The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are getting one step closer to defending their Super Bowl Championship, and it started with the first rounds of OTA’s this week.
There will be another round of OTA’s next week, before the mandatory mini-camp June 7th -9th.
These OTA’s are designed for rookies, some free agents, and some veterans that are in competition for second and third position spots on the depth chart. Bruce Arians has said that he does not want to see the starters at these OTA’s.
“I just told them, ‘Don’t be here. I’d love to have you here in meetings, watching film, doing some team-building. We’ve got some guys who will come in and out. But as far as if you were a starter, you weren’t going to be on the field, anyway.”
Arians is excited to have the guys back in the building. “Really pleased and excited to see the guys working together. Zoom meetings have been excellent. We’ll be ready for minicamp to start a new journey.”
Defensive coordinator Todd Bowles and special teams coordinator Keith Armstrong spoke with the media this week and had some interesting observations.
Bowles said the Bucs are not resting on their laurels and will need to find that chemistry again to reach the pinnacle of success. “It’s a different team. We’ve tweaked some things. So as a team, we have to re-jell and redo our chemistry and everything else and try to get better from there and start from the bottom up. If we go into the season saying we’re the top dog, I think we’ve already lost.”
Joe Tryon the number one pick from Washington is still not recovered from arthroscopic knee surgery and is just at OTA’s as an observer.
Bowles said the plan is to have Tryon line up outside and see how he handles it and what he can do. “He’ll line up outside at first and as he gets into camp, and gets in shape and everything, we’ll see what he can do and take it from there. He’s attentive. He’s at every meeting. He’s out there at practice and he’s watching and everything. He’s pretty bright coming in. He learns fast.”
Tryon will earn a spot on special teams and Keith Armstrong thinks that he will do a great job wherever he lines up.
“You love everything about Joe. He’s got size and he can run. He can fit in wherever you need him. As you look at his tape at the University of Washington, he’s played a ton of different roles on defense out there so he’s obviously a sharp kid. I think he will do a hell of a job.”
The conversation then took a turn as Bowles talked about the rookie from Auburn, linebacker K. J. Britt. “He’s learning both spots inside right now. You want to say he’s not as fast as the other guys, but there too not many guys as fast as the other guys. He knows how to play the game.”
Both Britt and Tryon should make a quick impact on special teams covering kicks.
How did quarterback Kyle Trask do? “According to a piece in SI, Trask was not impressive and possibly took a step back. “Trask has work to do with his touch passing and unlocking velocity on certain passes. Trask overthrew an open go-route and underthrew a pass to the flats in team drills, both ending incomplete. His throws into the middle of the field throughout the day were fairly accurate.”
Trask never known for his deep passing ability, that weakness was magnified during the first OTA’s.
With a few days off until the next round of OTA’s, the question is who will retain the information and be able to go out and impress the coaches.
“Now it’s about, ‘You should be able to retain it. Now play. Show us what you’ve got on tape” Bruce Arians said.
