Former Buccaneers’ Head Coach Bruce Arians Reveals Main Reason Why He Retired

Bruce Arians came out of retirement to become the Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach in 2019 after spending five seasons as the Arizona Cardinals’ head coach from 2013-2017. During his first season with the Buccaneers, there wasn’t a ton of success, but following the 2019 season, Arians and the Bucs went to work and were able to grab the biggest fish in the sea in Tom Brady to help lead the charge. The gamble of bringing Brady into the Bucs’ organization paid off as the team went on to win their second Lombardi Trophy in the first season with Arians and Brady paired up together. They went into the 2021 season as defending Super Bowl Champions but unfortunately did not get the same result as the prior year.

Following the 2021 season, Arians made the shocking decision to retire as the Buccaneers’ head coach, naming then-defensive coordinator Todd Bowles as his successor.

As mentioned, the decision to retire was a shocking one and left many Buccaneers’ fans wondering why he would retire at this point. Of course, Arians gave his reasons multiple times, but still, for some reason, it never really sat right. In an interview on The Rock Stops Here podcast with Rock Riley, Arians once again looked to set the record straight on his decision to retire when he did. “For me, it was time; health had a little bit to do with it,” Arians said.

“I tore my Achilles, you know, that year before. Standing on the sidelines was getting harder with some issues just being out there for four hours standing. I just thought it was time, and I didn’t like Todd [Bowles] and Byron [Leftwich] getting passed over that year. You know, I thought they both deserved to be head coaches. You know, so a lot of things went into that decision. When we did it, it was just I think perfect timing for all of us.” Arians pointing towards his health as a factor in his retirement is different from his original reasoning as he mentioned that he felt the best he had for some time when initially speaking about his retirement. Add in the fact that he was slightly agitated at the fact that his coordinators weren’t getting a fair shot at becoming head coaches and it seemingly just made sense for him to walk away into the sunset in Tampa Bay based on where things were.

Todd Bowles will now enter his third season as the Buccaneers head coach and will look to build off of a successful second season that saw the Bucs win the NFC South and make the playoffs.

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NFL Insiders Speculate Baker Mayfield Landing With Buccaneers’ NFC South Rival

NFL insiders speculate that Bucs’ QB Baker Mayfield would have some interest from another NFC South team.

The 2024 NFL offseason is about to get fully underway now that the Kansas City Chiefs won their second Lombardi Trophy is as many seasons behind the prowess of Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes. Unlike the Chiefs, many NFL franchises have some decisions to make when it comes to their quarterback position – including the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Baker Mayfield served as the Buccaneers’ starting QB in 2023 on a one-year, team-friendly, prove-it deal that eventually saw him make $7 million following incentives after he helped lead the franchise to an NFC South crown and a win over the Philadelphia Eagles in the Wild Card round of the playoffs.

Now that the season is over it will come into question whether or not the Buccaneers’ organization and Mayfield can come to terms on a contract extension that is highly likely to yield the veteran QB a much bigger payday. Following the hiring of Liam Coen as the Bucs’ new OC and the words from Baker himself over the course of the week leading up to the Super Bowl there seems to be a high level of interest for both sides to reach an agreement for him to remain in Tampa Bay in the hopes of continuing what he built in year one.

However, there is always the likelihood that Baker could end up elsewhere if the price and fit are right, and NFL insiders Ian Rapoport, Mike Garafolo, and Tom Pelissero believe that another team in the NFC South would be interested in Baker’s services.

“Coaches around the league admire Mayfield’s competitiveness and skill level, so he’ll surely have interest on the market — perhaps even from AFC South-rival Atlanta, where former Rams assistants Raheem Morris and Zac Robinson are now in charge.”

Atlanta hasn’t quite figured out what they want to do at the QB position after experimenting with Marcus Mariota, Desmond Ridder, and Taylor Heineke over the past couple of seasons and it doesn’t seem likely that the new guard at the coaching level are all keen on moving ahead with what they have. A player of Baker’s caliber would surely be an upgrade over Ridder at this point and would yield more positive results than not.

For the Buccaneers, this would be a gut punch.

If Mayfield were to decide to jump ship for the likes of the Falcons after everything they were able to provide one another in just a single season, not to mention the words being thrown about regarding his love for the city and how he finally feels comfortable, it would surely leave the Buccaneers with much larger issues to address over free agency.