2026 has been a year of change in Tampa.
Coach Todd Bowles staved off termination after a disappointing finish to 2025, but is left to pick up the pieces as the Buccaneers push forward into 2026. The process will involve adjusting the roster to replace the loss of two franchise icons.
Legendary Bucs receiver Mike Evans left for San Francisco in free agency. His similarly venerated defensive counterpart, linebacker Lavonte David, retired after 14 years with the Buccaneers. In order to properly respond to their departures, Bowles first had to process their exits.
“Oh man, that was tough,” Bowles said Monday on Good Morning Football in response to Evans leaving. “He’s the best of the best on and off the field. I can’t say enough good things about him. They got a great one as they know, we know how great he was. Very hard to see him leave sentimentally and professionally from that standpoint for me and everybody else involved.
“But we’ve got a lot of guys that can step up in that room with Emeka [Egbuka], [Chris] Godwin coming back healthy. We got J-Mac [Jalen McMillan] coming back healthy, Tez [Johnson] after a full season. So, we feel confident we have those guys, but make no mistake about it, we’ll miss the presence of that guy.”
The Buccaneers lost their No. 1 target in Evans and quarterback Baker Mayfield‘s favorite target, but as Bowles noted, they’re not staring at an empty cupboard at the position. David’s departure, however, is going to be more difficult to recover from, Bowles admitted.
“Personally, this one really stung me,” Bowles said of David’s retirement. “It’s gonna sting me from an attitude standpoint. … He was the guy off the field that got everyone going. He practiced that way, he carried himself that way. He was, right now, the cream of the crop of who you want to coach and how you want that guy to play. He was that guy. He was that guy for us for 14 years. I can’t say enough good things about him. He was like a brother to me.”