Super Bowl-winning franchises rarely return their entire starting lineup the following season, but that's exactly what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have done ahead of the 2021 NFL campaign. It's no surprise that they're one of the favorites to again bring home the Lombardi Trophy this season, but how much have the other 31 NFL teams done over the past few months to knock the Bucs off their pedestal?
With the 2021 draft and free agency behind us, we're breaking down each team's roster using the PFF database, with an eye toward the projected starters. We looked at both the PFF grades from the 2020 season -- a number included for every projected starter -- and a more comprehensive look at each player's career using both PFF grades and statistics.
Pro Football Focus grades of 90-plus categorize as elite, 80-89.9 are good/high quality, 70-79.9 fall under average and 69.9 or lower are considered below average.
For rookies and players not active (or barely active) in 2020, we used college grades or NFL grades from earlier seasons. NFL grades from 2019 or earlier are marked with (*), college grades from 2020 are marked with (**), and college grades from 2019 or earlier are marked with (***).
Here's how the 32 rosters stack up heading into this season, complete with each lineup's biggest strengths, weaknesses and X factors.
Jump to a team:
ARI | ATL | BAL | BUF | CAR | CHI | CIN
CLE | DAL | DEN | DET | GB | HOU | IND
JAX | KC | LAC | LAR | LV | MIA | MIN
NE | NO | NYG | NYJ | PHI | PIT | SF
SEA | TB | TEN | WSH
1. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Biggest strength: Tom Brady only had one wide receiver or tight end clear a 70.0 receiving grade in his final season with New England in 2019, and Julian Edelman (72.4) barely met the threshold. But in 2020, Tampa Bay had six different wide receivers and tight ends record at least a 75.0 receiving grade, including O.J. Howard in limited action. It's one of the deepest receiving corps in the NFL, extending beyond those six to include promising young players such as Scotty Miller, Tyler Johnson and rookie Jaelon Darden.
Biggest weakness: Running back Leonard Fournette's stretch of success last postseason doesn't change the fact that 19.1% of his carries have gone for first downs or touchdowns since entering the NFL (third lowest among 30 running backs with 500-plus attempts). Ronald Jones II was an effective runner last season (84.7 rushing grade), but he can't be relied upon on passing downs. Jones tallied just 165 receiving yards on 41 targets in 2020. It's difficult to find a true weakness on this roster, but the running back position is the closest thing to it in the starting lineup.
X factor for 2021: Linebacker Devin White recorded an 83.5 coverage grade across his final five games of the 2020 season, three of which were playoff games. White also came up with 10 quarterback pressures and four sacks over that stretch. The next step in his development is to play at that level with more consistency, like his teammate Lavonte David has done for years. There's no denying that White's speed in the middle of Tampa Bay's defense can be a game-changer.