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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have finally completed their coaching staff by hiring George Warhop as their offensive line coach, the team has announced, which should be the final piece to the coaching staff puzzle. Warhop has 30 years of experience as an offensive line coach at both the college and NFL level.
The Buccaneers originally wanted to hire Tony Sparano as their offensive line coach, but he used their interest as leverage to finagle a two-year extension out of the Oakland Raiders instead.
Warhop will have to help the Buccaneers revamp their highly-paid but under-performing offensive line. Davin Joseph had a very disappointing season coming off a knee injury, while Carl Nicks missed almost the entire season and his future as an NFL player is currently in doubt. Left tackle Donald Penn is also getting older, although he still had a solid season last year.
Warhop was the Cleveland Browns' offensive line coach for the past five seasons, and served as offensive line coach for the San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Arizona Cardinals and St. Louis Rams over the preceding 14 seasons. Warhop's hiring could help the Buccaneers land free agent center Alex Mack or guard Shawn Lauvao, both played for the Cleveland Browns and will be free agents after this season. Under Warhop, the Browns' offensive line was consistently a quality unit, ranking fifth in Pro Football Focus' Offensive Line rankings this past season and fifth in 2012.
