On January 2, 2017, one day after the conclusion of the NFL's 2016 regular season, Tampa Bay Buccaneers Head Coach Dirk Koetter met with the media and reviewed a 9-7 campaign that had come up just a bit short of the playoffs. Koetter and General Manager Jason Licht and their staffs were about to devote several months to identifying and addressing the team's shortcomings in an effort to take the next step in 2017 and return to the postseason.
That study had yet to begin, but Koetter had already identified one important area in which he knew his team had to improve.