Where Do Bucs Rank In NFC Playoff Picture Predictions?

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are running it back with Baker Mayfield and the majority of its roster from 2023 in the hopes of similar or better success.

Mayfield led the Buccaneers to a division title and a playoff win before pushing the Detroit Lions in their Divisional Round loss (31-23) in his first season with the team.

Now, with a second offseason with the Buccaneers and a few new faces via the draft that have impressed in Graham Barton and Jalen McMillan, Tampa Bay is again firming to be a decent enough team .

But where do they sit in the NFC playoff race? For CBS Sports, who divided all NFC teams into tiers, the Buccaneers landed in the "happy to be here" tier, along with the Atlanta Falcons.

"The Buccaneers doubled down on quarterback Baker Mayfield's 2023 resurgence, signing him to a three-year, $100 million deal, and they re-signed Mr. Tampa Bay, wide receiver Mike Evans, to a two-year, $41 million deal," CBS Sports writes . "They were only the fifth team in NFL history to win a playoff game after a 4-7 start last season, but the front office is banking on the back end of the season to become the standard and not an aberration."

After their Week 12 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, Tampa Bay rattled off five wins in their next six games to clinch the division and a home playoff game.

The Buccaneers swept aside a poor Philadelphia Eagles team 32-9 before losing to the Lions, so the season was seen as a success.

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Now, the hope is that Mayfield can replicate his 2023 Pro Bowl efforts in Liam Coen's system and catapult the Buccaneers back into playoff contention. But would the franchise simply be "happy to be there," as CBS Sports suggests?

We doubt it.

The Buccaneers won a playoff game last year, and we imagine that for a roster that has remained largely intact, that will be the bare minimum in 2024.