Buccaneers have had a great offseason so far

Everything seemed to be coming together for the Buccaneers when they won at Arrowhead Stadium and upset the Seahawks in consecutive weeks last season.

Tampa Bay beat the Chiefs 19-17 in Week 11 and then the Seahawks at home 14-5 in Week 12. They improved to 6-5 with those wins and then won two more in a row to make it five straight and climb to 8-5.

Their playoff hopes unraveled, however, when they lost at Dallas in Week 15 and at New Orleans in Week 16. They ultimately settled for a 9-7 record.

It was the Bucs’ first winning season since 2010, and they’re showing this offseason that they want to pick up where they left off and get the missing pieces that can help them close the deal on a playoff berth.

DeSean Jackson is their marquee free agent addition. Mike Evans caught 96 passes, including 12 touchdowns, last season, but no one else caught more than 57 passes. Jackson caught 56 passes for 1,005 yards with the Redskins last season, leading the NFL with 17.9 yards per reception. With him on the field, opposing defenses won’t be able to throw a blanket on Evans and if Jameis Winston continues to develop they could form a scary offensive trio.

The signing of defensive lineman Chris Baker might not be as flashy as the Jackson signing, but he could be a steal at $15.75 million over three years. According to Pro Football Focus, Baker had a career-high 42 quarterback pressures last season and playing next to Gerald McCoy could bring out the best in him.

Most NFL teams will only go as far as their quarterback takes them, and Winston needs to find more consistency. He threw 28 touchdown passes and 18 interceptions last season. Six of those interceptions came in the first three games and six came in the last three games when the Bucs’ playoff hopes slipped away.

Winston still needs some work, but the Buccaneers are one of the fortunate teams not looking for a quarterback in the 2017 draft. So even though they have a lot of room for improvement, there are some teams who wouldn’t mind being in their shoes heading into 2017.

About Mike Batista