The Tampa Bay Buccaneers re-signed defensive lineman Eric Banks to a one-year, $1.03 million deal Friday, Fox Sports reported.
Banks played for the Arizona Cardinals from 2022-23 before missing the entire 2024 season with a torn triceps.
Banks, 27, has recorded four tackles in six games (zero starts) with the Los Angeles Chargers (2021) and Arizona.
–Field Level Media
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are bringing back starting left guard Ben Bredeson on a three-year deal worth $22 million, NFL Network reported Monday.
Bredeson, 27, played the 2024 season in Tampa on a one-year deal worth $3 million.
Bredeson started all 17 games last season. He has played in 62 career games (42 starts) with the Baltimore Ravens (2022), New York Giants (2021-23) and Bucs.
The Ravens selected Bredeson in the fourth round of the 2020 draft.
–Field Level Media
Less than four years after removing Jon Gruden from their Ring of Honor, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers restored the distinction for the Super Bowl-winning coach on Thursday.
Gruden was removed from the Ring of Honor in October 2021 after leaked emails showed he used misogynistic, racist and homophobic language. The scandal prompted Gruden to resign from his job as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Buccaneers wrote in a statement on Thursday, “Jon Gruden was initially inducted into the Buccaneers Ring of Honor based on his many accomplishments during his seven seasons as our head coach and he remains a significant figure in the history of our franchise. Upon further reflection, we have decided to reinstate him into the Buccaneers Ring of Honor.”
When the Buccaneers took Gruden out of the Ring of Honor, they stated that “his actions go against our core values as an organization.”
Gruden, 61, coached Tampa Bay from 2002-08, guiding the Buccaneers to a Super Bowl title in his first season. He compiled a 57-55 regular-season mark as Tampa Bay’s head coach, plus a 3-2 postseason record.
He also coached the then-Oakland Raiders from 1998-2001, and he was back with the Raiders from 2018-21 (through their move to Las Vegas in 2020) before his resignation.
Overall as an NFL head coach, Gruden has a 117-112 regular-season record and a 5-5 postseason record.
–Field Level Media
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have declined their option on starting safety Jordan Whitehead, who was injured in a car accident early last month, NFL Network reported Wednesday.
The move saves the team $4.5 million, though Bucs general manager Jason Licht said this week they hope to re-sign him. As it stands, Whitehead is set to become a free agent next month.
“Jordan is a great guy. Love to have him back. Just need to make sure he’s healthy,” Licht said Tuesday.
Whitehead suffered injuries in the accident that kept him out the regular-season finale against the New Orleans Saints. He also missed the Bucs’ playoff loss to Washington.
Whitehead, 27, started 12 games for the Bucs last season, missing four due to a pectoral injury. He had 79 tackles and three passes defensed, and he played 91 percent of the defensive snaps when active.
He signed a two-year, $9 million free-agent deal with the Buccaneers in March 2024 after two seasons with the New York Jets. He began his career with four seasons in Tampa Bay before returning.
Whitehead has appeared in 105 career games (101 starts) and made 557 tackles (31 for loss). He also has 2.5 sacks, 11 interceptions, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and 45 passes defensed.
–Field Level Media
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are working toward a new contract for wide receiver Chris Godwin as general manager Jason Licht and head coach Todd Bowles rained praise on him when speaking to reporters at the scouting combine Tuesday in Indianapolis.
Godwin, who is coming off a dislocated left ankle that limited him to a career-low seven games in 2024, is a pending free agent due to an upcoming automatic void year in his contract. The Bucs and Godwin’s camp pushed that void date back to March 12.
“Obviously, Chris is a great player, and I love him to death, and we want him back here every way possible,” Bowles said. “Obviously, we have to heal and there’s medical things going on right there and they’re trying to work through that but hopefully we can get them back because he was on a tear before he got hurt.”
Godwin racked up 50 receptions for 576 yards and five touchdowns in his seven games in 2024. He suffered his injury late in a Week 7 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
That put Godwin in a similar situation to 2022, when he was recovering from ACL and MCL tears and entered unrestricted free agency. He returned to Tampa Bay on a three-year, $60 million deal after receiving the franchise tag as a placeholder.
“If there was anybody on the team I thought could come back from an injury that I would pick, that I would bet on, it would be him,” Bowles said of Godwin. “Because his work ethic, his confidence, the way he attacks treatment, the way he tries every day to be the best he could be. … He’s probably the best at it on our team.”
As for Licht, he said the calculus for evaluating a free agent recovering from an injury doesn’t change at all.
“The facts are he had a serious injury, missed a lot of time and there’s still some uncertainty with any injury like that at this point,” Licht said. “We moved the void so it gives us more options and more flexibility as it pertains to him. We’ve just got to make a good decision.
“We, hopefully, can come to an agreement with him because Chris means the world to this organization — to all of us individually, but to the organization as a whole, nobody has been more resilient than him. We’ve been down this road before, a similar path with him. Nobody has been more resilient and works harder than him.”
Godwin, who turns 29 on Thursday, was the Bucs’ third-round draft pick in 2017 and was a Pro Bowl selection in 2019, when he posted career highs of 1,333 yards and nine touchdowns to go with 86 receptions. He won Super Bowl LV with the Bucs and has amassed 579 catches for 7,266 yards and 39 TD receptions, plus two rushing touchdowns, in 111 career games (84 starts).
–Field Level Media
Tight end Rob Gronkowski may be interested in coming out of retirement once again, according to a report by DenverSports.com on Tuesday.
Gronkowski spent nine years with the New England Patriots prior to retiring after the 2018 season — only to come back and play two more years with Tom Brady when the quarterback went to Tampa Bay.
A five-time Pro Bowler, four-time All-Pro selection and four-time Super Bowl champion (three with the Patriots, one with the Buccaneers), Gronkowski will turn 36 in May.
The DenverSports.com report indicated Gronkowski may be interested in joining the Denver Broncos, where his brothers Chris and Dan Gronkowski had brief stays during their playing careers.
Rob Gronkowski currently works as an NFL analyst for Fox and overlapped there for one year with Sean Payton, now the head coach in Denver.
Gronkowski had 621 receptions for 9,286 yards and 92 touchdowns in 143 games (128 starts) over his 11-year career in New England (2010-18) and Tampa Bay (2020-21). He never finished with fewer than 540 yards in a season despite missing large parts of the 2013 and 2016 campaigns due to injury.
–Field Level Media
With Liam Coen out the door for a head coaching opportunity, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers promoted Josh Grizzard to fill their offensive coordinator post Friday.
Grizzard, 34, joined the Buccaneers’ staff last year as Todd Bowles’ pass game coordinator. He spent the previous seven seasons in a variety of roles on the Miami Dolphins’ staff, including wide receivers coach in 2020-21.
With Grizzard helping OC Liam Coen on the Tampa Bay passing game, quarterback Baker Mayfield had the best statistical season of his career, racking up 4,500 yards, 41 touchdowns and a 71.4 percent completion rate. Mayfield was named to his second Pro Bowl in three seasons.
“Josh is bright and innovative and was instrumental in our game planning and play design over the last year,” Bowles said in a statement. “After interviewing several outstanding candidates throughout this process, it ultimately became clear that our best option was here in our building. We had a lot of success offensively last season and during our conversations, Grizz provided some great ideas on how we can build on that. His familiarity with our offense, our players and the staff will ensure the continuity that is crucial for sustained success.”
Coen departed Tampa Bay to take over the Jacksonville Jaguars last week.
–Field Level Media
The Jacksonville Jaguars hired Anthony Campanile as defensive coordinator.
“Anthony Campanile represents exactly what we want to be as a defensive unit and football team,” head coach Liam Coen said in a statement issued Thursday. “He brings an aggressive defensive mindset and a system that is adaptable to our players and allows them to play fast and physical.”
Most recently, Campanile served as the linebackers coach/run game coordinator for the Green Bay Packers in 2024.
Campanile, 42, previously was the linebackers coach (2020-23) of the Miami Dolphins.
He began his coaching career as an assistant coach in the high school ranks at New Jersey powerhouse Don Bosco Prep before moving on to positions on the staffs at Rutgers, Boston College and Michigan.
His only season leading a defense came in 2018 at Boston College, where he was co-defensive coordinator.
The Jaguars hired Coen earlier this month to replace Doug Pederson as head coach. Previously the offensive coordinator at Tampa Bay, he made an awkward exit from the Buccaneers, who reportedly were set to make him the highest-paid OC in the NFL before he spurned them to move north.
Per reports, the Bucs aren’t going to make it easy for Coen to fill out his staff.
ESPN reported Friday morning that the Buccaneers won’t agree to Jacksonville’s request to interview assistant offensive line coach Brian Picucci for a potential role on Coen’s staff. The Tampa Bay Times added that the Buccaneers also declined the Jaguars request to talk with offensive line coach Kevin Carberry.
–Field Level Media
![New Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen speaks as Jaguars owner Shad Khan looks on during a press conference Monday, Jan. 27, 2025 at the Miller Electric Center in Jacksonville, Fla. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]](https://www.nationalfootballpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/25280348.jpg)
With a strange hiring process and the obligatory introductory news conference behind him, Liam Coen officially begins his job Tuesday as the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars with clear missions in mind: creating a winning culture built on aggressive play and designing a top-flight offense around quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
“How do we make Trevor Lawrence and this offense as dynamic and explosive as we can be? We’ve got to build it around him, we’ve got to make every part of this about improvement, and he will be a part of that process,” Coen told reporters Monday in his news conference. “He’s earned that right. I cannot respect his toughness and mentality and work ethic more than I do already from afar. This will all be about Trevor.”
And Jaguars fans must hope Coen and Lawrence can build a coach-quarterback relationship that the latter has been lacking since Jacksonville made him the No. 1 overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft.
He’s played under three head coaches — Urban Meyer, interim Darrell Bevell and Doug Pederson — in four campaigns in which the Jaguars have gone 25-43 in the regular season.
Pederson was fired following a 4-13 season in which injuries limited Lawrence to 10 games.
But to Coen, success starts with the offense, and he said Monday he’ll call the plays for Jacksonville.
Coen, 39, comes to the head coach role with one season as an NFL offensive coordinator under his belt with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2024) and another with the Los Angeles Rams (2022).
He is credited with turning the Baker Mayfield-led offense into a juggernaut last season with the Bucs, who finished third in the NFL in yards per game (399.5) and fourth in points (29.5). The previous season, the Buccaneers were 23rd and 20th in the league, respectively.
After the news conference, Coen huddled with local reporters and told them he intends to install a new mindset in his players on both sides of the ball.
“I want savages. We want to be savages,” Coen said, per The Florida Times-Union. “That physical mindset. When our opponents turn on the tape, what are they looking at? Are they seeing guys playing through the echo of the whistle?”
Off the field, he wants to create a united group.
“I heard guys that are yearning for more,” he said. “More culture, more unity, more communication, just everybody being on the same page. A true, aligned vision, and for everybody to be able to tell each other some hard truths in ways and see each other’s blind spots and communicate those because that’s where the growth occurs.”
He told reporters he also plans to create individual goals for each player, identifying areas on which to build.
“They want more responsibility on both sides of the balls, but with a clear vision,” Coen said. “They want to be able to be coached hard, but understand that it’s coming from the right place, and there’s a trust and an honesty there. Because that’s what we’re going to do.”
The Jaguars hired Coen on Friday, two days after he reportedly withdrew his name from consideration for the job.
Coen initially was set to remain with the Buccaneers on a new contract that the Tampa Bay Times said would have made him the highest-paid offensive coordinator in the NFL at $4.5 million per year.
The Jaguars parted ways with general manager Trent Baalke on Wednesday, and several hours later, Coen left the Buccaneers for the Jaguars for a five-year deal the Times said is worth nearly $60 million.
He addressed his rather awkward departure on Monday after the news conference.
“At the end of the day? It came down to business,” Coen told the Times. “It did. It came down to family and business and a dream that was right in front of you.”
–Field Level Media
After two days filled with twists, Liam Coen reportedly is set to become the Jacksonville Jaguars’ head coach.
ESPN reported Thursday night that Coen told the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that he is leaving his job as offensive coordinator to take the top post in Jacksonville. NFL.com reported that the Jaguars are due to announce the hiring of Coen on Friday morning.
All of that occurred a day after Coen agreed to a contract with the Buccaneers that would have made him the NFL’s highest-paid coordinator.
Jacksonville fired head coach Doug Pederson on Jan. 6 following a 4-13 season. The Jaguars finished 22-29 in three seasons under Pederson, reaching the playoffs just once, when they went 1-1 following the 2022 campaign.
Coen, 39, just finished his first season overseeing the Tampa Bay offense.
He reportedly stepped out of consideration as a candidate to become Jacksonville’s head coach on Wednesday, hours before the Jaguars parted ways with general manager Trent Baalke.
In a Jan. 6 news conference after the firing of Pederson, Jaguars owner Shad Khan kept Baalke on board. But Khan also said that day that he would be open to a discussion if a head coaching candidate took issue with the structure of the front office or working with Baalke.
In Coen’s second stint as an NFL offensive coordinator, Tampa Bay averaged 29.5 points per game, fourth in the league in 2024. The Buccaneers ranked third in averaging 399.5 yards per game, third at 250.4 passing yards and fourth at 149.2 rushing yards. They led the league by making 50.9 percent of their third-down attempts (110 of 216). Their total of 395 first downs was second in the league.
Leading that offense, Baker Mayfield set career highs with 41 touchdown passes, 4,500 passing yards and a 71.4 percent completion percentage under Coen’s watch.
Coen in recent years has bounced between the NFL and the University of Kentucky, where he was offensive coordinator in 2023 and 2021. He was the Los Angeles Rams’ OC in 2022, and he worked under head coach Sean McVay as the Rams’ assistant wide receivers coach (2018-19) and assistant quarterbacks coach (2020).
–Field Level Media