Bucs Prediction Causes Confusion Regarding 2025 Outlook

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it appears, continue to be a source of confusion for the NFL landscape when trying to assess what Todd Bowles' team could be in 2025.

After the first part of free agency has come and gone, the Buccaneers re-signed Chris Godwin, Ben Bredeson, and Lavonte David and brought in Haason Reddick to give Tampa Bay some much-needed pass rush juice.

The offense with Godwin now looms to be at least as good as last season, but what Josh Grizzard does with the group remains a mystery. Defensively, Reddick should help, plus with many media outlets having the Bucs taking Jihaad Campbell in mock drafts, more help could be on the way.

But as far as what the Buccaneers could be in 2025, NFL.com's Eric Edholm had Tampa Bay as the fourth-best NFC team in his power rankings, but yet CBS Sports has Bowles' side as the 10th-best in the conference, below the Chicago Bears, the rebuilding San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks.

"The best team in the NFC South is still the best team in the NFC South," CBS Sports writes. "The Buccaneers didn't improve, but kept key players like Chris Godwin, Lavonte David and Ben Bredeson. Tampa Bay will end up getting a home playoff game and will be a tough out for any team. This team is better than its ranking, but are the Buccaneers a Super Bowl contender? They'll have to make a playoff run in 2025 for that to happen, but there's plenty to like about this team in this division."