It’s the season for awards, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are getting snubbed in the latest one. The Pro Football Writers of America announced their yearly All-NFL team, and not a single Bucs player made the list.
No, not even Mike Evans, who certainly had a top-five and arguably a top-two year as a receiver. He wasn’t named an AP First-Team All-Pro either, though, so I guess that snubbing is to be expected.
Evans was named to the Pro Bowl, of course, and he made it to the second-team AP All-Pro list, as did Gerald McCoy and Lavonte David. Had the PFWA put out a second-team All-NFL list, it’s entirely plausible that they would have made that list. Alas, the PFWA is stingy about its awards.
There is something to this ranking, though. It suggests that while the Bucs have a number of very good players, they have no one who is currently the very best at his position. Not Evans, not McCoy, not David. If the Bucs want to turn into a truly good team, they made need to get a few of those outstanding players — or hope that Evans or Jameis Winston turns into one.