There’s a lot of uncertainty and definitely quite a few questions surrounding the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this season. Many believe the Bucs are a team that is one the rise and poised to have one of their best seasons yet. Meanwhile, other analysts are leaning towards the Buccaneers showing a little bit of improvement but nothing too drastic. At least that’s the case with For The Win’s Steven Ruiz, who believes the Buccaneers are playoff sleepers this season.

Tier 4 (Playoff Sleepers): Chargers, Bengals, Lions, Redskins, Titans, Buccaneers

“I’m still not ready to jump on the Bucs and Titans’ bandwagons just yet, Ruiz wrote in his latest analysis. “Give me a year and I’m there. Until then, both teams are just sleepers in my book. Bob Quinn is building a good roster in Detroit but I can’t shake the feeling that they are the third-best team in that division. The Chargers are the team I like most of this group. The coaching change and a little injury luck could get Los Angeles back to the playoffs.”

While it’s evident that the Bucs clearly won’t be making a Super Bowl run, I believe they have a solid chance of making a playoff appearance especially since the front office did a phenomenal job reassembling Jameis Winston’s weapons adding DeSean Jackson, O.J. Howard and Chris Godwin to the receiving corps. Tampa Bay’s defense also showed an immense amount of progress last season as they contributed greatly to the Buccaneers five-game winning streak. Acquiring numerous defensive weapons like Chris Baker and J.J. Wilcox in free agency and Justin Evans through the draft will only improve Mike Smith’s surging defense. But when it comes down to it, what will ultimately carry the Bucs to a long awaited playoff run is the top-10 offense the Bucs have spent the past few months formulating.