The Buccaneers fell flat after raising expectations heading into the 2017 season, but they didn’t make sweeping changes with their coaching staff or personnel department as a result.
Without a shift in those areas, the chances of improvement may reside in the players responsible for the high hopes last year doing more on the field in 2018. Wide receiver DeSean Jackson could stand to do more after 50 catches for 668 yards and three touchdowns in his first year with Tampa and he said last week that offseason work with quarterback Jameis Winston will be crucial to accomplishing that.
“I think we have to merge ... last year everything kind of happened at the snap of a finger,” Jackson said on FOX Sports 1, via FloridaFootballInsiders.com. “You got the offseason. You got free agent signings. Everybody was happy about the off-season, but the work has to be put in.”
Jackson said he, Winston and wide receiver Mike Evans will work at Texas A&M, where Evans went and where Winston’s college coach Jimbo Fisher now resides, and Los Angeles before the team gets together for their offseason program. He and Winston will focus on getting “that timing down pat” in hopes of forging a more potent connection than they enjoyed last season.