The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

It’s report card time in the NFL, and to put it lightly, the Bucs won’t be hanging this one up on the fridge.

While the NFL did win a grievance filed against the NFL Players Association earlier this month that kept the NFLPA from releasing the report cards, which are based on an annual survey that grades organizations from A+ to F- on a variety of categories. But ESPN obtained the results of the 2026 report cards anyway, and Kalyn Kahler published them Thursday evening.

The survey was conducted from Nov. 2 of last year until Dec. 11, and any player who was on a roster during that time was eligible to participate. ESPN’s report included the fact that this year’s report cards were based on responses from 1,759 players across the league.

For the most part, this wasn’t a happy report card day for the Bucs. Their overall grade was a D, ranking 29th out of 32 teams.

Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly from this year’s grades for Tampa Bay.

The Good: Bucs’ Football Leadership Grades Out Well

All things considered, leadership on the football side of things for the Bucs graded out well in 2025. Granted, the survey period ended on Dec. 11, which happened to be the same day Tampa Bay blew a 14-point fourth-quarter lead to Atlanta on Thursday Night Football in an effort that included the Buccaneer defense allowing the Falcons to keep the game going despite facing a 3rd & 28 and 4th & 14.

So, who knows if these grades might’ve changed after that night and after the Bucs went on to lose the next week and the week after that to put themselves in a position where their Week 18 win over the Panthers ultimately meant nothing and instead served as a final gasp before the Panthers took over the NFC South crown.

All of that aside and now having established the caveat of when in the Bucs’ season the survey was conducted, Tampa Bay’s football leadership earned favorable marks. The organization didn’t get an A+ in any category, but general manager Jason Licht did earn an A- grade.

Tampa Bay also received an A- in the defensive coordinator category, though there are going to be narratives that have more legs considering the team also received a B grade for head coach. Todd Bowles the defensive coordinator, against the beliefs of many, still grades out well.

Todd Bowles the head coach, though, isn’t quite up to that level and is instead closer to the bottom of the rankings as far as head coach grades go. Only Matt LaFleur, Brian Callahan/Mike McCoy, Pete Carroll, Jim Harbaugh, Brian Daboll/Mike Kafka and Kevin Stefanski earned lower grades. Of that group, only LaFleur and Harbaugh kept their jobs, though Stefanski (whose C- was the worst grade of any head coach) also managed to find another head coaching job after being fired from his previous position.

Elsewhere in terms of leadership on the football side, the Bucs earned B grades for both the offensive coordinator and position coaches categories. The cruel irony in that, of course, is that offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard was fired at the end of the season despite that grade. Plenty of position coaches were fired or “nudged” toward retirement, too, including quarterbacks coach Thad Lewis, defensive line coach Charlie Strong, cornerbacks coach Kevin Ross and safeties coach Nick Rapone.

Bucs OC Josh Grizzard – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Another tricky one on this report card was the solid A grade in the strength coaches category. That was the highest grade of any that the Bucs got, but it’s interesting that Tampa Bay moved on from its head strength coach, Anthony Piroli, earlier this month. He certainly had to be part of that A grade, right? At the same time, Chad Wade, who has been a longtime assistant, was promoted to the top role while Cory Bichey is another longtime assistant who is still around. So, those taking over the mantle from Piroli are well thought of by the team’s players.

And rounding out the positives from the report card, Bucs players are plenty happy with the team’s weight room, as they gave it an A-.

The Bad: Middling Grades For Bucs’ Training And Special Teams Staffs

Elsewhere on the report card, Tampa Bay earned a B- in the nutritionist/dietician category, and that was it as far as A and B grades go.

In the “C” range, the Bucs had the trio of their special teams coordinator, their training room and their training staff.

Bucs ST Coordinator Thomas McGaughey – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Thomas McGaughey receiving a C+ is truly bizarre given the struggles that the Bucs had in that phase of the game with kick coverage, the kick return game and punt/kick blocks. Tampa Bay lost games because of poor special teams play and played in some games that were closer than they should’ve been due to special teams mistakes. McGaughey was fired after the season as a result, and how he earned a C+ and not something in the D or F range despite it all is a mystery.

The training staff also received a C+, while the training room was given a C. Without the player comment portion of the survey (a staple when the NFLPA released the grades but eliminated by the grievance decision), it’s hard to glean much out of those grades. The Bucs dealt with a rash of injuries in 2025, but there could be any number of reasons for that, and this grade doesn’t necessarily mean the players are placing blame on the training staff. Again, without the player comments, it’s something of a guessing game.

The Ugly: 2026 Grades Don’t Reflect Well On Bucs Ownership

The worst of the report card for the Bucs mostly came in the categories most directly associated with ownership. The Glazers won’t like how this reflects on them as owners, as Tampa Bay earned an F in team travel, a D- in locker room, a D in treatment of families and a D+ in food/dining area. The Glazers themselves, or “team ownership,” graded out with a D as well.

This year’s grades saw the Bucs take a step down in several of these categories. They went from a C- in team travel last year to an F this year. Their locker room went from a C to a D-, while treatment of families dipped from C- to D. The team’s food and dining area also went from a C- to a D+, and the Glazers as an ownership group dropped from a D+ to a D.

Bucs owners Bryan and Joel Glazer – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The worst grade of this year’s report card for the Bucs came in the “home game field” category, where the team got an F-. This really doesn’t come as much of a surprise, as the playing field at Raymond James Stadium takes quite a beating throughout the season, especially considering the fact that USF plays its home games on the same field. While the Bucs and Bulls aren’t playing on back-to-back days every weekend, it ultimately doesn’t matter.

It happens enough, and the fact that USF games and college bowl games (as well as some concerts) are taking place at Raymond James Stadium may help the Bucs and the Glazers financially, but it impacts the field to a significant degree that players clearly hate.

If there’s a glimmer of hope, it’s that the Bucs and Bulls won’t be sharing a stadium forever, as USF is set to open an on-campus stadium of its own for the 2027 season. So, 2026 should be the final year that the field is put through this level of wear and tear throughout the season. Still, though, the stadium won’t stop playing host to big concerts and bowl games, so chances are that the playing field grade can only get so high.