Bucs Disrespect Continues To Include Entire Roster

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers always struggle to get the credit they deserve. Even after Tom Brady led the franchise to a Super Bowl in 2020, it seems that just a couple of years later, it's been forgotten.

Last season, Baker Mayfield led the franchise to a division title and a playoff win, yet that also seems like it has been forgotten, and this is a common theme for the NFC South franchise.

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The Buccaneers' chances of claiming their fourth straight division title are over with the Atlanta Falcons signing Kirk Cousins for some, but that could be further from the truth. But that's the narrative, and Mayfield's ability to reproduce his stellar 2023 efforts is also a cause for concern for some.

But for ESPN, so is their roster, which it has ranked as the 22nd best in football.

Tampa Bay's defense was a top-10 unit last season, and with the majority of it returning, there's no reason to suggest it would again be a stout unit. But most of the questions that have been aimed at the Buccaneers in 2024 all stem from the offense.

Can Mayfield replicate his 2023 stat line? Will the run game be improved from being one of the league's worst? Can Liam Coen's system get the team into the playoffs?

All of that adds up to a lot of uncertainty for some of the national media, except for Mike Florio of course, who wrote: "For some reason, they aren't being taken seriously". "They should be."

It's worth noting that in Florio's power rankings, the Buccaneers land at No. 9, but that seems like an anomaly, and Tampa Bay is again being kept out of the conversation in the NFC South.

Being underdogs is nothing new for the Buccaneers and in 2024, they will again have to prove the doubters wrong and that they are far better than the 22nd-best roster in football.