The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won the first preseason matchup against the New York Jets, 24-16, thanks to some solid performances on both sides of the ball.

Sure, it’s just the first preseason game. However, there are plenty of guys who’s future becomes clearer or more vague with each snap. How they play in these games weighs heavily in the Buccaneers’ final roster decisions.

So, with that being said, let’s go ahead and break down the winners and losers from the Buccaneers’ win over the Jets.

Winners and losers from the Buccaneers’ win over the Jets

Winners

QB Jalon Daniels
This is a two-for-one, and it’s not particularly close. Buccaneers QB Jalon Daniels easily won the night and outperformed Connor against the Jets. The proof is in the pudding.

Bazelak played an entire half of football and the Buccaneers offense in that span mustered just 85 yards and three points. Daniels? On his first drive alone, the offense racked up 90 yards (80 net, if you subtract the Paul Rubelt offensive holding penalty) and a touchdown. The offense looked completely different with Daniels at the helm.

There are questions about offensive coordinator Zac Robinson’s play calling in the first half, and that context matters. Bazelak also had to face the Jets’ starters for a drive or two while the Buccaneers played backups for most of the night. Still, the fact remains that players made more plays when Daniels was in the game. Sometimes there’s just an aura about certain guys where their teammates up their game.

On the film side, Daniels had better ball placement by a mile and looked far more comfortable in the pocket. Bazelak finished 12 of 20 for 72 yards. That is less than four yards per attempt. It reminds me of Kyle Trask, who looked solid on the surface because he was making nothing but easy throws, yet the Bucs rarely scored points. Bazleak’s longest completion was 19 yards to Dennis Houston. That doesn’t get it done.

Daniels, on the other hand, finished the night completing 10-of-15 passes for 111 yards and he added three rushes for nine yards, and a touchdown. The offense actually got into the end zone with him running the show.

At this point, Tampa Bay needs to bump Daniels up to QB3. I don’t care if it’s just one preseason game.  And if Jake Browning can’t get over his back injury and return to the field, one has to wonder if Daniels can climb to QB2. He’s currently playing the best out of all Buccaneers QBs not named Baker Mayfield.

CB Ayden Garnes

The defensive side of the ball produced a stretch of plays early in the game that set the stage for the night. It starts with Ayden Garnes, the undrafted free agent rookie out of Arizona. For the night, he had three tackles, a pick-6, a tackle for loss, and a pass breakup. His pick-6 was exemplary of everything reports out of training camp have said about him.

I’ll be honest: Garnes wasn’t anywhere near my radar when the Bucs signed him this offseason. It’s a testament to the undrafted free agents this organization has been able to find who haven’t just filled gaps as depth players, but have shown they can carry their respective positions when it matters most. Sean Tucker, Christian Izien, among others. With the questions surrounding the Buccaneers’ cornerback depth, that’s exactly what you want to see.

Training camp can lie to us. We’ve seen big things happen in camp that fall off by the second or third week of the regular season. Either way, Garnes was sticky in coverage tonight, made plays, and made sound tackles.

DL Elijah Roberts and CB Rashad Wisdom

Here’s where it gets even better. Garnes’ pick-6 came on third down. Once Tampa Bay got the ball back, Elijah Roberts recorded a sack on first down, forcing a second-and-19 that led to Rashad Wisdom’s interception. Roberts later added a tackle for loss that forced a third-and-9 and a punt. That is complementary football at its finest. Big plays matter, but big plays in succession on key downs put your team in the best position to win games.

These are depth guys doing this against the same caliber of players they’d face for roster spots. Wisdom finished with four tackles, an interception, and a pass breakup. Roberts had two tackles, a sack, a quarterback hit, and two tackles for loss. That is great for the Buccaneers defense.

CB Damarion “Pepe” Williams

Williams led the team with 12 total tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss, and a pass breakup. He was all over the place. The most impressive thing about his performance was his tackling. Sure, the No. 1 thing you want from corners is ball skills. But the second-best thing is the willingness to step up in the run game. We’ve seen so many corners over the years who are sticky in coverage but flatten like a pancake when a team runs their way.

Williams brought none of that. Just about anytime he got his hands on somebody, he brought them down. He fired into the box and delivered key hits, including a stop on a Kene Nwangwu five-yard run on first down.

Depth chart math can get tough, but Williams is making a strong case for the Buccaneers to carry seven corners on the 53-man roster. Tampa Bay typically doesn’t carry more than six, but with Zyon McCollum hurt and missing both Jets joint practices, Benjamin Morrison dealing with recurring hamstring issues, and Jacob Parrish, Keionte Scott, and Josh Hayes rounding out the top five, the idea of keeping both Garnes and Williams isn’t crazy.

EDGE Jack Pyburn

The edge rusher posted two sacks, two quarterback hits, and two tackles for loss. Pyburn took advantage of his opportunity, and in a deep edge room, that matters. The Buccaneers’ pass rush has to improve in 2026 if they want to get back on top of the NFC South, and this was a good step forward right off the bat.

---

Losers

Riley Dixon

It’s unfathomable that Riley Dixon doesn’t have real competition right now. He knuckleballed a punt tonight. Even his 57-yarder was returned for 13 yards, netting only 44 yards. He also had a punt land inside the 10 and bounce all the way out to the 20. The guy is way too inconsistent. His cap hit this year is fully cuttable with nothing guaranteed, which makes the lack of competition even more curious.

I don’t know why Aidan Laros was cut. He had a skill set that would have been far more valuable as a challenger than B.T. Potter, who is just a camp leg. We know Chase McLaughlin is going to be the placekicker for this team in 2026 unless something wild happens. Dixon did not play well tonight, and the Bucs need to bring in some kind of competition.

Chris Braswell

Braswell played close to an entire half of football and did not show up on the stat sheet. Not half a tackle, not half a sack, no pass breakup, no tackle for loss. Nothing. It’s like he didn’t step on the field.

I saw plenty of times where he was getting pushed out of plays. I saw plenty of times where he over-pursued in the pass rush. There were a couple of plays where he looked like he was on track and about to make something happen, but it still didn’t materialize. If Braswell continues these kinds of performances, no matter how he’s viewed as a special teams contributor, he’s not going to make this roster at the end of the month.

Paul Rubelt

The massive 6-foot-10 tackle out of Germany had a couple of bad penalties. One was the holding call that added 10 yards to the Daniels drive, and then he got flagged for a false start on third-and-7 when the Bucs were backed up inside their own 5.

That entire drive can almost be tossed out the window because being backed up inside your own 5 is a tough situation, regardless. But the false start came on a third down, and it’s a pre-snap penalty the player has complete control over. False starts, illegal shifts, illegal motions: those show a lack of discipline, focus, and fundamentals. That simply can’t happen from a guy who is the fourth tackle on the depth chart, at best.

Overall, there’s plenty of encouraging takeaways from Friday night’s game and there’s still plenty of time to improve in the areas that weren’t as such. That all starts Monday when the Buccaneers return to practice.