Bruce Arians stepping down

[Ice]

Bruce Arians stepping down as Buccaneers head coach.

Interesting; Thoughts!
https://www.nfl.com/news/bruce-arians-r ... ucceed-him

[Ray Finkle]

This should prolong his life

[MucBuc]

Thoughts: Good for him, to be able to go out while still on top. Was always a bit worried seeing him on the sidelines with all those medical devices. But it won't change anything for FF purposes, the offense and defense will remain the same.
But a bit surprised they didn't go with Leftwich as the new HC.

[Anteaters]

From the reports so far, it seems Arians is very close to Bowles, having coached him as far back as college. Arians apparently always considered Bowles as the guy who would replace him when he retired, and the timing of this announcement is interpreted by some to be so late in the coach-hiring season as to help ensure the Bucs didn't manage to squeeze in another candidate.

[abloom]

I think we know how the Bucs got Brady back from retirement now.

[AndyRML]

Yeah I'm surprised at the number of "Brady must be pissed!" immediate reactions there were. The only two reasonable explanations here were:

1. Arians had a new sudden change in health that required him to step aside as coach.

2. Brady's un-retirement was contingent on Arians not being the coach.

I think we know how the Bucs got Brady back from retirement now.

[halfbaked88]

Doesn't change much. Brady wasn't playing Arians' offense anyway. Bill Belichick has been quoted saying Tom Brady in Tampa is running the same offense he's always been aka Belichick's offense.

[mild]

Yeah I'm surprised at the number of "Brady must be pissed!" immediate reactions there were. The only two reasonable explanations here were:

1. Arians had a new sudden change in health that required him to step aside as coach.

2. Brady's un-retirement was contingent on Arians not being the coach.

I think we know how the Bucs got Brady back from retirement now.

There's another narrative that is making the rounds that I quite like.

3. It was always going to go this way - but Arians wanted to wait to make sure that the Coaching Cycle was late enough that the job -had- to go to Todd Bowles.

There has been rumblings that Arians was pissed at Bowles repeatedly getting passed over, and he wanted to personally ensure the job went to him as a succession plan.

From Bruce Arian's statement, emphasis mine:

I wanted to ensure when I walked away that Todd Bowles would have the best opportunity to succeed. So many head coaches come into situations where they are set up for failure, and I didn’t want that for Todd. Tom’s decision to come back, along with Jason and his staff doing another great job of keeping the core of this team intact during free agency, confirmed for me that it was the right time to pass the torch to Todd. I began conversations with Jason and the Glazer family a few weeks ago about a possible succession plan. Their understanding and support mean the world to me.

[Yarnith]

Bowles like Leftwich wont prove anything until Brady isnt the OC/QB and assistant GM for the team. Hopefully he learned his lessons from the Jets. Just dont let him pick the next rookie QB or trade for Geno Smith.