Could Buccaneers’ Todd Bowles win Coach of the Year?
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 6-2 coming into the bye week, and they hold that record — one of the NFL's best — despite a slew of injuries on both sides of the ball.
The Bucs have missed an unbelievable number of players at every turn, including almost every starter on offense at some point in the year and multiple defensive players. Despite that, head coach Todd Bowles has been cooking, and he's fielded a very competitive defense and gotten a stretch of MVP-level play out of his quarterback in Baker Mayfield.
It hasn't gone unnoticed, as his former head coach in Tampa Bay, Bruce Arians, sang some of his praises during a recent media appearance. But could all of that amount to a potential Coach of the Year bid from Bowles?
Bruce Arians praises Buccaneers and Todd Bowles
Arians appeared on the Pat McAfee show (as he does), and he was asked to create an All-NFL team after the first half of the year. He was asked to choose an AFC and NFC coach, and he went with the head coaches of two of his former teams — the Bucs and the Indianapolis Colts.
"In the AFC I've got Shane Steichen and he's doing an amazing job with Daniel Jones," Arians said. "In the NFC I've got Todd Bowles. 6-2 with a plethora of injuries — nobody needs the bye week more than they do right now, so those are my two coaches at the halfway point."
Arians' love for Bowles makes a lot of sense. He's had Bowles on his staff during his last two coaching jobs, the Bucs and the Cardinals, and Arians still currently serves as a senior football consultant for the Buccaneers in the front office.
That being said, he still makes a good argument about Bowles — Bowles has been able to get to 6-2 on the year despite a massive amount of injuries on both sides of the ball. Additionally, Tampa Bay's defense is third in the league in sacks and has the fourth-best turnover differential in the league, which can be attested to how ferocious his defense has been at taking the ball away.
Could Todd Bowles win coach of the year?
Believe it or not, Bowles is pretty far down the list when it comes to coach of the year odds. According to FanDuel, Steichen is first with +105 odds, but you have to go all the way down to T-13 for Bowles at +5000 (tied with Jim Harbaugh and Zac Taylor).
Coach of the Year is a suggestive award, but it's often given to coaches who turn a team around from being bad to good — in that case, coaches like Steichen and Patriots coach Mike Vrabel, another high favorite, make sense. But dealing with adversity is a big part of it, too, and there's a good argument that Bowles has had to fight through more of it on the injury front than anyone. He's 6-2 despite that, so he should probably be a much bigger favorite than he currently is.
The Bucs will get to rest during this bye week, as Arians mentioned, but then they'll be right back at it in Week 10 vs. the vaunted New England Patriots. If Bowles wants to win Coach of the Year, a win like that would go a long way.
Cowboys Trade for Myles Garrett Just Got a Lot More Likely After New Report
A notable NFL insider has offered up a detailed explanation for why the Dallas Cowboys making a blockbuster trade for Myles Garrett in the next week is very realistic.
After the Cleveland Browns gave superstar pass rusher Myles Garrett a four-year extension worth $160 million earlier this year, it seemed even more likely that the six-time Pro Bowler would actually finish his career in Cleveland. Then Week 8 happened.
On Sunday, Garrett had a game of a lifetime as he posted five sacks against the New England Patriots. However, it meant nothing as the Browns were still blown out by a score of 32-13. Garrett was seen enraged on the sidelines late in the game, and speculation grew louder that he could push for an exit like he reportedly did earlier this year.
However, many around the game believe his massive contract would make a trade very difficult. But, according to ESPN NFL insider Dan Graziano, that may not necessarily be the case. He admits that trading Garrett now would mean a big dead cap hit to Cleveland in the years ahead. But various teams have taken on bigger cap hits while getting nothing in return.
“That’s a lot of dead money, but it’s not even close to the record,” Graziano writes. “The Broncos took on about $80 million when they cut Russell Wilson last year, and they made the playoffs last season and look poised to do so again. The Buccaneers are still carrying Tom Brady’s dead money and they won their division every season. We see teams do this more and more as the salary cap continues to rise significantly each year.”
Cowboys could create perfect draft scenario for Browns in Myles Garrett trade
Along with that, Graziano added that there are two other key factors in a potential trade before the Nov. 4 NFL trade deadline. First, Garrett has to want it. Considering the Browns’ long-term outlook and where he would go in the deal, waiving his no-trade clause shouldn’t be a big problem. But Cleveland also must get an offer that makes it worth taking on all that dead money.
Well, the Cowboys are one of the few teams that can make the sort of offer the Browns would want, and that is two first-round picks in April, according to Graziano. After the Micah Parsons trade, they will have two first-rounders in 2026, and following his exit, they still have a desperate need for pass-rushing help this season and beyond.
- Myles Garrett stats: 8 games, 10 sacks, 31 tackles, 15 tackles for loss
“Cleveland would be looking at the possibility of having four first-round selections in the 2026 draft,” Graziano wrote. “The Browns would be able to completely control Round 1 and come out of it with whichever quarterback they wanted. The acquiring team would have to pay Garrett a fairly reasonable $31.5 million in fully guaranteed money in 2026 and about $30.5 million in 2027.”
Based on those details, it sure seems like a blockbuster Myles Garrett trade for the Dallas Cowboys is there for the taking if the star pass rusher really wants out. Especially since the Browns could have a franchise-changing draft next year from what they could get in the deal.
