Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles got brutally honest on whether the franchise signed Desmond Watson in an effort to defend the Tush Push. The Buccaneers turned many heads with their decision to add the nose tackle out of Florida as an undrafted free agent. At 6'6, 464 pounds, Watson is the heaviest NFL player of all time by a landslide. However, the Plant City, Florida native is a terrific athlete for his size with phenomenal strength.

After the league's latest ruling on the Tush Push, which the Philadelphia Eagles have famously used, multiple franchises will try to adjust to defend this seemingly indefensible play. In fact, the Eagles were even prescribed to draft the nose tackle to make the Tush Push even more unstoppable. Bowles, however, clarified that Watson was not specifically drafted to stop this one play. In an interview with ESPN's Jenna Laine, the head coach broke down Watson's performance so far in training camp and potential impact at this level.

“To judge him right now is very early, and we didn’t get him for the tush push — we got him because we really thought he could play. It’s just a matter of getting him to the point where he can play more than two or three plays [per drive]. Right now, we just have to see how long he can stay on the field, and [we] put him on a program where we think he can make some progress. We didn’t get him to say, ‘Hey, we have to put you on the field right now.’ It’s, ‘Hey, we can try to put you on this program and see what we can come up with and see if we can get our endurance better,’ and have him become a better player that way, then kind of see where he is.”

The Buccaneers are looking to take that good-to-great jump in 2025

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After an over-decade-long playoff drought, Tampa Bay has recently been a very successful franchise. The Buccaneers have made the postseason five straight years and won four straight NFC South titles. Still, the franchise has not been back to the NFC Championship game since its Super Bowl title in 2020.

Overall, time will tell the impact Watson has on this roster. Tampa Bay is squarely in win-now mode, but could use a few unexpected players to emerge in 2025. The NFC will be stacked once again, and the division will likely be harder to win this season. That being said, Todd Bowles' team has the talent to be a threat in the conference once again.