Buccaneers GM Confident in Leadership of Mayfield, Veterans
· Yahoo Sports
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in the process as a team of replacing two of their best players ever, and general manager Jason Licht understands the challenges ahead.
When Mike Evans signed a three-year, $60 million deal with theSan Francisco 49ers last month, the Bucs lost their all-time leading receiver.
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When Lavonte David announced his retirement two weeks later, the Bucs lost their most productive linebacker outside of Hall of Famer Derrick Brooks.
The 2026 season will be Tampa’s first without Evans since 2014 and first without David since 2011. But Licht is confident Tampa has the leaders it needs to move forward.
Licht told a team reporter with the Bucs' official website Wednesday that he feels good about the players Tampa Bay has coming back, with quarterback Baker Mayfield leading the way.
“We have got Tykee (Smith), Calijah (Kancey), the entire offensive line, Bucky (Irving),” Licht said.
There’s another player Licht named-checked as essential to the team going forward: Vita Vea.
Vea is entering his ninth season with Tampa Bay, and Lichit said the 6-foot-4, 347-pound defensive tackle is a leader "in his own way."
Licht then mentioned three of Tampa’s offseason signings, one for each phase of the game: linebacker Alex Anzalone, running back Kenneth Gainwell and defensive back/special teams All-Pro Miles Killebrew.
Anzalone came over after five seasons with the Detroit Lions. Gainwell signed with the Bucs after a team-MVP campaign with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Killebrew, also from the Steelers, is re-uniting with Danny Smith, who was Pittsburgh’s special teams coordinator for 13 seasons before coming over to Tampa for the same position.
“I think all of those guys have been really good leaders so that will help supplement what we have,” Licht said.
For the Bucs to reclaim primacy in the NFC South, Mayfield must be the leader Licht feels he is.
Mayfield was one of the best quarterbacks in the league for the first half of 2025, throwing 16 touchdowns to just two interceptions through the first nine games, after which the Bucs had a 6-3 record.
In the final eight games of the season, Mayfield had 13 touchdowns and nine interceptions, and the Bucs went 2-7 to finish 8-9 and concede the division to the Carolina Panthers, who also went 8-9, but went to the playoffs due to a tiebreaker.
As David pointed out on a recent podcast appearance, Mayfield was playing with a variety of injuries throughout the season, some of which were not widely known.
If Mayfield plays like he did in the first half of 2025 and carries that over for a full season, it’s hard to argue that the Bucs are the team to beat in their division.
Tampa has owned the NFC South throughout the 2020s, winning it every year from 2020 to 2024. Evans and David were a big part of that success, and each of them is a likely a lock to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Evans, 32, can build on his case in San Francisco. For David, the clock has already started, and it’s just a matter of how many voters feel he’s Hall of Fame worthy.
In any case, the Bucs will need leadership to get back to where they were, and it will be more challenging to find it without Evans and David.
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