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Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds answers your questions from the @PewterReport Twitter account this week in the Bucs Mailbag. Submit your question to the Bucs Mailbag each week via Twitter using the hashtag #PRMailbag. Here are the Bucs questions we chose to answer for this week’s edition.

QUESTION: Thoughts about the new wide receivers?

ANSWER: The Bucs released wide receiver and return specialist Deven Thompkins this offseason with an injury designation, but he’s also caught up a very public and contentious divorce that involves alleged abuse. As a result, the team has signed not one, but two other receivers to bring into camp with some veteran experience in Cody Thompson and Sterling Shepard, who played at Oklahoma with quarterback Baker Mayfield. According to NFL insider Josina Anderson, Mayfield did some recruiting to get the Bucs to sign Shepard, who has 372 career catches for 4,095 yards (11 avg.) and 23 touchdowns in eight seasons with the Giants.

Bucs WR Sterling Shepard – Photo by: USA Today

The 30-year old Shepard, who is 5-foot-10, 198 pounds, is not a lock to make the team, nor is the 6-foot-2, 205-pound Thompson, who is 28 and has spent five years on practice squads, mostly in Seattle. Thompson has just one catch for 10 yards in the 12 regular season games he’s played in.

The Bucs now have 13 wide receivers on their 91-man roster, and will keep at least five – perhaps six, given the fact that new offensive coordinator Liam Coen will be using three-receiver sets a majority of the time. In fact, Tampa Bay could very well keep six receivers and just three tight ends this year as a result.

Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Jalen McMillan and Trey Palmer are locks to make the 53-man roster. That leaves one or two more spots for Shepard, Thompson, Rakim Jarrett, Cephus Johnson III, Ryan Miller, Kameron Johnson, Latreal Jones, Tanner Knue and Raleigh Webb to contend for. The battle for WR5 and WR6 will be hotly contested in training camp and likely will come down to which player or players fare best on special teams.

QUESTION: Since NFL rosters change from year to year, how many players from last season will be on this year’s opening day 53-man roster?

Bucs OL Sua Opeta and Ben Bredeson – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: There certainly will be some turnover in Tampa Bay this season, as there is in every year. The Bucs have 40 newcomers on the 91-man roster right now, including new receivers Cody Thompson and Sterling Shepard. That number also includes a former Buccaneer who has returned in strong safety Jordan Whitehead. That means 51 players remain from last year’s regular season roster or practice squad, which is a pretty significant number. Out of that 51, 40 spent the majority of the 2023 season on the active roster.

The Bucs really like the core of their roster, which wound up winning 10 games, including a postseason win over the Eagles, as the team captured its third straight NFC South division championship. That’s a testament to great drafting by general manager Jason Licht and his personnel staff, especially over the past three years, as the team has kept 22 of 23 picks.

However, that assumes that all seven of this year’s draft picks make the 53-man roster, which may or may not happen depending on how training camp and the preseason shakes out. And it also depends on which players who were likely to make the 53-man roster wind up getting hurt and end up on injured reserve. That was the case with center Ryan Jensen and wide receiver Russell Gage last August.

I think there’s a chance that all seven 2024 draft picks make the team. Whitehead will make the team and cornerbacks Bryce Hall and Tavierre Thomas appear poised to make it, too. Offensive linemen Sua Opeta and Ben Bredeson seem likely to make the 53-man roster as well, and veteran newcomer Randy Gregory has a chance to stick as an outside linebacker. That’s 13 likely newcomers, plus there will be a surprise player or two in training camp and the preseason, perhaps inside linebacker Kalen DeLoach, who makes the team as well.

QUESTION: Will Liam Coen call plays from the field or press box?

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield and OC Liam Coen – Photo by: USA Today

ANSWER: I don’t think there has been any definitive decision made yet about where new Bucs offensive coordinator Liam Coen will be on game days, but my guess is that he’ll be on the sidelines. I think most offensive coordinators prefer the bird’s eye view from the press box in stadiums. It allows coordinators to see how the defense reacts to their play calls and offers a better view of how plays unfold.

Yet offensive-minded head coaches are forced to call plays from the sidelines because they have to be able to have face-to-face communication with the officials to call timeouts and challenge plays. And they prefer to have the face-to-face interactions with quarterbacks and the players, in addition to instant conversations with assistant coaches instead of using the headset.

I think Coen will call plays from the sidelines so he can have that face-to-face opportunity to discuss things with Baker Mayfield when he comes to the sidelines during timeouts or changes in possession when the defense takes the field. Also having the ability to sit with the quarterback or another offensive player and review plays together on tablets on the sideline is also invaluable.

The guess here is that while Coen will be on the sideline, passing game coordinator Josh Grizzard and pass game assistant John Van Dam will be Coen’s eyes in the sky in the coaches box during game days. There is also a chance that assistant offensive line coach Brian Piccuci, who coached with Coen at Kentucky will be up on the box to keep an eye on the offensive line and the holes that develop – or don’t – in the run game. Over the past couple of seasons, offensive line coach Joe Gilbert was up in the box while run game coordinator Harold Goodwin, who was the chief offensive line coach, was on the sidelines for Tampa Bay.

QUESTION: Do the Bucs not realize this teams main color is red? I understand the heat concern early in the season but last year in December at home we were still not wearing red jerseys. Boring! We should have worn them by the Titans game in November. Red jersey, white pants. It won’t kill ’em.

Bucs defense – Photo by: USA Today

ANSWER: I’m with you in the frustration over the lack of times the Bucs wear their red jerseys. It’s kind of maddening to think about. Looking at the Bucs logo, which is a red flag, red is the predominant team color. Then looking at the helmet, which is pewter, and it’s clear that the team’s primary colors are red and pewter with black, white and orange as accents.

Yet the Bucs wore their white jerseys four times at home last year, which was half of the schedule. The team wore red jerseys and white pants in the Week 3 home game against the Eagles on Monday Night Football. Tampa Bay didn’t wear its red jerseys again until Christmas Eve in a home game against the Jaguars where the team donned pewter pants. That uniform ensemble was repeated the next week in a home loss against the Saints and then worn for a final time in Tampa Bay’s Wild Card win against Philadelphia.

The Bucs did have a throwback game with the orange jerseys against the Lions in October in Week 6, but when adding up all of the road games in which Tampa Bay wore white jerseys, it totaled 12 games, which is a bit ridiculous. The Bucs wore white jerseys for every road game except at Indianapolis in Week 12, and it was disappointing that the pewter jerseys weren’t worn at home. Just as disappointing was the fact that the Bucs decided to wear white jerseys and pewter pants on November 12 at home against Tennessee and on December 3 at home against Carolina.

I fully expect the Bucs to wear white-on-white uniforms for the first three home games in September, which will be brutally hot. I’m guessing there will be a throwback game with the Bucco Bruce helmets and the creamsicle uniforms again this season for another home game. But I would like to see Tampa Bay wear red jerseys against Baltimore on Monday Night Football on October 21 and certainly against the Raiders at home on December 8 in Week 14. Or perhaps the Bucs will opt for pewter against the silver and black-clad Raiders?

With the Cowboys always opting to wear white at home, the Bucs will be in their red jerseys on Sunday Night Football in Dallas in Week 16, and then should be in their red and pewter jerseys again for back-to-back home games to end the season against the Panthers and Saints. I would like to see them wear the red jerseys more often, but it seems like five games is what we’ll get in this year’s regular season, which will be more than last year at least.

QUESTION: Asking the big question here – the Bucs brought in long snapper Evan Deckers early into camp to compete with Zach Triner. So how’s the long snapper battle going?

Bucs LS Zach Triner – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: Lol! This is a great question, and I have no idea how this battle is going. It’s not going to be decided until the preseason games when the pads come on and the action is real. Incumbent starter Zach Triner helped the Bucs win Super Bowl LV in 2020, but he’s 33 and is also more expensive because he’s a veteran.

Evan Deckers was signed this offseason and actually played at Duke with rookie center Graham Barton, who was Tampa Bay’s first-round pick. He’s significantly cheaper as a $795,000 base salary and cap hit, whereas Triner is set to make $1.125 million in base salary with $400,000 guaranteed. Triner’s cap hit, which includes some bonus money, will be $1,152,500 this year. If Triner does get beat out, his release will actually save the team $752,500 in cap room.

Both long snappers are 6-foot-3, but Deckers weighs more at 252 pounds as opposed to Triner, who’s listed weight is 245 pounds. The Bucs have a new special teams coordinator this year in Thomas McGaughey, and this will be one of the biggest under-the-radar decisions he’ll make for the team come early September.