After losing offensive coordinator Liam Coen to the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have turned to pass game coordinator Josh Grizzard.
The 34-year-old now has the job of maintaining an offense that scored an average of 28.6 points per game, with quarterback Baker Mayfield having a standout season, throwing 41 touchdowns.
Grizzard, who is from Lizard Lick, North Carolina, and graduated from Yale, had a different path than most. Mayfield called him “unbelievably smart,” and Grizzard explained why he chose to focus on football: “It was very competitive but … they can’t win a Super Bowl,” he said.
Grizzard has never called plays before, but he feels ready for the role.
“I would say two years ago I really started thinking like a coordinator,” Grizzard shared. “When you’re in the booth and you’re looking at coverages and doing your quality control work, you start thinking, ‘Okay, what do I call next? What do I call next? What’s this situation?’ Over the last two years, I’ve been preparing myself for this moment.”
Just like 2023 offensive coordinator Dave Canales, who became the head coach of the Carolina Panthers, the Bucs will use training camp and practice sessions to help Grizzard adjust to the new responsibility of calling plays.
Mayfield, who worked closely with Canales, said, “Dave hadn’t called plays until Tampa, but you get used to it… I know Josh will be a good playcaller. You can just sense that already.”
Grizzard was Coen’s main assistant in Tampa, handling their third-down packages. On game days, he observed from the coach’s booth while Coen was on the field. He communicated coverage and pressure information to Coen and helped with unscouted looks.
“Grizz knows [this system] like the back of his hand,” said left tackle Tristan Wirfs. “He’s a wizard. He knows what to do. He knows what to call.”
Wide receiver Mike Evans added, “It’s going to be similar to what we’ve run. We’re just trying to get to the best in the league level. We were really good last year. We were one of the tops in the league, but we’re trying to be the best offense in the league. I think Josh can help us get there.”
The Bucs don’t plan to completely change their approach
But there will be some new elements based on Grizzard’s experience with the Miami Dolphins under Mike McDaniel and Adam Gase, as well as working with David Cutcliffe at Duke. The language, formations, and motions will remain the same, so players won’t face a steep learning curve, unlike the previous two seasons.
“The continuity will remain essentially the same. What you want to do, like we did last year, is morph it to the players,” Grizzard said. “With that said, you have to evolve every year because now there is a full season of tape on what we did here, and now people are studying that… There are definitely things I’ve done in my past that I want to add to it to keep applying pressure.
The last thing you want is to get stagnant. So now we can take it to the next level.”
Grizzard learned a lot last season. The Bucs started the year planning to use 11-personnel — one running back, one tight end, and three wide receivers — but that changed as they began using 21-personnel — two running backs, a tight end, and two receivers — after rookie running back Bucky Irving showed promise.
Injuries started to pile up for the team. At one point, all three starting wide receivers were out, which happened in Week 9 during the game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Tight end Cade Otton took over Chris Godwin’s role in the slot.
“Cade — the weeks he stepped up when those guys were down — there’s so much that goes into that game planning and informationally and Grizz was a huge part of that,” Mayfield said. “So it’s why I’m excited. He’s a guy that didn’t get a lot of credit behind the scenes last year, but he’ll get at the forefront of it.”
As the team got better at running the ball, they used more 13 personnel — one running back, three tight ends, and a receiver. They started the season expecting to be a mid zone running team, which they were, but they became very successful with gap running as the season went on.
“Not that you want to see guys get hurt, but I found it fun because now it’s another challenge that week and because you can run the same concepts to be able to tell a tight end, ‘You’re now doing what Chris did, the receiver. Bucky, you’re doing what the receiver did,’ and vice versa,” Grizzard said.
“It’s just the teaching of it and the fundamentals. You can use the same buzzwords to try to get those guys to understand what you’re trying to get out of it. Being able to be multiple, it applies pressure to the opposing sideline, and we want to keep that going.”
Grizzard is hopeful for 2025
The front office, coaching staff, and players are confident that having offensive line coach Kevin Carberry, who was promoted to run game coordinator, and assistant offensive line coach Brian Picucci, who was promoted to offensive line coach, will help Grizzard transition smoothly.
Evans’ confidence comes from how Grizzard led their third-down meetings and the preparation he provided them with before game day.
“We were very locked in and engaged when he gave those meetings,” Evans said. “We knew what was coming on those down and distances. … It was just a breakdown in the film, and we had wrinkles to what other teams ran and beat the teams that we saw and so we had beaters off of that.”
Without sharing too many details, Grizzard believes they will be able to do more with the downfield passing attack this year, as it will help them move the ball faster. However, this will change each week based on the opponent.
“I do think moving forward that is something we’re going to put an emphasis on,” Grizzard said. “Not that we didn’t do it last year, but I think we can put even more on trying to create more explosive plays … creating seven- or eight-play drives that could be 12 if you’re not having a 25-yard pass. So it’s definitely something that it limits the amount of plays in the drive, which is always a good thing.”
