Tampa Bay Buccaneers Fantasy Football News | Shark Bites

The Bucs are hiring Dave Canales as their new OC. The 41-year-old has spent the past 13 seasons working under Pete Carroll, first at USC and then with Seattle. Canales most recently served as Seahawks QBs coach, helping QB Geno Smith to a career year. But Canales' only experience as an offensive coordinator came at Carson High School in California in 2004 and 2005. He's a total wild card as we start to project what this Bucs offense will look like in 2023. We're also, of course, still waiting to see what Tampa does at QB. Kyle Trask is the only QB currently on the roster.

The Buccaneers are expected to fire OC Byron Leftwich, according to Pewter Report. Just a year ago, Tampa Bay was coming off 3 straight years among the league's top 3 in scoring and Leftwich was getting interviews for HC gigs elsewhere. But the 2022 Bucs ranked just 25th in points, 15th in yards and 16th in Football Outsiders offensive DVOA (down from 1st in 2021). We'd bet on Leftwich getting an opportunity elsewhere. The Bucs, meanwhile, seem likely to have a QB question to answer, with Tom Brady's contract up.

Update: Greg Auman of FOX Sports reports that HC Todd Bowles says no decision has been made yet on Leftwich's job status.

Buccaneers WR Chris Godwin hauled 10 of 13 targets for 85 yards in Monday's Wild Card loss vs. the Cowboys. Godwin is 1 of 3 Bucs' WRs who received double-digit targets in this contest. WR Julio Jones tallied 7 catches on 11 targets for 77 yards and a TD, and WR Mike Evans roped in 6 of 11 targets for 74 yards of his own. These are pretty eye-popping numbers on the surface, but it's not nearly as impressive considering QB Tom Brady was forced to throw the ball 66 times in the loss. It's difficult at this time to look ahead to the 2023 NFL season for these wideouts given Brady's uncertain future. We'll have a better idea of what to expect from Godwin and Evans once we learn who the Bucs QB is next season.

Buccaneers RB Rachaad White led the team in rushing with 41 yards on 7 attempts in Monday’s Wild Card loss vs. the Cowboys. Teammate RB Leonard Fournette struggled mightily, tallying a mere 11 yards on 5 carries. White added some value as a receiver with 4 catches on 6 targets and 36 yards, whereas Fournette only managed 1 catch for 8 yards. The Cowboys’ defense took the life out of the Bucs’ rushing attack. The combined 52 rushing yards are the lowest total the Buccaneers’ offense has produced since Week 10 vs. the Seahawks in Munich. Looking ahead to 2023, the Buccaneers have an out in Fournette’s contract that would only incur a $1.5 million cap hit if they choose to move on this offseason. Should upcoming free agent QB Tom Brady move onto another team or retire, don’t be surprised to see Fournette hit the free agent market too. There's a window for the rookie White to seize a larger role in the future.

Buccaneers WR Mike Evans (knee) was a full participant at practice on Thursday. The same goes for teammate WR Julio Jones (knee). With their Wild Card game vs. the Cowboys occurring on Monday, we'll have an extra day of practice to follow that bleeds into Saturday. We'll keep our eye out for any updates regarding this duo of Bucs' pass-catchers.

Bucs WR Mike Evans has been ruled out of Sunday's game vs. the Falcons with an illness. He was active but didn't play a snap. Evans should be fine for next weekend's Wild Card game.

Before Sunday, Buccaneers WR Mike Evans hadn't scored a TD since Week 4. Turns out he was just saving them all up for championship week of the fantasy football playoffs. Evans racked up 10 catches for 207 yards and all 3 of Tampa Bay's TDs in the playoff-clinching win over the Panthers. Evans scored from 30, 57 and 63 yards out while setting season highs in all 3 of the aforementioned offensive categories. His performance overshadowed WR Chris Godwin's highly efficient performance: 9-120 on 9 targets. The Buccaneers close out the regular season at Atlanta but might not have much to play for in that one. We'll assess their situation in finalizing our Week 18 fantasy football rankings.

Seahawks S Ryan Neal (knee) is inactive for today's game against the Jets.

Buccaneers S Antoine Winfield Jr. (ankle), S Mike Edwards (hamstring) and CB Jamel Dean (toe) are active for today's game against the Panthers. Each entered the day questionable. The secondary will miss lead corner Carlton Davis, who was doubtful to play.

Buccaneers TE Cade Otton (quadriceps) practiced in full again on Friday and doesn't carry an injury designation for Week 17 vs. the Panthers. At first glance, Otton's 23 targets (8th-highest among TEs) since Week 13 pique some fantasy interest. Digging a little deeper, you'll find the rookie ranks 26th in target share (11.9%) with a mere 9.2% air yards share in that span. Otton is a decent speculative albeit unreliable TE streamer in Week 17 on raw volume alone, but that's about it.

Buccaneers CB Carlton Davis (shoulder) is doubtful for Sunday's game against the Panthers. Fellow CB Jamel Dean (toe) is questionable but finished the week with a full Friday practice after 2 limited workouts. He missed the previous 2 games. S Antoine Winfield Jr. (ankle) and S Mike Edwards (hamstring) are also questionable after going limited all week. Each guy played through the same issue in last Sunday's win over the Cardinals. In Winfield's case, this week's practice run marked an upgrade. He sat out all 3 days last week before playing through a "questionable" tag. We'll update all the questionable CBs when Sunday's inactives arrive.

Buccaneers TE Cade Otton (quadriceps) practice fully on Thursday after being limited on Wednesday. This upward trend bodes well for the rookie's status ahead of Week 17 vs. the Panthers. We'll keep an eye on his status tomorrow in case anything changes.

Buccaneers TE Cade Otton (quadriceps) did not practice on Wednesday. We'll continue to track the rookie's status for Week 17 vs. the Panthers as the week evolves. Check back in tomorrow for updates.

Broncos EDGE Randy Gregory and Rams G Oday Aboushi had their suspensions reduced to fines on appeal. The league suspended both players 1 game for fighting after Sunday's game. But they'll both be available to their teams for Week 17 now.

The NFL has suspended Broncos EDGE Randy Gregory and Rams G Oday Aboushi for a game after the 2 threw punches at each other after Sunday's game. That means Gregory will miss the final week of the fantasy football season in most leagues, while the Rams will go without a player who spent the past 2 weeks in the starting lineup. That won't help an O-line that has already ranked among the league's worst this season.

Rams QB Baker Mayfield completed 24 of his 28 passes (85.7%) in Sunday's beatdown of the Broncos. He threw for 230 yards and 2 TDs, finding TE Tyler Higbee for both of them. Higbee (94) and Brycen Hopkins (57) combined for 65.7% of Mayfield's yards for the game. Week 17 holds a matchup with the Chargers, who have been a slightly negative scoring matchup for QBs and 8th-worst for TEs.

Buccaneers S Antoine Winfield Jr. (ankle), S Keanu Neal (toe) and S Mike Edwards (hamstring) are active for tonight's game against the Cardinals. If you waited on any of them, use as planned in your IDP lineups.

Buccaneers S Antoine Winfield Jr. (ankle), S Mike Edwards (hamstring) and S Keanu Neal (toe) are all questionable for Sunday night's game against the Cardinals. Winfield missed practice all week and looks quite iffy. We've knocked him down the Week 16 IDP rankings. Edwards popped up on the injury report for the 1st time Friday. Neal put in 2 limited workouts after sitting out Wednesday. We'll check on all 3 players ahead of the game. But being the 2nd-to-last kickoff of the weekend makes all 3 difficult to wait on -- and probably not worth it in most cases.

The Seahawks have ruled S Ryan Neal (knee) out for Saturday's game against the Chiefs.

Broncos RB Chase Edmonds (ankle) has been designated to return from IR. He's been out since Week 11 -- his 2nd game with the Broncos. Edmonds will not be a fantasy option the rest of this season, but his return could ding RB Latavius Murray's volume a tad. We'll see if Edmonds is able to play vs. the Rams on Sunday.