Report: Tampa Bay Buccaneers extended head coach Todd Bowles, GM Jason Licht

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have reportedly locked in their future. The franchise has, reportedly, come to an agreement on contract extensions with head coach Todd Bowles and general manager Jason Licht.

Over the last three seasons, the pairing of Bowles and Licht has led to three straight division titles. That includes a trip to the divisional round in the 2023 season under Bowles.

The Buccaneers brought in Bowles to lead the team ahead of the 2022 season. In the three seasons since then, he’s won the division three straight times, including with a losing record in 2022. Overall, Tampa Bay has a 27-24 record under Bowles. They’re also 1-3 in playoff games.

Prior to coming to Tampa Bay, Bowles had been the head coach of the New York Jets. There, he had a 24-40 record and failed to make it to the postseason. That’s despite a 10-win season in his first year with the team. After that tenure ended, he would become the defensive coordinator for the Buccaneers under then-head coach Bruce Arians.

Bowles took over for Bruce Arians. Under Arians, the Buccaneers had won a Super Bowl in the final years of legendary quarterback Tom Brady’s career. Brady would still be in tow for that 2022 season, but retired going into 2023. He’d then be replaced by former first overall pick Baker Mayfield, who has seemingly revived his career in Tampa Bay.

Much of Tampa Bay’s recent success is a credit to Licht. He’s been in that role since 2014 and gets credit for both bringing in Tom Brady and Baker Mayfield, as well as putting the rosters on the field around them to consistently be competitive in the NFC.

When the Buccaneers brought in Licht, the franchise was looking at a major rebuild. It wouldn’t be until 2016 that they had a winning season under Licht, and that would be their only winning season in the first six seasons of his tenure before bringing in Brady. That was also with two different coaches before bringing in Arians.

The pairing of Bowles and Licht has set a high bar in Tampa Bay. Now, they’re going to be tasked with finding a way to not just maintain that level of success but take another step forward and find some more success in the post-Brady era once the postseason rolls around.

First, the Buccaneers will need to compete in what should be an improving NFC South. They’ll start their 2025 season on September 7th with a road test against the Atlanta Falcons, one of those divisional rivals.