TAMPA, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers decided this offseason to move Todd Monken, who had split time between offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach duties the past two years, into a full-time coordinator position. It was done to help free up Dirk Koetter, who will continue to call plays as a third-year head coach, but will now have the benefit of a second set of eyes on the field during practice and in games from a trusted source.

"Todd's an experienced coach and he's [been a] head coach, he's been an offensive coordinator before, so now he has responsibility to all positions on offense instead of just to the wide receivers," Koetter said. "So, if you notice, he travels with the quarterbacks early in practice and he was making some good points to the tight ends about route running today. Before, he would have just been down on the end of the field with the receivers."

Tight ends coach Ben Steele is already seeing a difference.

"The great thing about that is, now I'm getting a little more from him," Steele said. "We both can coach tight ends. I can't coach up every single guy, so now that he can walk around and be involved in all the different drills, it's awesome. It's gonna help us as he's able to relay the message and the coaching points that we want to get to all the groups. I really enjoy it. It's gonna be good for our team."

Monken also is responsible for scripting all plays during practice, which was Koetter's responsibility, and then became a shared responsibility with Monken and quarterbacks coach Mike Bajakian. Now it's Monken who keeps track of all offensive plays based on what looks the defense is showing throughout installation periods.

"That's a huge load off of my plate to either let me go sit in on other meetings or be working on something else," said Koetter, who has longed for more time to prepare for team meetings and work on different motivational strategies.

Bajakian added: "[Monken] taking the scripting responsibilities off my plate has really helped me focus even more on preparing these guys, preparing the quarterbacks. ... He's got great ideas, No. 1, [and] as a sounding board -- those are the two big things. And then his organization skills ... Monk's flexibility now has helped a lot of us."

Koetter now has Monken addressing the team when the offense meets while he sits in the back of the room. Monken will also bounce around from different positional meetings to observe. He's careful not to step on position coaches' toes. He's there to ensure consistency and provide feedback, if needed.

"Coach Monk is a coach that brings the intensity," tight end O.J. Howard said. "He doesn't care who the player is. He treats everyone the same and he has that fire about himself, so just looking forward to seeing what he can do with the offensive playsheet in his hands."

One of the first things Monken picked up on when he came to Tampa was identifying that the Bucs' most successful pass play was actually not even a "play" at all, but rather, the scramble drill, when quarterback Jameis Winston would keep a broken play alive by scrambling and eventually finding an open receiver. The team made it a point to actually practice the scramble drill to take advantage of Winston's improvisation skills.

With Monken's added presence in the quarterbacks room, that's something that can benefit Winston, who has lost his cool on multiple occasions in games. He head-butted Dallas Cowboys linebacker Justin Durant in Week 15 of the 2016 season. In Week 16 of the 2017 season against the Carolina Panthers, he charged after an official over what was ruled a lost fumble, unintentionally knocking over director of football operations Shelton Quarles in the process.

Winston was also involved in an altercation that ultimately got Mike Evans suspended when he confronted Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore in Week 9 last season. Saints coach Sean Payton criticized Koetter for not taking Evans and Winston out of the game, but Koetter admitted he didn't see the incident in real time because he was trying to get the next play in. Monken's eyes and presence could have helped both quarterback and head coach.

"Coach Monken has been one of my favorite coaches since I've been here," Winston said. "The main thing I like about him is he's a realist. He's going to come at you straight, he [isn't] going to lie to you, he [isn't] going to try to beat around the bush. He's going to be real about you and he's going to find a way to teach you."

Though Monken and Koetter are both straight-shooters -- something their players have said they appreciate -- those who have worked with Monken say he has a knack for analyzing people and how the dynamics of different personalities play into situations, complementing and even softening Koetter, who's more into the "Xs and Os."

Last season, when a report surfaced of a rift between Winston and Koetter while Winston was recovering from his shoulder injury, it was Monken who met with the media to diffuse the situation and provide proper perspective. In the middle of not one, but two five-game losing streaks and multiple media outlets using the rift as an ammunition in calling for Koetter's job, Monken's impassioned speech proved invaluable.

Monken's work with the quarterbacks won't just be him serving as a pseudo-psychologist for Winston and Koetter should another rift arise. He'll be in Winston's ear now daily -- in meeting rooms and on the field -- giving him a fresh voice after working with Bajakian and Koetter for three years. That started with a simple message this offseason of "stop trying so hard."

He picked up on the pressures Winston put on himself in Year 3 while fighting a shoulder injury -- the first major injury he dealt with in his career -- and told Winston, "It's OK to fail. You're human. It's OK to be hurt. It's OK to have that side of you. Let's just go. You don't have to try so hard. The guys will follow you. Just be yourself."

After spending the past year working with DeSean Jackson, whom Winston struggled to develop chemistry with, Monken can serve as a bridge to help fortify that connection. The Bucs need it to work, not just because Jackson is entering Year 2 of a $33.5 million deal. They need Jackson's speed so he can take the top off defenses and providee more breathing room for Evans, tight end Cameron Brate and a struggling ground game.

"He is so knowledgeable in general, but his knowledge of wide receiver play is probably the best I've ever been around," Bajakian said. "So I think it adds the element in our meetings that he can speak so intelligently to the quarterbacks about the little nuances of the game that make a difference."