Bucs Training Camp 2024: Day 6 Practice Notes
July 31st, 2024
The lightning alarm flashed for just about the entire practice Tuesday night. But the Bucs and fans were safe and dry inside the Glazer Shed.
Really good crowd turned out to pack the Glazer Shed as the Bucs held a night practice Tuesday. Joe doesn’t know what to type to properly describe it.
Before warmups, Todd Bowles sat down for the Ira Kaufman Podcast. Lots of great stuff.
Either the pass blocking melted down with Tristan Wirfs watching from the sidelines or all the pass rushers the Bucs have drafted the past four years decided to have a coming-out party on the same evening.
Either the offense was terribly sloppy turning the ball over right and left or the defense has turned into a reincarnation of the 2002 Bucs.
So much to decipher. Joe has the notes below. Joe reports; you decide.
* Lavonte David and Mike Evans had a veteran’s day off on the turf. Chris Godwin warmed up and may have taken a couple of snaps but overall didn’t practice. Left guard Sua Opeta suffered a knee injury early in practice and was done for the night. Bucs coach Todd Bowles didn’t have any further information on Opeta after practice.
* Baker Mayfield fakes a handoff, rolls left and then passes to Jalen McMillan on a short pass to the right.
* Kyle Trask flushed by veteran free agent Eric Banks.
* Running back Sean Tucker fires up the middle. He got a lot of work Tuesday night.
* Trask to Ryan Miller to the right. The throw was low but Miller dug it out of the turf.
* John Wolford and Rakim Jarrett just missed hooking up on a pass to the right. Bryce Hall was defending.
* Ramon Jefferson trucks a defender on a run up the middle.
* Wolford throws to Raleigh Webb to the right sideline but UDFA Rashad Wisdom (Texas-San Antonio) broke up the pass. You will read his name again.
* Joe couldn’t tell if McMillan ran a very soft slant or if it was a down-and-in. Whatever you want to call it, McMillan ran in from the left side, caught a Mayfield pass near the left hashmark and ran to the right sideline and scored. Bucs fans who packed the Glazer Shed approved.
* Rookie running back Bucky Irving runs up the middle for about seven yards.
* Here comes the pass rush. YaYa Diaby would have had a sack on Mayfield in a real game. José Ramirez was in there, too. It seemed whenever Diaby or Ramirez were on the field, they set up shop in the backfield. Joe doesn’t know whether to be insanely happy or deeply troubled.
* Tucker runs about 12-15 yards to the left.
* Mayfield hits Rachaad White over the middle for a big gain. Joe will say it again: This White is a weapon in the passing game. And the best way to negate a pass rush is to throw short passes.
* If the Bucs can pull off plays like this, look out: Mayfield drops back and throws deep to Cade Otton down the right sideline for around 20 yards and Otton did the rest. Really cool to see a tight end stretch the field like this.
Red Zone
* Mayfield throws to Sterling Shepard short up the right sideline.
* Irving takes a couple of steps to the left and then cuts up the middle for about seven yards.
* Mayfield to Irving on the right side for six.
* Mayfield to Trey Palmer along the left sideline. Palmer bobbled the ball but secured it just before getting drilled.
* Tucker runs right and there is nowhere to run. He tries to reverse field but is gang-tackled.
* Trask dumps off a pass under a rush to Shepard to the left side.
* Mayfield throws right to White for a score.
* Mayfield to McMillan in the far left corner of the end zone and McMillan does the rest for six.
* Crazy play of the night: Wolford throws to Rakim Jarrett in the far left corner of the zone. Jarrett seemed well-covered, even double-teamed yet he jumped out of the building to catch the pass and bring in a touchdown.
* Things are getting chippy. First, right tackle Luke Goedeke got into a shoving match with a couple of defenders (what’s new?). The next play linebacker K.J. Britt and backup tackle Justin Skule got into a hassle. Not long after, Palmer caught a short pass on the left side and Britt stopped him in his tracks. Palmer sort of aggressively waved an arm/shoved Britt out of the way with one arm and Britt had to be restrained by a pair of teammates.
* The start of something special? Rookie edge rusher Chris Braswell got through the line and forced Mayfield to hurry a throw for Palmer but Jamel Dean broke up the pass down the left seam. Joe is pretty sure that’s Braswell’s second flash in Joe’s practice notes.
* Play blown dead while Trask dropped back to pass as Ramirez would have broken Trask in half.
* Mayfield just gets a pass off beforeDiaby got to him. Diaby sailed through from the right side.
* Pick! The defense is beginning to smell blood. Free agent cornerback signing Tavierre Thomas hauls in an interception. Not his first this summer. Mayfield may have hurried the throw as Ramirez got through.
* Mayfield tries for Jarrett down the right sideline and Christian Izien jumped the route and nearly had a pick. He did knock the ball away.
11-on-11
* White bursts up the middle with authority.
* Once was good enough why not again? White with a physical run up the middle.
* Trask to Kameron Johnson over the middle. Trask got the pass off just before Tykee Smith got to him. Smith came in from the right side scot free.
* Mayfield throws deep down the left hashmarks for Ryan Miller and the pass is a little too long.
* Mayfield finds Shepard over the middle and connects with the veteran receiver in a crowd of defenders.
* Graham Barton rolled a snap back to Mayfield in shotgun which blew the play up.
* Trask with passes to Palmer and Johnson down the right sideline and those two plays are followed up by a big run up the middle by D.J. Williams.
* Trask rolls to his left. Stops and pops and throws back across his body (not very far) for Tanner Knue in the middle of the field.
* Tucker powers off right tackle for a long touchdown run.
* Pick! Wisdom makes a smart play picking off Wolford down the right sideline and houses the ball for a pick-six.
* Wolford throws over the middle and UDFA Marcus Banks (Mississippi State) drops an interception.
* Noles on Noles crime: Williams, who once played for Florida State before transferring to Arizona, catches a pass in the left flat and Wisdom came in like a heat-seeking missile, reading the play like a book and drilled Williams. The ball pops free and UDFA Kalen DeLoach (FSU) is right there to pick the ball up. Didn’t quite get to the goal line but heads up play being right where the ball is. You can never go wrong by always being near the ball.
July 30th, 2024 at 11:39 pm
Thank you Joe for cranking out your world famous practice notes. I’m sure it’s been a long day for you all. The natives are pleased.
July 30th, 2024 at 11:42 pm
Beats working for a living! 🙂
July 30th, 2024 at 11:49 pm
Left side of the line and the starting receivers out? I would hope that the D would dominate. Sounds like there was tons of energy. Getting really excited.
July 30th, 2024 at 11:50 pm
Gotta love it! Much more excited to read about defensive playmaking than offense. Offense will be fine. Thanks Joe!
July 31st, 2024 at 12:09 am
Love me some practice notes! TY
July 31st, 2024 at 12:22 am
@joe. Thanks for staying up late and providing us great info. Question.. don’t see the TEs getting a lot of balls. Otton just the one mention tonight. Will our passing game not use them much? How are they all doing in camp? Cade, Ko, Payne, Devin, Wells, Sal?
July 31st, 2024 at 12:31 am
Wow, Joe! That was like listening to Gene Deckerhoff on the radio! Bravo!
After reading about the pass rush in your previous story I expected the offence stink tonight. I was delighted to hear that was not the case at all. The run game sounded fantastic. The outside linebackers sounded fantastic. The run blocking sounded phenomenal. The boys certainly earned their day off tomorrow. Take it easy tomorrow guys. You earned it.
July 31st, 2024 at 12:33 am
I don’t recall seeing anything on Wisdom before. Looked up his info, was a 5-year college player, supposed to be very smart – he’s 5′ 9″, but also muscular, so not small. His published 40 time, that I saw was 4.66, however another report says he ran a sub-4.5 40 in pro-day workouts.
That would be awesome if he came out of nowhere. You get someone every came, last year it was Christian Izien, who I didn’t realize is even shorter at 5′ 8″. The Bucs have to have the shortest safeties in football – not that it matters so long as you have a LB like David who can cover TEs if they need him to.
Also, great job as always Joe – really appreciate these.
BTW, you can save yourself a lot of hassles by just taking your notes, which I think you said are hand written, and just take a picture and let the AI convert to text, fix your grammar, do everything for you. It will probably get it like 85% right, which is good enough for government work.
July 31st, 2024 at 12:35 am
Wirfs – get-r-done, Jason.
July 31st, 2024 at 12:37 am
I know people keep saying this is a similar system – but it’s still a brand new offense. I’d expect a number of issues as guys it. Also you have a veteran defense. Finally, we always hear every year that defenses are almost always well ahead of offenses, normally going right into the regular season.
Nothing to worry about after just 2 practices with pads. But for the love of Bucco Bruce, get Wirfs deal done already, no reason to drag this out. Give him a 7-year deal, 8-year deal, at a huge number, and by the time you’re halfway through it he’ll be the biggest bargain in football.
July 31st, 2024 at 12:38 am
The Jarrett TD in the left corner of the end zone is credited to wolfed by you, and to Trask by another Buccaneer source. Do you have any way to verify and confirm your observation?
July 31st, 2024 at 12:40 am
Thanks as always Joe.
July 31st, 2024 at 12:42 am
Wilfred (sic)
July 31st, 2024 at 1:01 am
Otton has gotten his fair share of targets. Payne, a handful. Same with Culp. Wells and Kieft are getting second- and third-team snaps and targets.
Wouldn’t say the tight end is ignored. When you have Evans, Godwin and Rachaad White in the passing game, the tight end shouldn’t be getting a lot of targets.
July 31st, 2024 at 2:00 am
This Rashad Wisdom kid flashing big-time tonite it sounded like….
Great to hear!!!
July 31st, 2024 at 4:48 am
Thank you for the outstanding notes!
Hope we hear more about Opeta’s knee injury in the next few days and he is okay. Glad Wirf is cheering from the sidelines.
Positivity about Wolford and Shepard. Loving “Crazy play of the day” and “Noles on Noles crime.” Sounds like a perfect night! Go Bucs!
July 31st, 2024 at 8:52 am
@Joe, how has Graham Barton been holding up?
July 31st, 2024 at 9:29 am
Sounds like the offense scored plenty. Good to here the OLBs getting productive. Of course TW78 is on the sideline. He would have slowed that rush a bit!
Good to here JR33 is making some moves!!
July 31st, 2024 at 11:07 am
As Bowles predicted, Britt mixes it up – with Palmer. Palmer seems to be losing targets to J-Mac. Palmer is under pressure and needs to up his game.
Bake had lots of pressure from right edge so Goedeke needs to deliver. Could he be the new weak link in the line?
July 31st, 2024 at 11:38 am
I read some guys limped off the field.
Any reports (I know injury reports in TC are not required.)
Any walking boots?
July 31st, 2024 at 1:55 pm
It seems to have been a pretty good practice , the Defensive Rush was good ,defensive backs played well, they knocked down many passes and intercepted passes from Mayfield and Wolford, the Offensive backs had some good runs , the defensive front gave up some yardage but it’s too early to tell if that’s going to be anything to worry about , they pressured the Quarterbacks well , Mayfield was 7 for 11 with an interception , Wolford was 1 for 4 with an interception, and Trask had a good day , he was 7 for 7 with no interceptions, couldn’t see anybody in the kicking game but we’ll see them soon enough when preseason games begins. It looked pretty good for the first scrimmage.
July 31st, 2024 at 5:41 pm
When they start practicing against other olines and are living in their back field then I’ll start believing that hype until then it’s a good hope. If they can’t get the sack at least apply quick pressure to affect the play.
July 31st, 2024 at 5:48 pm
Oline struggling with Gedonkey in it? When have we heard and seen this story before? Seems like he needs a TE permanently attached to his side so he can block adequately. Time to jettison him.
August 1st, 2024 at 2:54 am
“Ramon Jefferson trucks a defender on a run up the middle.”
Is that still allowed from a Buc running back?
The A train is smiling me thinks.
Go Bucs!
August 1st, 2024 at 3:03 am
Sounds like the running game is looking good Joe. Running behind our new center alot?
Go Bucs!