Prior to the start of the 2024 season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were not the trendy pick to win the NFC South that season, despite the fact that the Buccaneers had in fact, captured that title in each of the previous three seasons. The Atlanta Falcons with the additions of quarterback Kirk Cousins and Head Coach Raheem Morris were popular favorites, and the Carolina Panthers looked like they might be a team on the rise. As it turned out, those who stuck with the defending champs were rewarded, as the Bucs finished 10-7, won a fourth straight South crown and were the only team in the division to finish over .500.

As such, Tampa Bay was the favorite to win the division again in 2025, a notion that seemed on its way to confirmation when the Bucs hit the bye week with a 6-2 record and had a two-game lead in the division. Therefore it's fair to say it was a surprise when they lost seven of their last nine games to finish 8-9 and cede the division title to 8-9 Carolina on a tiebreaker.

Obviously, there was more than one unpleasant surprise for the Bucs and their fans in 2025, but that's not what we're here to discuss today. In fact, it's quite the opposite.

The Buccaneers have begun their transition from the end of the 2025 season to the start of what should be an eventful 2026 offseason. Staff Writer/Reporter Brianna Dix, Buccaneers.com Contributor Gabriel Kahaian and I have decided to tackle a number of topics about both seasons in a series of our weekly Roundtable articles between now and the start of the NFL's new league year in March. We'll start with a few looks back at the 2025 campaign before turning our attention to a variety of topics regarding what lies ahead as the Bucs try to climb back to the top of the NFC South mountain.

Bri, Gabe and I have lined up eight topics we will be debating over the next two months, one on each Monday. Here's the whole schedule:

• Monday, January 12: What was your most pleasant surprise regarding the Buccaneers' 2025 season?
• Monday, January 19: Who was the Buccaneers 2025 MVP (non-quarterback division)?
• Monday, January 26: What was the Bucs' single most exciting play of the 2025 season?
• Monday, February 2: Who is your most intriguing under-the-radar player on the 2026 roster?
• Monday, February 9: What is the most pressing roster need the Bucs' need to address in the offseason?
• Monday, February 16: If the Buccaneers were to make a big free agency splurge, who would you want?
• Monday, February 23: What position would you like to see Tampa Bay target in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft?
• Monday, March 2: Give us one specific statistical prediction for the Bucs' 2026 season?

So, as noted, our kickoff debate is: What was your most pleasant surprise regarding the Buccaneers' 2025 season. We're going to get specific about certain players or trends that, even if we were optimistic at the beginning of the season, we didn't necessarily see coming.

We won't be duplicating answers, so the order in which the three of us get to attack these question could matter. Brianna will go first with this one, followed by Gabe and I, and we'll rotate the order from week to week. So take us away, Bri!

Brianna Dix: Kameron Johnson in Return Game

Kameron Johnson was named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week for Week One. He became the first Tampa Bay player to win a Special Teams Player of the Week award since 2023, and the first non-specialist to receive this honor for the Buccaneers since 2015.

In Tampa Bay's season-opening win over the Atlanta Falcons, Johnson sparked a crucial go-ahead, second-half touchdown drive with a 54-yard punt return in the third quarter. It marked the Buccaneers' longest punt return since Bobby Rainey took one 58 yards on Oct. 11, 2015 vs. Jacksonville. Johnson's return was the longest of Week One – exceeding the second-best return across the league by 31 yards.

In addition to his contributions as a returner, Johnson also served as a gunner on Tampa Bay's punt team, which ranked seventh in the NFL, and third in the NFC, in Week One in net yards per punt (44.0). he was responsible for one of two punts downed inside the 20-yard line by the Buccaneers in that game – tied for the second-most among any NFL team in Week One. Since joining the Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent out of Barton College in 2024, Johnson has made an impact in the return game.

In 2025, Johnson averaged 25.4 yards per kick return and totaled 685 yards on 27 kick returns, with his longest being a 44-yarder. He amassed 26 punt returns this past season for 291 yards, including a 54-yarder and an 11.2 average per punt return. Johnson created positive field position for the Buccaneers and helped out the offense with a short field on numerous occasions, shifting the momentum. He became my most pleasant surprise of the 2025 season for his explosion and quick change-of-direction.

Gabriel Kahaian: Jacob Parrish's Rookie Campaign

I nearly chose the Buccaneers' latest first-round pick Emeka Egbuka as my pick for the most pleasant surprise. However, I do not really view his emergence as a "surprise". He was a top-prospect pass-catcher from Ohio State. Of course he was going to shred. Instead, I decided to go with a fellow member of the Bucs' 2025 draft class, cornerback Jacob Parrish.

Jason Licht is currently on a third-round hot streak, consistently uncovering impact defenders late on Day Two. In 2023, he selected Louisville outside linebacker Yaya Diaby, who leads Tampa Bay with 19 sacks over the past three seasons. Georgia safety Tykee Smith joined the Krewe last year, and he has blossomed into another cornerstone in the secondary. Parrish has continued the trend.

Throughout the 2025 offseason, the Kansas State product impressed. Parrish earned his way onto the field with his tenacious ball skills and speed (he ran a 4.35 at the NFL Scouting Combine). He gained the trust of both the coaching staff and his teammates, ultimately becoming the team's starting nickel. Once the season started, he made his presence known.

Parrish led the league in defensive snaps played by a rookie corner (716). He ended the season with 76 total tackles, two interceptions and seven passes defensed. The slot corner recorded nine games in which he allowed a passer rating of 80.0-or-lower in 2025, tied for the most such games by any rookie defender. Not only did Parrish hold his own in coverage, he also excelled in stopping the ground attack.

He found himself in the backfield often, totaling seven tackles for loss and 2.0 sacks in his rookie campaign. Parrish is the fourth rookie defensive back since 2010 to record 75-plus tackles and multiple interceptions/sacks, joining Kansas City's Eric Berry in 2010, Los Angeles Chargers' Derwin James in 2018 and Washington's Kamren Curl in 2020. To top it off, he finished with PFF's highest run-defense grade from any first-year cornerback.

The scariest part is Parrish is just getting started. He has a bright future ahead of him.

Scott Smith: Bucs Find Valuable Third Tackle in Surprising Manner

I was originally leaning towards a look at the emerging young talent in the secondary. I know the overall results for the Bucs' pass defense in 2025 were not great – in part due to an underwhelming pass rush – but I look at the way Parrish played, how Smith developed into a big-play maker (particularly in the first half of the season) and some promising signs from Benjamin Morrison at the end and I think the makings are there for a good unit. Still, that seems a bit redundant after Gabe's choice, so I'm pivoting to a player on the other side of the ball.

Last offseason, the Bucs saw Justin Skule depart in free agency for the Vikings, and I don't think they were happy about it because Skule had developed into a trusted swing tackle for the team. Tampa Bay was set in the starting lineup with Tristan Wirfs and Luke Goedeke, but a reliable third tackle can become very important to a team very quickly if injuries crop up. The Bucs responded to the departure of Skule, who ended up starting nine games for Minnesota, by quickly signing veteran Charlie Heck.

Heck did prove to be a worthwhile addition for the Bucs, as he started at right tackle in Games Three through Eight following the foot injury that sent Goedeke to injured reserve for six weeks. The Bucs won four of those six games. Tampa Bay also had to deal with the absence of Wirfs for the first three weeks of the season and took the surprise step of moving second-year center Graham Barton to left tackle for that span. They did have one other option at the time, besides Barton or Heck, as undrafted free agent Benjamin Chukwuma had made the 53-man roster after an eye-opening training camp and preseason, but they chose not to turn to the rookie that soon.

If the Bucs felt that Chukwuma wasn't quite ready to be thrown into the fire in early September, it was understandable. The rookie from Georgia State was an unusual prospect in that he was still relatively new to the sport. He had moved to the United States from Nigeria at the age of 17 and saw just a smattering of high school football before walking on to the team at Georgia State, where he was majoring in computer information systems. Even though he joined the squad in 2020, he didn't actually play in a game until 2023 and finished his collegiate career with a total of 13 starts.

Still, Chukwuma's athletic promise was very intriguing to the Buccaneers and they gave him the largest contract guarantee of any undrafted free agent across the NFL in 2025. It proved to be a very good move. In Week 14, Wirfs couldn't play against the Saints due to an oblique injury. This time, the Bucs chose not to rearrange the lineup and instead just inserted Chukwuma into one of the most difficult positions to master in the NFL. Facing a Saints team whose defensive strength was in edge rushers Chase Young, Carl Granderson and Cam Jordan, Chukwuma allowed no sacks and just one quarterback pressure. Three weeks later, the injury bug got Wirfs again, this time in the toe, and Chukwuma got another shot against the Dolphins. According to Wirfs himself, Chukwuma once again more than held his own.

The Bucs didn't win either of those games, so Chukwuma's readiness didn't save the season or anything like that. What it did do, in my opinion, was set the Bucs up well for 2026 and beyond with a young player they can count on to step in at any time either Wirfs or Goedeke are unavailable. That's a very valuable asset to have, and the Buccaneers gained it without even having to use a draft pick.