The first day of the Bucs’ 2021 training camp saw every player on the roster in attendance, except for one. Safety Raven Greene, who the Bucs signed as a free agent in May, did not report to the AdventHealth Training Center.
Head coach Bruce Arians said that the team was aware of it and Greene was not here due to personal reasons. When asked about if there was a timetable for his return to Tampa, Arians stated, “We’ll see.”
The team reported to training camp on Saturday, July 24 with the first practice on Sunday.
#Bucs HC Bruce Arians says that everyone reported for training camp except for S Raven Greene, which was for personal reasons. pic.twitter.com/WQ8Q0epbgt
— PewterReport (@PewterReport) July 25, 2021
The Bucs are already shorthanded at the safety position as it is. Starting strong safety Jordan Whitehead was put on the COVID/Reserve list, which forced him to miss both the visit to the White House and the Bucs’ ring ceremony on Thursday night. The Bucs also waived injured safety Curtis Riley, who suffered an Achilles injury during training camp.
This left Tampa Bay with limited amount of safeties at practice on Sunday. It even forced them to sign former Broncos safety Chris Cooper while practicing was still going on.
When Greene returns, he’ll be expected to compete for a depth role at safety behind Whitehead, Antoine Winfield Jr. and Mike Edwards. His best chance at making the team, though, will be through special teams. It’s an area of the game where Greene is very familiar with, and luckily for him, Arians and his coaching staff have made special teams a priority this season.
Reserve Javon Hagan benefited from a good deal of reps during Sunday’s practice with the safety spot being short-handed.