Bucs coach Lovie Smith said you cannot judge a player in his underwear. Joe is pretty sure he can judge this girl in her underwear.

For those who have never seen video of a minicamp practice or never saw a minicamp practice, there’s a reason why coaches call it “underwear football.”

A player’s uniform in these practices consists of cleats, socks, athletic supporter and cup (if they are smart), shorts, T-shirt, mesh practice jersey and the lone piece of equipment players are allowed to use, a helmet.

Former Bucs coach Raheem Morris used to joke about minicamps referring them to “underwear football.” New Bucs coach Lovie Smith took a page from Morris and when asked about judging the tight ends after three days of voluntary minicamp practice, Lovie waved off the breakdown.

“I don’t think anybody can distinguish themselves running around in their underwear,” Lovie said. “You just can’t do that. We had a chance to see some of the ability and we knew that. Bringing in Brandon Myers, we knew what type of guy he was and what he’s done in a league, in Tim Wright what type of athlete he is, it’s good to get [Luke] Stocker back out on the football field, [Tom] Crabtree and [Steve] Maneri. We have all those guys on video, but it’s hard to kind of tell with tight ends. We want to be able to see them once we get in pads and see what they can do then.”

Basically, last week’s minicamp was little more than flag football. No hitting was allowed. There is minimal blocking. It’s not really football.

What minicamps do is allow players to get on a field and become familar with new teammates and learn new offenses and defenses. As Lovie said, until they are allowed to hit, there is only so much that can be learned from dudes in underwear.