The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won’t have their Super Bowl-winning head coach Bruce Arians on the sidelines for the 2022 NFL season. Instead, Arians is leaving the position to take on a front-office role with the franchise.
The Bucs’ made the news public earlier this week while revealing that Todd Bowles will take over as the head coach. Bowles spent the previous three years as Arians’ defensive coordinator.
It is unclear what the role of a senior football consultant includes for Arians. However, one area he is expected to contribute is the draft, where he should have a significant say in the picks that the Bucs make in the 2022 NFL Draft and beyond.
Bruce Arians already left the head coaching business in 2017, when he left the position with the Arizona Cardinals and retired from football altogether. However, the Bucs’ managed to lure him back from retirement in 2019, and it proved to be a great decision for both parties.
After missing the playoffs in his first year in Tampa, Arians recruited all-time great quarterback Tom Brady for 2020. The duo went to win the Super Bowl in the same season and followed that up with another playoff appearance in 2021.
“I love football. I love the relationships, the strategy, the competition — everything. It has been one hell of a ride, but I know this is the right time for me to make this transition,” the 69-year-old said in a statement.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Todd Bowles will sign a five-year contract to be the new head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Bowles already has head coaching experience, having held the same position with the New York Jets between 2015 and 2018 and serving as an interim head coach for the Miami Dolphins in 2015. He has a 26-41 record.
