Pewter Report’s PR Roundtablepresented by PrizePicks
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A brand new Pewter Report Roundtable debuts each Tuesday on PewterReport.com. Every week, the Pewter Reporters sort out one other robust Bucs query. Who’s the Bucs participant you need to see succeed essentially the most?
Scott Reynolds: I Need To See Yaya Diaby Get To Double-Digit Sacks
Yaya Diaby doesn’t get the credit score he deserves as a move rusher and I wish to see the Bucs outdoors linebacker take the following step and get double-digit sacks this season. Diaby has led Tampa Bay in sacks in 2023 as a rookie with 7.5 and once more final yr with seven, whereas being a high 10 edge rusher during the last two years with 132 pressures.
Does he want extra move speeding strikes outdoors of the lengthy arm and bull rush? Sure. However the 6-foot-3, 270-pound Diaby is an extremely laborious employee and has been engaged on growing his flexibility and his potential to bend across the nook over the previous yr and I feel he’s working in direction of that.
Bucs OLB Yaya Diaby – Picture by: Cliff Welch/PR
With Calijah Kancey returning to well being on the inside and the addition of first-round decide Rueben Bain Jr., Diaby gained’t be speeding the passer by himself, as he usually felt like he was final yr. Bain is an athletic pass-rushing dynamo that might give the Buccaneers a bookend move rush duo when paired with Diaby, who’s getting into a contract yr.
I bear in mind rising up in Kansas Metropolis and watching the Chiefs’ bookend move rushers Derrick Thomas and Neil Smith. Whereas Thomas, who turned a Professional Soccer Corridor of Famer, was the higher edge rusher and often led the staff in sacks, that wasn’t the case for 3 seasons from 1993-95. Attributable to the entire consideration that Thomas garnered, Smith registered 14.5, 15 and 11.5 sacks in these three seasons whereas Thomas produced eight, 11 and eight sacks. Each outdoors linebackers have been Professional Bowlers in every of these three years.
I might see Bain getting round seven sacks this yr as a rookie however inflicting a lot havoc and creating a lot stress that he forces the quarterback into Diaby’s clutches three or 4 occasions this yr for clean-up sacks. We already know that Diaby is able to getting seven sacks on his personal in one-on-one move rush conditions. Having Bain’s assist reverse him will enable Diaby to turn out to be Tampa Bay’s model of Neil Smith, who didn’t report double-digits sacks in Kansas Metropolis till his fifth season at age 26.
Diaby simply turned 27 and is getting into his fourth yr in pink and pewter. So there’s a similarity there. Now can be the right time for Diaby get 10 sacks or extra and fully change the narrative round “Sub Zero” with Bucs followers. It’s straightforward to root for Diaby, who is a superb man, a implausible interview and easily desires to be nice and assist the staff obtain greatness on the identical time.
Matt Matera: Baker Mayfield Can Have His Greatest Yr But With The Bucs
The NFL is commonly decided by how good a staff’s quarterback is, so why wouldn’t I select Baker Mayfield for the participant I need to see succeed essentially the most? If Baker Mayfield performs at a excessive degree, the Bucs are returning to the postseason – and perhaps even contending for a title. Keep in mind the 2024 season Mayfield had underneath offensive coordinator Liam Coen? Keep in mind when he was within the MVP dialog early in 2025? When Mayfield is on, he’s electrical. So hopefully he can do this for all the 2026 season.
Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Picture by: USA Right now
Mayfield may have each alternative to have a profession yr. He’s reuniting with offensive coordinator Zac Robinson, whom he labored with in Los Angeles again in 2022. The offensive line is wholesome. And regardless of shedding Mike Evans, the Bucs nonetheless have an ideal large receiver room headlined by Chris Godwin Jr., Emeka Egbuka, Jalen McMillan and Ted Hurst that provides Mayfield loads of weapons to work with.
The secret is Robinson incorporating the suitable scheme and calling the suitable performs for Mayfield. Tampa Bay’s quarterback must be in rhythm, getting out of the pocket and making throws that finest match his skillset. Robinson can undoubtedly get it out of Mayfield, who’s getting into an enormous contract yr, it’s only a matter of the offense executing correctly. An excellent season by Mayfield will guarantee him an enormous payday within the type of a multi-year extension and ship Tampa Bay again to the postseason because the doubtless NFC South champions as soon as once more.
Adam Slivon: Zyon McCollum Taking The Subsequent Step Would Be Large
The Bucs had excessive hopes for Zyon McCollum final season after signing him to a three-year, $48 million deal. That contract was an announcement that McCollum was the long-term high cornerback on the roster, signaling an finish to Jamel Dean’s time in Tampa Bay. For as a lot promise that the 2022 fifth-round decide flashed earlier than, 2025 didn’t go the best way he nor the staff wished. He struggled with lapses in protection, particularly in opposition to high large receivers. Whereas McCollum has repeatedly said a need to be a ballhawk, that has failed to return to move with simply three interceptions in 4 seasons.
Bucs CB Zyon McCollum – Picture by: IMAGN Pictures
In the case of gamers I need to see achieve 2026, McCollum is on the high of my listing. Cornerback stays one of the up within the air positions on the Bucs, with Dean’s departure opening the door for Benjamin Morrison and Jacob Parrish to be starters. Nonetheless, the very best model of McCollum is somebody who can actually unlock Tampa Bay’s protection.
He has at all times flashed the potential to be a shutdown nook, given his top and elite athleticism. Changing the intangibles into manufacturing would make for an thrilling watch and permit Todd Bowles to breathe a sigh of reduction. The staff might be dealing with loads of elite large receivers all year long and should sluggish them all the way down to have an opportunity at staying in video games.
McCollum has the chance to turn out to be extra of a frontrunner within the Bucs secondary this season. With the protection needing higher play throughout the board, sure gamers must step up and show they could be a a part of issues for the lengthy haul. Solely 27 years outdated, there’s a likelihood he can maintain the highest cornerback spot down for the remainder of decade.
McCollum is straightforward to root for and has at all times been gracious together with his time throughout interviews and showing on the Pewter Report Podcast each offseason. Now it’s his time to guide the room and put all of it collectively.
Bailey Adams: It’s Simple To Need Success For Chris Godwin Jr.
One byproduct of the best way the Bucs have gone about constructing their groups in recent times is that yr in and yr out, the roster is stuffed with guys who’re straightforward to root for. It’s full of fellows you need to see succeed. However in 2026, I’m undecided there’s a single one I need to see succeed greater than Chris Godwin Jr.
On the one hand, how cool would it not be for Godwin — who has, at finest, been the 1B to Mike Evans’ 1A his complete profession and extra ceaselessly been the Bucs’ No. 2 receiver — to step up and have an enormous season now that the large receiver room is totally his? Certain, he and Evans led the room collectively for almost a decade, however that is now Godwin’s group.
For that cause alone, I’d like to see him succeed not solely as a frontrunner — which is an absolute given contemplating his character and monitor report as a veteran voice in that room — but in addition as a participant. Everybody is able to hand the WR1 keys over to Emeka Egbuka or Jalen McMillan, and that’s as a result of they’re younger and proficient. However in spite of everything this time, it’s laborious to not need Godwin to get a season through which he’s *that* man for Tampa Bay.
Bucs WR Chris Godwin Jr. – Picture by: USA Right now
Godwin has been near being that man earlier than, even with Evans on the town. However two main accidents have lower him down on the most devastating occasions. And that’s the opposite cause I’d like to see him achieve 2026. He made it again to the highest in 2023 and the primary a part of 2024 after that season-ending knee damage in 2021. Now, I need to see him get again to the highest after that ankle damage that ended his 2024 season.
Godwin was enjoying a number of the finest soccer of his profession to start out 2024, however that season was cruelly lower brief. Wouldn’t it simply be good to see No. 14 have a particular yr this yr in spite of everything he’s been by? For the truth that that is lastly his room alone, for the chief he’s, for his loyalty to the Bucs and for what he means to the group, I’d simply like to see an enormous yr out of Chris Godwin Jr. and have him get again to being a 1,000-yard producer.
As a result of who wouldn’t?
Josh Queipo: I’d Like To See Cody Mauch Bounce Again From Harm
Proper guard Cody Mauch was on a formidable trajectory earlier than a knee damage robbed him of virtually his complete 2025 season. He had a reliable case to be a Professional Bowler in 2024 as a part of top-of-the-line offensive traces within the NFL that season. I do know there was speak of Jason Licht not drafting a Professional Bowler since 2020, however I really imagine that had Mauch been wholesome, that declare would have gone away final yr.
Bucs RG Cody Mauch – Picture by: Cliff Welch/PR
His was not the primary, however maybe crucial domino to fall in a season to overlook for the Bucs offense. All-Professional left sort out Tristan Wirfs was nonetheless rehabbing from offseason surgical procedure when Mauch went down final yr. It pressured Tampa Bay to go to show to their fourth, fifth and ultimately sixth choices at guard (Mike Jordan, Luke Haggard, Elijah Klein and Dan Feeney).
The dropoff in play led to extra stress, each actually and figuratively, for quarterback Baker Mayfield. Mayfield misplaced some belief within the line which led to some unhealthy choices. Every thing turned harder.
Rehab might be an isolating expertise. You don’t get to be together with your teammates a lot. It’s simply you, your coach and oftentimes numerous unfavorable ideas. Pushing by the psychological ache along with the bodily ache might be much more troublesome than enjoying a bodily demanding sport on the highest degree.
I’d love nothing greater than to see Mauch return from his damage and decide up the place he left off as one of many extra promising younger guards within the NFL. Particularly with this being a contract yr for the fun-loving move protector.
