Bucs Set To Hire New WR Coach

The Bucs officially announced former Seahawks quarterbacks coach Dave Canales as their new offensive coordinator on Thursday, and now, it appears their new wide receivers coach is on his way as well.

Brad Idzik, a Seahawks assistant since 2019, is set to join Canales in Tampa Bay, Seattle general manager John Schneider said Thursday.

Idzik began his time in Seattle as the team’s assistant wide receivers coach, a post he held in 2019 and 2020. He then spent the 2021 season as the Seahawks’ offensive quality control and assistant quarterbacks coach before returning to the assistant wide receivers coach role in 2022.

Idzik has obviously worked closely with Canales, and now he’ll take a step up to coach the Bucs’ receiving corps. The young assistant will work closely with the team’s talented duo of Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, but the rest of the Bucs’ receivers room is a bit in flux heading into 2023. Russell Gage’s name has been mentioned as a potential cap casualty, while Julio Jones, Scotty Miller and Breshad Perriman are all set to hit free agency.

Even if Gage is still around as Tampa Bay’s No. 3 receiver this season, the group will need filling out. The Bucs seem likely to draft a receiver or two, and Idzik will be tasked with getting the most out of them.

While in Seattle, Idzik coached top receivers D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. Metcalf posted 900 yards and seven touchdowns as a rookie in 2019, 1,303 yards and 10 scores in 2020 and 967 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2021. This past season, he topped 1,000 yards again, going for 1,048 and six touchdowns as Geno Smith revived his career and made the Pro Bowl. Lockett has surpassed 1,000 yards in each of the last four years, with eight, 10, eight and nine touchdowns, respectively.

Idzik Has Previous Ties To The Bucs, Who Have More Moves To Make

Idzik is no stranger to Tampa or the Bucs organization. His father, John, was a member of the team’s front office from 1993-2004. He was the director of football administration from 1993-2001 before spending 2001-2004 as the assistant general manager. That means a young Brad would have grown up around the game — and the team.

Bucs OL coach Harold Goodwin, OC Byron Leftwich, head coach Bruce Arians and WRs coach Kevin Garver – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The elder Idzik later held posts as the senior director of football operations in Arizona (2004-2007), vice president of football administration in Seattle (2007-2012), general manger for the New York Jets (2013-2014) and special assistant to the general manager in Jacksonville (2015-2020).

So, this is a bit of a homecoming for Brad Idzik as he serves as the Bucs’ wide receivers coach under Canales. It’s a position that became open when the Bucs fired Kevin Garver. Garver and running backs coach Todd McNair were both fired along with former offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich in January. On the same day, quarterbacks coach Clyde Christensen retired.

So, with the Bucs filling their offensive coordinator and wide receiver coach positions, they’ll next need to find a running backs coach — as well as a quarterbacks coach, assuming Canales doesn’t also hold that role.

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