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Todd Bowles is taking some heat online for recent comments made about the team’s leading scorer. The head coach has now planted a seed of uncertainty surrounding a key contributor’s job security.
Ryan Succop has been Tampa Bay’s kicker for the last three seasons, pacing the Bucs in points each of those campaigns. This year, he more than tripled the output of the next closest player.
Succop averaged just a tick under seven points a game in 2022, with all of that scoring coming via field goals or extra points. With the team’s struggles on offense under Tom Brady, the position was an important one in securing a division title.
Now, it’s not uncommon for kickers to lead the team in scoring. In fact, it’s expected. But usually, they have some help from players on the offensive side of the ball.
Take, for example, the Bucs’ most recent Super Bowl season in 2020. Succop scored 136 points, but there were five other players with at least six touchdowns (42 points) on the roster. Mike Evans led all skill position players with 78 points.
The following year, Tampa Bay had a pair of players notch double digit TDs, again taking some of the pressure off of the special teams unit.
But in 2022, Succop accounted for 37% of the team’s scoring compared to just 25% and 27% in seasons past. The kicker totaled 117 points with the next closest teammate sitting at 36.
Tampa had some of the worst offensive production in the NFL, ranking 25th in the league in points per game. They converted touchdowns on just 52% of their redzone drives.
That led Todd Bowles to fire offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich. It also left Succop with a lot of work to do in terms of putting points on the scoreboard.
And for the most part, he succeeded. The veteran converted all but one of his extra points while being one of seven kickers to hit more than 30 field goals.
Unfortunately, his performance from long distance left something to be desired. Todd Bowles commented on that in a recent interview.
“Ryan was very efficient this year, but we’ve got to be able to kick longer field goals than we’ve kicked. I think we’ve got to get past 47 yards, be able to kick from 50, 55 yards.”
Bowles is right in that sense. Succop was an NFL worst 2-for-7 from beyond 50 yards while converting 29-of-31 attempts from shorter distance. He’s just 3-of-10 on 50-yard attempts in his Tampa career.
Still, many fans believe the blame lies more on the offense for not being able to move the ball closer. This was the immediate response online.
One fan wrote, “Yeah. That was the issue with this season,” while another said, “He’s been solid for three years… Get the dude in better field position.”
This fan commented, “Todd Bowles is blaming the guy at the back of the line for the line not moving faster.”
Ryan Succop may not be with the team next year based on these recent comments, but it’s clear the Bucs have bigger issues.
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