Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Leonard Fournette had some strong words for the team’s head coach, Todd Bowles. The Bucs are not having the best run in the current season. Their only win came against a tired and struggling Dallas Cowboys in the Week 5 game. Now, Fournette has suggested that it might be Bowles’ final season with the Bucs.
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“I can say this right from being there, playing under Coach Bowles,’ Fournett said on the 4th and South Podcast. “He’s not very vocal. He’s not a vocal coach where, if we mess up, he might yell. But it’s not one of those yells that you take seriously.
“I respect him. But it’s like, when BA [Bruce Arians] got on your a–, he got on his a–. I hope he don’t chew my a– out again like that. I think by Bowles being a defensive mind coach, he don’t pay attention to the offense as much. So, I don’t know, maybe [it’s] favoritism. Certain days, he’d be a little more lean on the defense and offense. I ain’t respect it. But you know, he our coach. It is what it is.”
Meanwhile, former NFL wide receiver Jarvis Landry added that Bowles better have a staff member who commands the team’s respect. However, according to Landry, Bowles lacks that as well.
It’s worth noting that Fournette has talked about 2026 being Bowles’ final season once before. It came after the Buccaneers lost their second game of the season. And the former running back claimed that it was “time for Coach Bowles to wrap it up.”
With the Bucs on a 1-5 record, calls are mounting against poor coaching decisions and execution. A to Z Sports’ Evan Winter noted that after Week 3, the Buccaneers became one of the worst teams in the NFL when he looked at missed tackles. Through three weeks, they had 20 missed tackles. On the other hand, the NFL average for missed tackles is 10.7 per team. Furthermore, he pointed out that the Buccaneers had seven players with at least two missed tackles. And Bowles knew that pretty well.
“We missed some tackles, number one,” the head coach told reporters. “I thought we missed a couple of tackles, and we got off the ball late one time, for sure. I’ll look at the tape, but I know we missed some checkdown tackles that should have been [stopped] where they were.”
After wrapping up the Week 6 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers with a 19-26 defeat, Bowles acknowledged that the Buccaneers need to get things done on the defensive front.
“We’ve done some good things defensively, but you’ve still got to finish the game,” Bowles said on Monday. “They’re playing well. Obviously, we’ve got to do a little bit more. Offensively, we’ve just got to catch up a little bit.”
“It’s critical. It’s a step to trying to get back in it. The guys that you’ve got to play are ahead of you right now, so it’s going to be critical that we win these games.”
Right now, the Bucs are getting ready for the showdown against the Carolina Panthers. With Baker Mayfield’s expected return, Bowles might just save himself with a win.