For a fifth straight season, Todd Bowles' staff will include a new offensive coordinator.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers fired offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard after one season in the role, NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport, Mike Garafolo and Tom Pelissero reported Thursday.
Tampa Bay also fired special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey, who had been with the team since 2024, Rapoport, Garafolo and Pelissero reported.
The Buccaneers later announced the firings, along with those of quarterbacks coach Thaddeus Lewis, cornerbacks Kevin Ross and defensive line coach Charlie Strong.
"These decisions are always difficult, but the disappointing end to the season required some changes to our coaching staff in order to ensure we live up to the high standards we have set here," Bowles said in a statement. "These coaches have all put in tremendous amount of work and effort, but unfortunately, the results were not there this past season. Our goal is to compete for championships every year, and it is my responsibility to make these tough decisions in order to reach those expectations. I want to thank these coaches for all that they have contributed to our success over the years, and I wish them well."
The team also announced the retirement of senior offensive assistant Tom Moore and safeties coach Nick Rapone. Moore, 87, spent 62 years coaching (48 of them in the NFL), winning four Super Bowl titles with the 1978-79 Pittsburgh Steelers, 2006 Indianapolis Colts and 2020 Bucs.
"Tom Moore is a legend in the coaching profession, and it has been an honor and a privilege to have him on our staff," Bowles said in a statement. "Tom's incredible knowledge and understanding about the game is unmatched and he has served as an invaluable resource for our entire coaching staff over these past seven years. He always offered up unique perspectives and very helpful insights that assisted our coaches with their game preparation, but it will be the personal interactions I had with him every day that I will miss the most."
Grizzard was promoted in early 2025 from passing game coordinator to replace Liam Coen, now the head coach in Jacksonville, but couldn't sustain the same success that saw Coen and his predecessor, current Panthers coach Dave Canales, move onto head coaching jobs after just one season as Bucs OC. Grizzard's firing marks the second instance in which Bowles has fired his OC, with the other being Byron Leftwich in 2022.
Tampa Bay began Grizzard's first season as play-caller by boasting an explosive offense that found ways to deliver in crunch time, propelling the Buccaneers to four one-score wins in their first five games thanks in large part to the scintillating performances delivered by quarterback Baker Mayfield, an early season NFL MVP favorite. The early season production didn't last, though, with Tampa Bay's offense peaking in a shootout win over the Seahawks in Seattle before cratering in a frustrating road loss to the Lions, a game that saw Mike Evans depart with a broken clavicle and concussion and included signs of a challenging road forward for the entire offense.
Mayfield's annual ascent enjoyed under Canales and Coen -- two seasons in which he reset his career-high marks in passing yards and passing touchdowns -- also ended under Grizzard's direction. The quarterback still threw for 3,693 yards and 26 touchdowns, but saw his completion percentage fall to 63.2 percent, all totals that were the worst of his three-year Buccaneers tenure. With an assortment of injuries across the offense -- including a significantly affected offensive line, multiple absences in the receiving corps and a lengthy period without 2024 breakout runner Bucky Irving -- Mayfield was unable to carry the Buccaneers across the finish line, appearing worn out by the end of Tampa Bay's rain-soaked Week 18 win over Carolina.
Grizzard's offense finished 21st in yards per game (320.4) and 18th in points scored per game (22.4), significant statistical declines from their third-place finish in yards per game (399.6) and fourth-place ranking in points per game (29.5) a year earlier.
A healthy portion of this decline can be pinned on injuries (which even included Mayfield playing through a non-throwing shoulder ailment), but with Bowles feeling his seat warming after Tampa Bay's late-season collapse, a change seemed necessary in order to justify retaining the coach. Bowles will enter 2026 in the same place he's found himself starting each new year: trolling the market for a new play-caller.
