The Tampa Bay Buccaneers pass rush is a hot topic heading into 2026, and rightfully so.

General manager Jason Licht and coach Todd Bowles did an excellent job of stocking the group to where the outside linebackers/edge rushers is the deepest group either of them have ever had. That also doesn’t include a stocked defensive line that is currently seven deep with about five or six legitimate options the Buccaneers can rotate in and out throughout games.

So what does this all mean for Tampa Bay’s pass rush heading into 2026?

It has a chance to be the best pass rush we’ve seen in terms of pure rush without blitzing, and Bowles is actually hoping the four-man pass rush can step up and allow him to dial back the blitz-heavy approach we’re used to seeing.

“It can definitely change, and hopefully it can and it will change,” Bowles said when asked just how much blitzing is in his DNA compared to him being forced to blitz rather than just send four guys. “You know, if we can get there before, that allows us to do a lot of things coverage-wise. You have it in your back pocket if you need it, but hopefully if the four guys are humming, I don’t need it.”

The Super Bowl blueprint proves it can work

The question stemmed from the Buccaneers’ Super Bowl win over the Kansas City Chiefs back in 2020, when Tampa Bay hardly blitzed at all.

The four-man pass rush was absolutely on fire that night. Say what you want about Kansas City’s offensive line composition at the time, with backups filling in for injured starters, but it doesn’t matter. The Buccaneers’ pass rush got it done, and it got it done so effectively by only sending four guys.

That approach allowed Bowles to mix up coverages in the back end to where quarterback Patrick Mahomes couldn’t make any plays through the air. The stats back it up, too.

Per Sports Info Solutions, when the Buccaneers sent four or fewer rushers, they sacked Mahomes three times, and 24 of the 25 overall pressures from the game came from a 4-man or fewer pass rush. That group also recorded an astounding 45.3% pressure rate on Mahomes all night long.

That’s almost half of his dropbacks being under pressure, which is just insane to think about. And that’s why the Buccaneers won 31-9.

Simulated pressures add another layer

When looking at the current roster makeup, it’s clear the Bucs have the pieces to replicate that kind of dominance. Imagine Tampa Bay in a third-and-long situation, lining up in their nickel package with their typical 2-4-5 formation. They’ve got Vita Vea, Calijah Kancey, and then potentially Rueben Bain Jr. and YaYa Diaby or Al-Quadin Muhammad lurking on the edges. Anthony Nelson, David Walker, Alex Anzalone, and Josiah Trotter also round out a group that gives Bowles plenty of options.

The Buccaneers can send four guys and get home, but they can also deploy different kinds of simulated pressures, which make it look like the defense is about to blitz before pulling back at the last second. Bowles alluded to that tactic when expounding on the Super Bowl game plan.

“You look at the first quarter, we showed about 3 or 4 blitzes,” said Bowles, “and they were kind of from a different angle where you couldn’t tell we were blitzing, but we showed it. And then once you show it, the threat of the blitz is more dangerous than the blitz itself. So I mean, the Super Bowl game was a while ago, but those guys started humming up front and I didn’t have to [blitz].”

That tells me something significant about how Bowles wants this defense to operate. It makes sense, too. His life gets a whole lot easier when the meat of the pass rush comes from a standard four-man front. The coverage options open up, the secondary can play with more confidence, and opposing quarterbacks are left guessing whether pressure is real or manufactured.

The Buccaneers have been on a quest for a dependable four-man pass rush for as long as Bowles has been in Tampa Bay. If they can make that happen with the talent Licht assembled this offseason, it means big things for the defense in 2026.