Jan. 15, 2026, 5:55 a.m. ET
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a lot of questions heading into the offseason. They are all centered around the state of the roster as general manager Jason Licht has proven to be a an effective leader in the front office, but more needs to be done.
In a recent piece by ESPN, they made suggestions on several fronts for all the teams that missed the playoffs. One of the things they discussed was a big prediction for the Bucs in the offseason. ESPN’s Aaron Schatz made the prediction to involve the defense.
Schatz suggests, “With help required at inside linebacker, the Bucs will steal Kaden Elliss from the rival Falcons in free agency. He would be perfect in those Bowles blitz packages after 3.5 sacks in 2025.”
Anytime you can steal a playmaker away from a division rival, it means a little more. Ellis is an underrated linebacker in the position group, but also not the complete answer to the Bucs linebacker situation. If they paired Ellis with someone from the NFL Draft in April, this group could be salvaged.
The linebackers showed in 2025 to be one of the biggest hindrances on the field for the Bucs, so seeing early predictions of it being fixed should make fans happy.
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