Thursday OTA Practice Notes & Nuggets
May 25th, 2017
Practice happenings today
UPDATED 4:20 P.M. — Yes, your Buccaneers were practicing today. And Joe is all over the news, notes, nuggets and happenings at One Buc Palace. Grab a sandwich and dive in.
*Lots of Bucs on the shelf wearing sneakers today. Notables include new safety J.J. Wilcox, Robert Ayers, who was seen running gingerly, Ryan Russsell, Mike Evans, Noah Spence, Jacquies Smith and Jeremy McNichiols. Of course, Spence, McNichols and Smith are not expected back until training camp.
*Joe didn’t see Brent Grimes or DeSean Jackson at all.
*Chris Baker was at practice today — he wasn’t Tuesday — but he was on the field intermittently. Baker didn’t stretch with teammates, got his shoes on late and then was in a drill, came off, and then returned. He appeared to be nursing something a little. Baker’s personality was in full force. He had D-line coach Jay Hayes laughing at something.
*Jason Licht and Mike Smith seen in deep conversation on the sidelines, with Smith sporting a pith helmet. Joe really likes that fresh look for Smith.
*11-on-11 work kicks off with America’s Quarterback, Jameis Winston, throwing over the middle to Adam Humphries. Throw was on target but Humphries pulled up for some reason. C’mon, Hump. It’s underwear football. They can’t hit you.
*Next play, Jameis goes back to Humphries about 12 yards off the right flank after a cut inside. Humphries skies for the catch with Javien Elliot on his back. Nice redemption.
*Good hands by Charles Sims with a catch away from his body.
*Jameis with an intentional throwaway. Joe suspects the coaches liked that. No forcing, Jameis.
*Ryan Griffin with a nice toss to Bernard Reedy.
*Nice breakup by Devante Bond over the middle. Bond has good energy.
*Lavonte David catching punts in a punt-catching drill. Looked pretty good on the first round. Ugly drop after that.
*Big rookie DT Stevie Tu’ikolovatu puts a hurtin’ on the blocking sled. Damn.
*Sackless DE George Johnson is healthy and working hard. Can he bounce back from the depths?
*Jameis a little sharper overall than he was Tuesday, the last practice open to media.
*Pass interference! Undrafted rookie Maurice Fleming covering Donteea Dye. (Too much speed from the Stampede.)
*Jameis to Godwin draws “ooohs” from teammates. Tight throw, tough catch.
*PICK! It’s Vernon Hargreaves snatching a rough throw from Jameis.
*7-on-7 and it’s Bernard Reedy with a strong grab in the left seam from Jameis. Full speed, in stride. Great example of a precision 20-yard throw leading to an explosive play.
*Ryan Griffin and Donteea Dye connect DEEP. Funny, on the play Luke Stocker was bummed (slapped his hands and barked something) because Griffin’s read to him for a four-yard dumpoff was passed up.
*Bad throw Jameis to Reedy, Hargreaves in coverage in the right flat.
*Jameis finds Cameron Brate in a zone for 10 yards. Brate has flashed sure hands consistently.
*Back to 11-on-11 and Hey Jude Adjei-Barimah drops a sure pick from Ryan Griffin.
*Ryan Fitzpatrick is sharp to undrafted rookie WR Bobo Wilson for a 10-yard gain.
*Jameis deep, rare to see true deep shot, broken up by Ryan Smith and Keith Tandy. Good defense. Joe didn’t see target.
*Fitzpatrick rolls left and fires a laser for 8 yards to Derel Walker on the left sidelines. Complete!
*Nice catch by Josh Huff on a throw behind him from Fitzpatrick.
**The kicking battle? See the home page for a full story. It was SSSOO quiet out there when Aguayo was kicking.
May 25th, 2017 at 12:52 pm
GREAT NUGGETS!!!…KEEP EM COMING!!…GO BUCS!!!!
May 25th, 2017 at 12:55 pm
I want to hear more about the rookies.
May 25th, 2017 at 12:58 pm
Thanks Joe!
May 25th, 2017 at 12:59 pm
These articles, and the Ira Kaufman podcast’s are 100 percent some of the best content you produce consistently.
Great job Joe.
May 25th, 2017 at 1:16 pm
agree Blake. I enjoy reading this stuff more than anything else on the internet.
May 25th, 2017 at 1:39 pm
Thank you, Joe!
May 25th, 2017 at 2:09 pm
Chris Baker wrecked practice.
May 25th, 2017 at 2:17 pm
Too much speed from the stampede!!!! Joe you’ve got me rolling man. Great info as usual. On another note Davonte Bond is a guy to watch. I met him a few weeks ago and he is an awesome dude! He looked jacked and ready to play. I told him ” u got that SAM job locked up man. ” He liked that.
May 25th, 2017 at 2:20 pm
Really curious to see how Ryan Smith does. Like Joe I have my doubts about a guy they had trouble finding a place for on the field, but it seems like he’s been getting lots of opportunities early here.
May 25th, 2017 at 2:26 pm
Thanks Joe! Keep ’em coming!
May 25th, 2017 at 2:29 pm
Nice to hear Ryan Smith making a play. Apparently he was doing that on practice squad all year so I’ve been wondering if that was reality or coach talk.
The VHIII interception was sick. Dude skied and caught it clean with his hands despite a weird tough angle on the ball – looked like a WR
Great that he gets to face Djax. He never faced a speed WR like that last year.
May 25th, 2017 at 2:33 pm
Yeah seriously thank you Joe. I never even really listened to podcasts much before but I love Bucs Uncensored and the Ira podcasts. It really is cool to see a community of fans coming together like this and getting fired up.
May 25th, 2017 at 2:42 pm
Joe is the man(s)!!!
May 25th, 2017 at 2:43 pm
What blake said
May 25th, 2017 at 2:44 pm
Stevie T!
May 25th, 2017 at 2:49 pm
Am I the only one concerned with OJ’s hands. Ball seems to stumble around as he touches the ball. The bright side is if mike”used to drop everything like Manziel with his daddy’s cash” Evans can figure it out anyone can. I just am worried about oj being a workout warrior and physical freak with unsure hands. Reading about brates glue hands brought this into my head
May 25th, 2017 at 2:51 pm
“Broy34 Says:
May 25th, 2017 at 2:49 pm
Am I the only one concerned with OJ’s hands”
Statistically he was fine in college with barely any drops. He also didn’t have tons of catches so it was limited and in his film there are only a few contested / in traffic catches; but he made big plays in traffic at the senior bowl so i kind of let go of that fear. We’ll see though!
May 25th, 2017 at 2:54 pm
Great Job Joe, and enjoy these reports. Sounds like all three QBs were doing a good job today. That is great to hear, and most connected, so the receivers were really focused too. If Dontae Dye has developed good hands that could be very important, because Jackson will need to be replaced one day, and Dontae Dye has the 4.3 speed to do it. If he makes the team he could learn a lot just watching how Jackson prepares and how he produces in games.
May 25th, 2017 at 2:58 pm
Joe, you da man!!! Keep up the great work!!!
May 25th, 2017 at 3:08 pm
Thanks Joe.
May 25th, 2017 at 3:08 pm
not hearing much about 80. whats going on with him??
May 25th, 2017 at 5:16 pm
@destin. I was thinking the same thing. OJ Howard is not mentioned once
May 25th, 2017 at 5:42 pm
Loved hearing about Reedy, hope he makes it.
May 25th, 2017 at 5:46 pm
dont worry about these hands.
https://youtu.be/c3ZQUaqeQe8
May 25th, 2017 at 6:00 pm
*Big rookie DT Stevie Tu’ikolovatu puts a hurtin’ on the blocking sled. Damn.
Anyone seen this kid play? Beast!
Hope he makes the team
May 25th, 2017 at 6:34 pm
I’m starting to think I was wrong about Godwin not seeing the field as much his rookie year.
Seems like he might be too much of a playmaker to keep off the field. Its just hard to see them not having Hump out there since he’s so dependable in the slot.
May 25th, 2017 at 6:45 pm
Nice to see that this article was updated at 4:20! 🙂
May 25th, 2017 at 6:52 pm
I bet Hargreaves was stoked to intercept Jameis. In Jameis’ final game against the Gators in 2014 Hargreaves was the only one in the secondary to Not intercept Jameis in his 4 interception day.
May 25th, 2017 at 10:55 pm
Is oj howard on this team?
May 26th, 2017 at 8:52 am
“* DE George Johnson is healthy and working hard.
* George Johnson goes down hurt, gets up walking gingerly.”
When I read the first one, I thought “Working hard to get injured again!”
And then he goes down, lol. Talk about a horrible investment.
Derel Walker seems to catch everything that is catchable thrown at him.
May 26th, 2017 at 10:07 am
@Bonzai
http://www.buccaneers.com/videos/videos/Highlight-Richie-Brown-Interception/514f47e5-4c68-4cb0-9545-b50effd37566
Visual evidence that Derel Walker does NOT catch everything.