The Buccaneers made sensible depth signings, but Tampa Bay failed to attack wide receiver and cornerback after losing Mike Evans and Jamel Dean.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers free agency plan felt way too calm for a team that had just watched two major pillars walk out the door.

That’s the issue. It’s not that the Bucs signed bad players and that every contract was reckless. The real problem is that Tampa Bay opened NFL free agency by patching the edges of the roster while leaving two of its biggest holes wide open. After losing Mike Evans and Jamel Dean, the Buccaneers needed urgency at wide receiver and cornerback. Instead, they acted like they were tuning up a playoff-ready roster.

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That’s a dangerous misread.

Let’s be fair first. Jake Browning is a smart backup quarterback addition behind Baker Mayfield. Al-Quadin Muhammad gives the pass rush another body. Kenneth Gainwell on a two-year, $14 million deal adds useful juice to the backfield and passing game. Alex Anzalone brings communication and veteran stability at linebacker on a two-year, $17 million contract. Adding Miles Killebrew also checks a sensible box, but the re-signing of Cade Otton raises my eyebrows, but that’s a story for another day.

None of those moves are ridiculous. But sensible is not the same as sufficient.

When Mike Evans leaves, you don’t shrug and circle the draft. You go hunting. Evans wasn’t just another productive receiver. He was the defining shape of Tampa Bay’s passing game, the franchise leader in catches, receiving yards, touchdowns and total scoring. He was the boundary eraser, the red-zone bully and the bailout option when the offense needed a grown-man play. You don’t replace that with vague optimism and a committee.

And yet that is exactly what this week looked like.

The same logic applies to defense. Jamel Dean signing with Pittsburgh created a real problem in the secondary. He started 14 games last season, grabbed a career-high three interceptions and understood how to function on the outside in Todd Bowles’ system. Corners with that kind of experience are not sitting in a bargain bin waiting to be found later.

That is why the Buccaneers’ first week felt off.

It wasn’t about one bad signing. It was about the sequence. Tampa Bay treated running back depth, linebacker help and backup quarterback insurance like equal priorities to replacing a franchise icon at receiver and a proven outside corner. They aren’t.

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The Bucs still have time to fix it. Trades can happen. Veteran receivers are still available. Cornerback help can still be added. This isn’t the final grade on the offseason.

But first impressions matter in free agency because they reveal what a front office truly fears most.

Right now, the Buccaneers look like a team that handled secondary chores while the house was on fire.