The Tampa Bay Buccaneers start the NFL offseason with a massive hole at offensive coordinator after Dave Canales left to become head coach of the Bucs’ NFC South rival Carolina Panthers. Todd Bowles has a few intriguing candidates on his interview list, and a few head-scratchers, led by fired Buffalo Bills OC Ken Dorsey.
Buccaneers to Interview Ken Dorsey for Offensive Coordinator Role
Ken Dorsey is a name familiar to football fans as a college football national championship-winning quarterback with the Miami Hurricanes in the early 2000s. Lately, though, Dorsey is best known as the coach the Bills fired before going on a 7-2 run that ended with another wide right field goal.
“Buccaneers plan to interview Ken Dorsey next week for their offensive coordinator position, per source,” NFL insider Adam Schefter reported on Friday, Jan. 26. “Dorsey also interviewed with the Browns this week for their OC position.”
Dorsey replaced Brian Daboll for the Bills ahead of the 2022 season, and the offense never reached the heights under Dorsey that it did under Daboll. While the stats were similar, the offense stagnated in big spots, the team failed to develop a consistent running game, and Dorsey could never get Josh Allen to disavow his worst gunslinging tendencies.
Once the Bills fired Daboll and installed quarterback coach Joe Brady, the running game took off — rushing for over 100 yards in every game, including a 266-yard effort against the Dallas Cowboys — and Allen, who threw 11 interceptions in his first 10 games threw just seven in his last nine.
For the Buccaneers, the worry with Dorsey is that the team gets too pass-happy, and if the franchise does retain Baker Mayfield, he will regress to his No. pick bust status that he started to shed in 2023 under Dave Canales.
The good news is there are some other interesting candidates Todd Bowles and the Buccaneers are considering.
Other Bucs OC Candidates
As of Jan. 27, 2024, the Buccaneers have four reported additional offensive coordinator interviews on the books. These coaches include:
Los Angeles Chargers offensive coordinator Kellen Moore (h/t NFL Network’s Mike Garafollo)
Los Angeles Rams quarterbacks coach/passing game coordinator Zac Robinson (h/t NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport)
Buccaneers quarterbacks coach Thad Lewis (h/t Rapoport)
Former Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Brian Johnson (h/t CBS Sports Jonathan Jones)
Each one of these candidates is intriguing in their own rights.
Kellen Moore struggled at times to get the most out of Justin Herbert and the Chargers’ high-powered, talented offense, but he did have some incredible seasons calling plays for Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys.
Brian Johnson is the closest thing to Ken Dorsey on this list. The Eagles’ offense was simplistic and ultimately ineffective this season, and while he wasn’t fired in-season, the team did show him the door after the Buccaneers unceremoniously dumped the Eagles out of the playoffs.
The next two candidates are young and unproven, but that also means that they could have similar upside to Canales, who the Buccaneers plucked from the Seattle Seahawks with no offensive coordinator experience under his belt.
Lewis is a former quarterback who has flown up the ranks of the Buccaneers coaching tree. He started as an interim in 2020, became a general offensive assistant in 2021, an assistant wide receiver coach in 2022, and the quarterbacks coach in 2023.
Lewis would represent the most seamless transition from Canales for Mayfield and the offense, but like Dorsey replacing Daboll, the student can’t always emulate what the teacher did.
Robinson is one of the hottest OC candidates in the NFL this season, having spent the last five seasons working under offensive wonderboy Sean McVay. And lots of teams want to pick coaches from this tree, as McVay disciples like Matt LaFleur, Kevin O’Connell, and Zac Taylor have all had a ton of success spreading the Rams coach’s offense around the league.
