Add an internal candidate to the growing list of coaches interviewed for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ open offensive coordinator position. Current Bucs quarterbacks coach Thad Lewis. Lewis was the sixth interviewee confirmed Wednesday, and the first from Todd Bowles’ own staff.
The Buccaneers had previously interviewed four candidates from other teams, starting with a virtual meeting with Detroit Lions wide receivers coach Antoine Randle El last Friday. This week, the team spoke directly with former Cleveland Browns offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, current Houston Texans quarterbacks coach Jerrod Johnson and former Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Brian Johnson.
Lewis, who has been interviewed by several other teams, just completed his first season as the Bucs’ quarterbacks coach. He began his NFL coaching career in Tampa in 2020 as part of the Bill Walsh Coaching Fellows Program, serving as an offensive assistant on the team that would go on to win Super Bowl LV. He was hired as assistant wide receivers coach the following season and held the position for two seasons, working alongside Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.
In 2023, Lewis worked closely with quarterback Baker Mayfield, who earned an invitation to the Pro Bowl in his first year as Tampa Bay’s starter. After a chaotic 2022 season that saw him first traded from Cleveland to Carolina, then waived and acquired by the Rams, Mayfield has found the form that made him the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 draft. With help from Lewis, Mayfield set career highs in passing yards (4,044) and touchdown passes (28), but had only 10 interceptions.
Before joining the coaching ranks as an offensive analyst with Chip Kelly’s UCLA team in 2018-19, Lewis spent parts of eight seasons (2010-17) as a quarterback in the NFL, playing for the Rams, Browns, Lions, Bills, Texans, Eagles, 49ers, Ravens. He started six games in his career, including one game with Cleveland in 2012 and five games with Buffalo in 2013.
The Buccaneers are looking to replace Dave Canales, who spent one season as the team’s offensive coordinator before being hired as the new head coach of the Carolina Panthers last week.