely about an opportunity to work for an owner and a group of people with a group of players that needed some help,” Coen said. “And that’s what coaching is, right? That’s what coaching is all about is trying to go help people and be around people. So no that was not — that was not the factor.”
It might not have been “the” factor. Not when he’s making (we’ve heard) $12 million a year to become a first-time NFL head coach. But the basic timeline suggests that it was “a” factor.
Regardless, what’s done is done. And not much was said yesterday about the specifics. As owner Shad Khan said during the press conference, “He’s our guy and we got him. Simple as that.”
It hardly seemed simple as it was happening. The simple fact is that, with the Jaguars intent on moving forward, the complications no longer matter.
The Buccaneers announced that they completed an interview with Dave Ragone for their offensive coordinator job on Tuesday.
Ragone spent the 2024 season as the quarterbacks coach for the Rams. He was the offensive coordinator for the Falcons for three seasons before joining Sean McVay’s staff and he’s also worked for Chicagon, Washington, and Tennessee since starting his NFL coaching career in 2011.
Liam Coen left to become the Jaguars’ head coach late last week, which leaves the Bucs looking for their fourth offensive coordinator in the last four years.
Coen once worked for the Rams and Ragone is the third Rams assistant to interview with Tampa since his departure. Offensive assistant/pass game specialist Nate Scheelhaase and tight ends coach/pass game coordinator Nick Caley met with the team on Monday. The Buccaneers have also interviewed Chargers pass game coordinator Marcus Brady and Vikings assistant offensive coordinator/assistant quarterbacks coach Grant Udinski.
