Rookie Minicamp Practice Notes
May 14th, 2021
Bucs coach Bruce Arians (seated) and OC Byron Leftwich (standing) watch QB Kyle Trask (orange jersey) throw in the first Bucs rookie minicamp practice Friday.
You know if Joe is going to stand for two hours in the Florida sun to watch rookies practice wearing Bucs helmets for the first time in their lives, Joe is going to come up with notes for readers.
(Caution: These notes may seem like rookie quarterback Kyle Trask is wildly inconsistent. Joe’s just jotting down what he sees with zero agenda. Please keep in mind Trask was throwing to guys that 48 hours ago he had never met. And who knows, maybe these guys were running lousy routes, too. Think of it as new kids to the neighborhood decided to play a pickup game of street football. Joe is fair, so please don’t get the wrong impression Joe’s trying to bury the guy. Also, Bucs Super Bowl-winning coach Bucco Bruce Arians admitted the players — in their first football practices since December, were hot and tired near the end. Tired football players practicing with strangers are bound to practice sloppily.)
* Bucs offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich is doing a lot of one-on-one coaching with Trask. Once, Joe saw Leftwich, after a pass, demonstrate a dropback, a throw and a release.
* At one point in the individual drills, with Trask throwing to receivers only, Leftwich pretended to be a middle linebacker and dropped back into coverage over the middle.
* Trask, by the way, is the only quarterback at the practice so he is the only guy throwing passes. He’s getting a lot of work.
* This may have been one of the more boring, quiet practices Joe has seen of the Bucs, rookies or veterans. Very little energy, which is sort of understandable as these guys were probably nervous as can be in their first professional practice with a Super Bowl champion. Leftwich tried to inject some energy at one point clapping loudly.
* Tryout rookie receiver from Michigan, Amara Darboh, is making plays. He stretched out for an over-the-shoulder catch off-balance down the left hashmark.
* This Jaelon Darden can move. Joe watched him on a crossing route and it didn’t look like he had yet thrown it into overdrive, and man did he cover real estate quickly.
* Finally, some 40 minutes into practice, Joe hears life from one of the practice fields. The defense, in front-seven drills, started chattering and hollering.
* This Darboh is getting a lot of looks — why not, he may only be here for the weekend. On a Trask throw to the left sideline, either it was a short throw or cornerback Chris Wilcox had excellent coverage on Darboh, preventing him from coming back to the ball and maybe making a back-shoulder catch.
* Darden saved Trask. On a throw to the right sideline behind Darden, it looked to be right in the belly of a defensive back (Joe didn’t catch the number) but Darden pulled the ball out of his hands and made a nice YAC play. May have been the highlight of the day. The defensive back got hollered at by coaches for not securing the pick.
* Trask absolutely rifles a pass to the right but Darboh cannot hang on.
* Bad decision: Trask throws incomplete to the left for Darboh but Darden was so freaking wide open down the right sideline he could have been cited for loitering.
* Darden sure looks like a shorter version of DeSean Jackson. Let’s hope he’s not an outright cancer like Jackson.
* Anchors Aweigh! On a pass intended for Darden down the right sideline, Cameron Kinley of Navy stepped in front of Darden and housed Trask’s offering.
* Trask throws a beautiful pass over a defender along the left sideline that the leaping Darden pulled down but couldn’t hang on as he hit the turf. This Darden has some hops, too.
* It appeared WFLA-TV Channel 8’s news chopper was hovering way high and to the west of One Buc Palace getting a lot of work done. Within a three-block area, there was Bucs rookie minicamp, a drive-through vaccination site using the stadium parking lots between One Buc Palace and The Licht House, and there was an Outdoor Expo sponsored by WFLA-TV at The Licht House. Kill three birds with one stone.
* It’s near the end of practice and either Trask is tired, his receivers are tired, or both. Trask is throwing a lot of passes high. Maybe he forgot Kyle Pitts is in Atlanta?
The connection we didn't know we needed 🤯@ktrask9 👉 @JDFlash1x pic.twitter.com/9FbLcFfwS5
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) May 15, 2021
Enjoy today’s Ira Kaufman Podcast, with special guest Bucs safeties coach Nick Rapone.
May 14th, 2021 at 7:07 pm
Ahhhh… it is finally starting!
May 14th, 2021 at 7:17 pm
Sounds alot like his last game for the gators
May 14th, 2021 at 7:20 pm
Anyone paying attention who wasn’t deeply biased towards Kyle Trask whether due to their Gators fandom or their ill-placed reverence of the SEC saw this coming and isn’t the least bit surprised that Kyle Trask is “wildly inconsistent” and struggling against future mailmen.
The kind of physical limitations he displayed in todays practice are precisely why he will get eaten alive by legitimate NFL defenses and serve his days in the NFL as a career backup.
May 14th, 2021 at 7:24 pm
Jaelon Darden however has elite short area quickness, and with the right kind of coaching and usage can definitely become a weapon in the NFL.
“Making someone miss is like waking up in the morning and brushing my teeth… I gotta do it everyday.” – Jaelan Darden
I have high hopes for this kid.
May 14th, 2021 at 7:24 pm
Yeah Oxy. That game where the top 6wrs and 2 TEs sat out the game, there by effectively hanging Trask out to dry having to throw to DBs trying to play WR.
23 Gators sat out that game.
Shame if you ask me. Back in the day you didn’t sit out bowl games.
May 14th, 2021 at 7:26 pm
Most regulars don’t even read your comments DingleBerry. Don’t even know why you come here except to troll. Sad existence man.
May 14th, 2021 at 7:29 pm
Lighten up Francis Dingleberry!! You’ve probably still got a stained poster of JayMiss on your bedroom wall!! (In your parents house)
May 14th, 2021 at 7:32 pm
Right SB, because you’re fully aware of the actions of other people, forgive me, I forgot you were omnipotent. Also I find your comment deeply ironic because you clearly read what I said lmao.
Nothing I said is even remotely trolling. I literally lauded Jaelon Darden right after I criticized Trask. In my experience trolls often have nothing positive to say at all.
Whatever, I couldn’t care less what you think, and when I’m proven right in a few years you’ll be the one who looks foolish.
May 14th, 2021 at 7:36 pm
Ndog is an idiot
Nope, you’re wrong on both assumptions. I was fully on board with the Brady signing. I was also fully on board with the AB signing when the majority of Bucs fans were pitching fits about it. I also correctly determined that MJ Stewart was a bust with no potential based on his college tape and his first rookie minicamp.
Like it or not I’m right about this kind of stuff far more often than I’m wrong.
May 14th, 2021 at 7:40 pm
Dang. DingleBerry must be NDog in disguise!
May 14th, 2021 at 7:43 pm
DingleBerry, when Winston was drafted we needed a QB. There were only 2 QBs rated in the first round and the third QB went in round 3. Heck, even if we held off a year. None of the QBs the next year is even on their original team anymore. So we were pretty screwed either way. That said, are you a professional scout? Have you been? If so in college or NFL? How many years? If not then, get over Trask. EVERYONE on this board knows how you think of him 1000 times over. Give it a rest. No one will forget you hated Trask in 4 when we will know what he becomes.
As for the story, sounds like Darden may move up to WR5 quickly.
May 14th, 2021 at 7:48 pm
Anon
If you can read anything I said any determine that I’m Ndog, you’re just dumb. Simple as that.
Kaimairu, I’ll continue to write what I want to write when I write despite what anything says or thinks.
May 14th, 2021 at 7:56 pm
DingleBerry, that’s funny…I don’t even remember you being here before Brady was signed…
In regard to SB…he was right where I am concerned. lol
May 14th, 2021 at 7:56 pm
DB it’s a free country. Knock yourself out.
May 14th, 2021 at 7:56 pm
All mistakes are just learning opportunities. Leftwich has a few years to mold Trask. It isn’t going to happen overnight. Excited to see Darden get some opportunities when the real bullets are flying. That kid is a gamer.
May 14th, 2021 at 8:00 pm
Seems people are basing a guys success on where he went to school. I remember the same thing win we drafted Jameis. Shame either way if you allow your hatred for a college program decide how a player will perform in the NFL. I bet there were guys that hated brooks, Sapp or Dunn because of what Florida college they went to. Let’s wait at least 1 season first.
May 14th, 2021 at 8:03 pm
DingleBerry writes nothing like Ndog did.
May 14th, 2021 at 8:09 pm
Comment section is a toxic waste dump. Shocker.
It’s the first day. These guys don’t know anything and are simply trying to win a camp invite for the most part. Good to see Trask got a lot of work. Quality of it won’t mean very much at this point. It’s all just about getting their feet wet so to speak.
May 14th, 2021 at 8:10 pm
No one cares on the first day of mini camp on a team that won the Super Bowl and brought back every single player.
He needs nfl coaching and every quarterback does. He needs to work on mechanics and all of it. The only thing important today is are you understanding the playbook and do you know where to go with the ball. All the interceptions Winston threw at practice and in games no need to get on this kid in his first nfl practice. It’s actually kind of stupid considering no one you work in the nfl and can’t possibly know his ceiling. Please at least wait until preseason
May 14th, 2021 at 8:11 pm
I agree with Dingleberry on Kyle Trask. The logic behind drafting a QB there, yet along that particular QB, makes no one lick of sense.
As for Kaimaru, Darden is already WR4, mark my words. He has more talent and ability right now than our WR5 Johnson and WR6 Miller could ever hope to have.
May 14th, 2021 at 8:13 pm
^^^^^^^^
May 14th, 2021 at 8:14 pm
May it be the beginning of the Bucs 1st Legend and NOT yet another Bucs lemons!
May 14th, 2021 at 8:14 pm
And Bonzai, you wouldn’t remember me. But I remember you.
I remember when you said CFL star Wide Receiver Derel Walker was going to be our #2 receiver and he never even caught a pass in the NFL.
I remember when you didn’t want Dirk Koetter to be fired when he so rightfully deserved it.
I remember you were against the hiring of Bruce Arians and wanted us to hire bumbling Mike McCarthy instead.
And I remember just a few weeks ago when you were seriously (and wrongfully) trying to claim that Antonio Brown didn’t have a positive impact on the team last year and didn’t provide crucial production down the stretch. And you probably still believe that despite being thoroughly proven wrong.
Funnily enough the only thing I can ever remember you being right about in your long tenure as a JBF commenter is that Vita Vea would be a stud.
Sorry to break it to the Kyle Trask fans out there, but Bonzai being on your side does not bode well for you lmao!
May 14th, 2021 at 8:41 pm
lol lol lol, it is already knock down drag out in the “Pro Trask” and “Trask can’t cut it” debate lol Until he actually proves he can or cannot play in actual games lol we will not know. lol The 1 thing that is for sure, there is going to be a lot of words posted here on JBF for the next couple of years about Trask. lol I hope Brady plays for at least the next 2-3 years. I do not want to see Trask start anytime soon lol. Now if A Rodgers could somehow follow Brady in 2-3 years, that would be fine with me. Anyways GO WORLD CHAMPION BUCS!!!!! 20-0 Baby!!!!!
May 14th, 2021 at 9:05 pm
No reason to panic after a day 1 at rookie mini camp.
But still a questionable decision to take Trask in the 2d round. It felt like a huge reach when in all likely hood Bradys gonna play a couple more years and the Bucs will sign a bridge QB in free agency for whoever follows.
Licht gets a pass though for his dominance in free agency.
May 14th, 2021 at 9:12 pm
Who gives a crap what Trask is doing ? Right now he’s QB3, maybe.
May 14th, 2021 at 9:17 pm
Joe can see someone isn’t from Florida. 🙂
May 14th, 2021 at 9:21 pm
Can’t we all just get along?
May 14th, 2021 at 9:35 pm
Rookie QB throwing to all rookies, all learning new plays simultaneously. Yeah let’s critique every throw. Great idea. GO Bucs
May 14th, 2021 at 9:45 pm
Hey Joe What’s the Over/ Under on how many times “Trask” will be used on this site by the “Joes” and the posters in the next 2-3 years? Iol It is going to be in the thousands lol. Buckle your seat belts boys and girls, and enjoy the ride.
GO WORLD CHAMPION BUCS!!!! 20-0 BABY!!!!
May 14th, 2021 at 10:15 pm
I wasnt thrilled with the Trask pick but I understand why they did it considering they signed basically everyone back so why not take a flyer on someone want to see how he looks in a preseason game before I start trashing or complimenting his play not going to be overly critical on his very first practice
May 14th, 2021 at 10:24 pm
The players were hot?! Omg it’s cold enough for jeans and a hoodie right now here in Tampa 🥶 and it’s going down to 66° tonight. So I guess the biggest adjustment for the newbies is our climate, except cutie Ky!e Tra$k of course.
May 14th, 2021 at 10:38 pm
Bucs brought in veteran Antonio Hamilton CB from KC for special teams tryout. Did he practice today?
May 14th, 2021 at 10:40 pm
The Trask haters are ridiculous. It’s the first day of practice in a new offense with new receivers, chill out. Give the kid time, he has a year or two.
May 14th, 2021 at 11:41 pm
I can’t wait for Shill Joe to layer in 50 to 100Ă· words each time Trask is mentioned.
Yeehaw!!!
In BA I Trust!
May 14th, 2021 at 11:53 pm
He did practice but didn’t jump out enough to get noticed for Joe. That’s not to say the guy didn’t have a good practice, just that Joe didn’t notice him. 🤷‍♂️
May 15th, 2021 at 1:04 am
Thanks Dave. Trask had highest numbers in SEC. Broke Wuerffel and Tebow school records. Heisman candidate. It’s his First practice. I heard you guys were biased against Florida. We beat slimes GA. I hear about the bowl game. We had 9 starters out with COVID. Look at the Kyle to Kyle film. Give them all a chance. To the haters, You aren’t perfect. Which ones of you played in the NFL? Have a great season. I’ll be joining you. Go Bucs!!
May 15th, 2021 at 1:13 am
thx Joe! always appreciate the practice notes time to resign Zach to another internship!
May 15th, 2021 at 2:07 am
Awesome stuff, thanks Joe’s. It’s getting real now!
May 15th, 2021 at 5:24 am
It looks like it was Cameron Kinley – Navy who Darden saved the INT from by reaching behind his body to snatch the ball away, btw.
May 15th, 2021 at 6:03 am
@Joe,
How did The Tatted Kicker from The U do?!
Would you say more garbage-pickin’ or field goal-kickin’ Tampa Bay phenomenon…
May 15th, 2021 at 7:05 am
Bucs offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich is doing a lot of one-on-one coaching with Trask. Once, Joe saw Leftwich, after a pass, demonstrate a dropback, a throw and a release.
Well, I guess the best thing to to is tear the kid down before building him up. Get off the field Byron and just waiy until Brady geys here please before you ruin this kid.Im pretty sure he knows what a dropback is
May 15th, 2021 at 7:56 am
oh woe is me. No new super stars revealed on first day rookie practice. The Bucs future looks dismal. I am so depressed. Haha.
May 15th, 2021 at 7:57 am
It took tom Brady 10 games to get comfortable and were here measuring a rookies success in his first freaking mini camp. Good god haters go find another team to tear down in May
May 15th, 2021 at 9:24 am
Bonzai, DingleBerry and Medicated Pete and many others were not here before “our” Bucs won the SB. But we lost Realist!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and NDog, so we had openings for TROLLS. A fan site, especially the best fan site, must have its share of b!tches.
Joe, we have many “someones isn’t from Florida”. Your readership must have gone thru the roof. Good for you my friend!
May 15th, 2021 at 9:42 am
Buccaneer Bonzai, Pewter Power,
Buczilla, and several more out there not on this post. Do you remember the way we all spoke with each other when this blog was young and yourselves and myself started reading JBF and posting here? Sure we had many a good discussion on many Buccaneer topics but the verbiage and decorum between us was … not so sharp and nasty toward each other. Yeah I am getting older 55 in March. But I do miss simple civil discourse in all of my public and autonomous actions with other folks in daily life. I have less and less patience with folks who are negative, angry and full of themselves. I meet a person like that, I wish them a very good rest of their day, and I go find someone else to talk with and hang out.
Kicking my soap box away from my feet now.
GO BUCS!
James Wilder for 2021 Ring of Honor!
May 15th, 2021 at 9:54 am
More Trask posts = more clicks = more comments = more ad revenues
Nice work if you can get it.
May 15th, 2021 at 9:58 am
“Joe saw Leftwich, after a pass, demonstrate a dropback, a throw and a release.”
Oh, No!!!! Please tell me this wasn’t the infamous
Leftwich 5.9 second special delivery? That results in a sack, a strip sack, or a pass batted down at the line, pass defensed or pass that gets picked was it?
No! NO! I pray! Say it ain’t so!!! NO…..
May 15th, 2021 at 11:45 am
@Rusty, I was also one of the first. Was just “Harry” then. But totally agree with you. ’87 and I had some good conversations about drafting Mr Turnover. So many butt heads in the world today, it is inevitable some would end up here.
#GoBucs
May 15th, 2021 at 11:52 am
I could care less what Trask does or doesn’t do. Me I would have went with the QB from Stanford. But we’ll see.
May 15th, 2021 at 12:04 pm
Harry…wow I had many good conversations(arguments) back then with lots of peeps over the Bucs drafting Winston. I of course a HUGE Winston supporter and had to be his JBF defense lawyer most of the time.
It’s what fueled the JBF comments section for months….until they drafted him.
Go Bucs!!!(All the way to a repeat)
May 15th, 2021 at 1:57 pm
DingleBerry:
As I have posted to you more then once I don’t know how good Trask will be and neither do you or anybody else. However; there is one thing I do know. You have no idea of how to evaluate tape. Your evaluation of Trask was the most bias, ill informed, ignorant effort of evaluating someone I have ever seen.
Anyone that pays attention to what this moron says about his knowledge of evaluating “film” is a moron too!
May 15th, 2021 at 5:10 pm
I love it. Dongleberry is now making assessments based on Joe’s notes from a first practice of rookies. But he is right more than he’s wrong. He’ll be the first to tell you. Apparently he prints and archives other people’s comments. Go cheer for the Saints, Dongleberry. And get a girlfriend. Or a boyfriend.
May 15th, 2021 at 10:52 pm
My nickname for Darden is “ant” because he looks sooo tiny.
May 16th, 2021 at 1:41 am
1st practice at a rookie mini camp and we have superstars and guys that should be cut… Wild. Never heard this before lol.
May 16th, 2021 at 1:43 am
Also thanks for putting this together Joe great info
May 16th, 2021 at 10:35 am
You can tell Dingle never played or coached before.
None of these guys have EVER played with each other before as Ms none of them have EVER run the Bucs offense before.
There’s a reason THE GOAT, e park-violating, home-invading, NFLPA-ignoring, down-forgetting, handshake-stiffing, jet-ski-losing, biscuit-baking, tequila-shooting, smartphone-phobic, waffle-grilling, trophy-throwing, roller coaster-scared, numbers-rules-peeved, Bucs-Super-Bowl-winning quarterback was not his normal GOAT self in practice.
One of Brady’s first throws in camp last year was a pick 6 to Edwards because Brady and the receiver were not on the same page.
The GOAT’s first practice in a new system with new players other than Gronk (and the HOF Postseason Record Holding TB Combo of Brady to Gronk was rusty in that first practice) was not his best, and he’s the GOAT.
Experienced players and coaches know that with the first practice your offense for an experienced team will be rusty and struggle at times. That’s normal. That’s football. Offensive players are thinking, not doing in those first practices, and not playing fast. Defense is just reading, reacting and playing fast. That’s why defense is always ahead in the first weeks of camp.
NdogDingleberry is a novice when it comes to football. Ask Dingleberry about the 45 yard in the air ball throw that hit speedster Tooney in stride for a 50 yard TD against Alabama and he will either ignore it or come up with some reason by Phil Simms aka Jeff Hostetler is just as good as Phil Simms with LT, Marshall, Parcell’s and Bellicheck’s defense why Trask is no good. Tooney steamed the back perfectly on that play, Trask recognized it immediately when the DB turned his hips and Trask knew Tooney was open at that second, threw the ball 45 yards down field over Tooney’s right shoulder into his basket with 4.2 speedster Tooney in stride for a 50 yard TD (ball thrown on his 40 Tooney caught it at the 15 in the red zone). Hey Dingle, what about Trask’s 50 yard back shoulder throw to Grimes where they clowned Alabama’s stud CB Surtan?
May 16th, 2021 at 10:46 am
Preempting the predictable response from Ndogberry.
Yes, Trask played poorly against Oklahoma in the Bowl when players such as Pitts, Grimes, Copeland and Tooney did not play in that Bowl game.
I mean nobody with any football knowledge was surprised that a QB would struggle when his top 3 WR’s and TE were not in the game.