The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 1-5, and Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles is now firmly on the hot seat.

On the latest episode of 13 Personnel, I joined co-hosts Austin Stanley and Easton Freeze to talk through the next NFL firings, and Bowles was my pick. The longer this goes, the harder it is to see him finishing the season.

The record alone is damning. On top of that, the NFC South is not a good division. I don’t know if there’s a single team in it I would call good, whether it’s the Panthers, the Saints, or the Bucs. Tampa Bay should be competing for that division, not sitting at the bottom of it.

A rough offseason set the tone in Tampa Bay

From what I’ve gathered, there was a lot of negativity inside the building before the 2026 NFL draft about the trajectory of the team and what comes next. Things started to feel a little better once Rueben Bain Jr. fell to the Buccaneers. That good feeling didn’t last long.

Mike Evans, a longtime Buccaneer, left. If you ask me, his departure signaled that he no longer believed in where things were headed.

Then there was the Baker Mayfield contract situation. The energy around it was strange. Tampa Bay initially held off on giving him a new deal, then turned around and got it done out of nowhere. Now the Bucs are tied to Mayfield, and he’s hurt again. He also wasn’t playing all that well before the injury.

That’s not the only tension. There was a tumultuous stretch with Vita Vea before he eventually got extended. When you look at the core of what Buccaneers football has been, guys like Evans, Vea, and Mayfield, there was a lot more real chatter this offseason about people not being 100% happy.

Some of it was about contracts. Some of it was about wanting new pastures. That simply hasn’t been the case in Tampa in years past.

The quarterback spot and roster are in a tough place

With Mayfield sidelined, an undrafted rookie in Jalon Daniels is starting games at quarterback. He’s done an admirable job for what he is, but the backup spot is not in a good place.

Austin mentioned that he spoke with A to Z Sports’ Evan Winter, who covers the Bucs. Winter’s read is that Mayfield is most likely out this week against the Panthers, with a chance he returns Nov. 1 against the Falcons.

Beyond quarterback, Tampa Bay has a quickly aging roster and no pass rush. The coaching has also produced some baffling moments. Austin pointed to one sequence where the Buccaneers dropped more defensive linemen into coverage on the 2-yard line than they had defensive backs.

Coming off a losing season in 2025, this was a big year for Bowles and the entire staff. I don’t think there’s much belief in that locker room right now. If this continues, I wouldn’t be shocked if he doesn’t make it through the rest of the season.

Easton was blunt about it. He described Bowles’ reputation as a unique defensive mind as dated at this point, and he believes the front Bowles relies on has deteriorated.

“The writing’s been on the wall for a little bit now, and with the injury situation, the record situation, there, there’s just no justification for keeping him on any longer,” Freeze said.

Jason Licht deserves some criticism, too

General manager Jason Licht has been a very good GM, and Bowles is the fourth head coach Licht has worked with in Tampa. His relationship with the Glazers is strong, and none of us expect him to be shown the door.

Still, I think Licht needs some criticism for the first time in a long time. Getting leveraged into giving Mayfield more money than the team likely wanted, the Vea deal, the lack of a pass rush, and how things ended with Evans all fall on the front office to some degree. Bowles is easily the most to blame, but the roster decisions matter here.

Easton isn’t ready to go there yet. He sees one shaky team-building cycle against a long track record.

“He has built up so much goodwill for me over the past five or six years that I am willing to see what his vision is,” Freeze said.

There is also some young talent to work with. Austin called Bain underwhelming so far, but Easton believes the next coach will find a way to use him. That’s part of why the job could be appealing.

Criticism for Licht? Yes. A firing? No. For Bowles, the clock is ticking, and the next few weeks will tell us plenty about where the Buccaneers are headed.