4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-12)
A popular choice to succeed in recent years, Tampa Bay is now under the leadership of Lovie Smith and a very strong cast of characters, including new quarterback Josh McCown. The issue for the Bucs is that they play in a very strong NFC South, where the New Orleans Saints are the class of the division and both Carolina and Atlanta could be competitive.
Tampa’s offense should be dynamic if McCown continues playing as he did with Chicago. He has the Twin Towers in Vincent Jackson and rookie Mike Evans, plus tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins and a healthy Doug Martin in the backfield. And you can count on Smith to get the Bucs’ defense back into shape and be among the best in the division.
The Bucs will improve in 2014, but is still probably a year or two away from making a run at the division crown.
2014: 6-10
