Buccaneers Hire Ex-Cardinals Coach Bruce Arians On Four-Year Deal

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers hired Bruce Arians on Tuesday night. He’s now the third coach this offseason to receive a four-year contract with a team option for a fifth year.

Arians’s Deal Includes A Fifth-Year Option

Unlike Vic Fangio and Kliff Kingsbury, he’s the only hire with previous NFL head coaching experience.

From 2013 to 2017, Arians was the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals. However, the Cardinals didn’t fire Arians: he retired. When Arians first announced he wanted to return to coaching, the Cardinals argued that they should be compensated. The NFL shot down the claim because the team didn’t exercise Arians’ fifth-year option. However, a late argument by Arizona succeeded and now the Buccaneers will send over a sixth-round pick to the Cards. Arizona, in exchange, will trade them a seventh-round pick and the right to sign Arians.

Arians initially claimed he’d only come out of retirement to coach the Cleveland Browns. Arians is already assembling a staff. Former New York Jets head coach Todd Bowles is tapped to lead the defense. In Tampa Bay, the 66-year-old head coach will be tasked with turning around a 5-11 team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2007. He’ll also be given an incredibly problematic enigma in Jameis Winston.

The Tampa Bay front office is ecstatic over the hiring. “Bruce Arians is one of the NFL’s most well-respected coaches over the past two decades and we are excited to have him leading our team,” Buccaneers owner Bryan Glazer said in a statement. “Throughout this process, we focused on finding the right coach with a proven ability to elevate our players and lead our team forward. Bruce has played a large role in the development and career success of some of our league’s best players and we look forward to seeing him continue that work here with our franchise.”