Bucs GM assesses.

Joe will type it again: Joe tends to give rookies a pass.

Often facing children in college to then facing grown-arse men in the NFL every week is usually a major step for a player.

Rookies will make mistakes. Especially if they are asked to perform assignments they haven’t done much of in college.

Antoine Winfield and Tristan Wirfs are freaks. They had virtually zero learning curves as rookies. That’s not the norm, not even close.

So outside of one sack, for the first five practices of 2024 training camp, Joe really didn’t see second-round pick outside linebacker Chris Braswell do much of anything. Bucs fans reading this here site were starting to get irked at Joe because of the lack of mentions of Braswell in Joe’s practice notes.

Hey, Joe just can’t make up stuff to make readers happy. Gotta do something on the field to be seen, to be noticed, to be written about.

The sixth practice, the night practice in the Glazer Shed, Joe started to see Braswell making his presence felt in the pass rush.

Slowly, gradually, Joe has noticed Braswell more and more. Then on Thursday, Braswell had a big highlight: Playing deep in pass coverage (so deep Joe at first thought Braswell was a safety) down the right seam, he guarded Cade Otton. Baker Mayfield tried to squeeze in a pass and Braswell had really good inside leverage on Otton and came away with a pick.

So when Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht sat down for a recording of Thursday’s “Ira Kaufman Podcast,” Joe asked Licht for feedback on Braswell.

Licht didn’t try to hide his enthusiasm for Braswell.

“Real happy,” Licht quickly responded. “He’s very physical. He’s very smart. He’s an athlete. You saw that [with the interception of Mayfield].”

Then, Licht explained to Joe why Braswell hasn’t necessarily flashed a lot in the early going of training camp.

“They’re dropping him a lot,” Licht detailed of what Bucs defensive coaches are asking of Braswell in practice. “They are not rushing him a lot right now. They are getting him used to the drops in the passing game.”

In short, Bucs coaches are confident Braswell will succeed in rushing the passer. But as fans know, Bucs coach Todd Bowles asks his outside linebackers to do a whole lot more than pass rush.

The Bucs feel Braswell needs seasoning in pass coverage. They don’t think he needs the same amount of work rushing the passer.

“When I say they are dropping him a lot, they are working with him as a rusher, don’t get me wrong,” Licht said. “They want him to get used to every situation they can so it will come quicker to him out there.

“We’ve been very happy with him.”

The way Joe looks at it, the door is wide open for Braswell to barge through and grab a starting position at outside linebacker. Joe hopes Joe Tryon-Shoyinka finally blows up but entering his fourth season. But after three years of lackluster play, that seems unlikely.

Anthony Nelson is a really good piece of the defensive puzzle coming off the bench but Joe isn’t sold on him as a starter. Joe’s seen him completely rubbed out by physical teams. Too much for Joe’s liking.

And while YaYa Diaby is coming off a sprained ankle, it’s not written in stone he will be full-go by Week 1, though that is the team’s goal.

So the path for Braswell to grab a starting gig is open. Let’s see how the second-round pick from Alabama responds tonight in Cincinnati.

Special Guest Jason Licht On The Ira Kaufman Podcast; Plus Ira Talks Saturday’s Bucs-Bengals Game, His Birthday Party & More