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About the Author: Taylor Jenkins

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With such a lengthy break between mandatory mini-camp and training camp, Bruce Arians had his work cut out for him when speaking with the Tampa media on Thursday. Standing at the podium in Tampa Bay’s media room he answered everything from injury questions about Jason Pierre-Paul and Justin Evans’ injuries to the physicality of the upcoming training camp bd much more. Read the full transcript below.

On being back for training camp
“I hope everyone is as excited as we are to get started. We’ll get through these two days in shorts and start finding out what we’ve got. I know we’ve improved over the summer, just looking at the guys who’ve been here the past couple of days, they’re in great shape. The retention was outstanding, especially the young players. Everybody else came in great shape. We’ll do the conditioning test today and it won’t take long because I already know they’re in good shape and I don’t want to run them too much anyway but we’ll go through the formality of it. No real answers on injury guys, Jason Pierre-Paul is progressing, nothing new on his timeline. Justin Evans is still on PUP, we’ll see how long that takes and Nick Fitzgerald pulled his hamstring playing beach volleyball so he’s got a week or so. We’ll get those guys back out there, hopefully two of them soon.

On the conditioning test
“We usually run 20 60’s, timed, with a break at 10. Each group has a different time.”

On his enthusiasm compared to past years
“Probably higher than ever. I’m really excited about this team, about being back in it after being gone a year. I came back early. I’m usually back the day before but I was here early to get started. I really enjoyed quarterback school, I think we got a lot done, especially seeing a guy like Cam Brate out there flying around, feeling good. That was really positive.”

On Jameis Winston and his work ethic
“That’s one thing you never have to question. Sometimes you have to say, ‘woah, slow down and don’t overdue it,’ because he is a workaholic and he wants to do everything possible to be successful and that’s all you can ask for.”

On the physicality of training camp
“Really physical. We will have live tackling drills, that’s the only way you learn to tackle. We will tackle some. Will we tackle a lot? No. Will we tackle some guys? No. But we will tackle, yes.”

On if he would have returned if not for Jameis Winston
“That was a big part of it. To have all the pieces, ownership, general manager, quarterback, coaches. As that all fell into place the excitement level got higher and higher, even in my wife. It wasn’t hard convincing her and she knew how excited I was. That’s a huge part of it.”

On depth and injuries
“We’ll have them. It’s huge. One of the things I’ll tell the guys tonight, don’t look at where you’re at on the depth chart, find a role. The most valuable player on the team is the guy who has to take the spot of a heck of a player and play at that level. I always try to talk about Wall Pipp. The guys don’t know who Wally Pipp was, they don’t even know who Lou Gehrig was, so I’ve got to find a new story.”

On the right guard competition
“It’ll be a good competition, but I don’t judge linemen until they get pads on. You can see how athletic they are, how smart they are in the spring but you can’t see how physical they are. I think it will be a fun battle to watch. We’ve got really capable guys and I like where all of them are at. I think we’ll have good depth, whether we dress seven or eight on Sunday will depend on the health of the guys.”

On the talent around the division
“It’s an excellent division because of the quarterbacks. Very seldom will you have a division where you’ve got four quarterbacks like these guys, who can beat anybody on any day. Injuries, and defenses have improved dramatically in the last three or four years. New Orleans, Atlanta’s injuries took all their defensive guys, especially over the middle. It’s staying healthy and winning at home, you’ve got to win at home.”

On his comfortability on the outside pass rush without Jason Pierre-Paul
“Very. I think Shaq Barrett will be outstanding. I think all those guys, Carl [Nassib], Noah [Spence]… he’s flourished in what his role is now. I’m anxious to see him rush the passer in pads because he was very effective in shorts. The interior guys are excellent blitzers. I think here in Tampa you traditionally only think of a four-man line pass rush, that’s not who we are. It’s been here for a long, long time but it’s not that way anymore.”

On people predicting a low win total for the Bucs this year
“Our guys don’t listen to the noise and just go to work every day. I go back to my first year in Arizona and they said five, maybe six, but we won 10. And we had injuries but we won games in the last two minutes and that’s what this team has to do. You go back and look at that 5-11 record, there are a lot of close games and we didn’t play smart enough to win or we had a missed kick or we had a penalty or a busted assignment. It was Bucs beating Bucs. Eliminate that, it wasn’t talent. Play better in the last two minutes of the half and the last two minutes of the game they’re at least 8-8. Make a kick.”

On the kicking competition
“It’s best man wins and with Bradley [Pinion] being able to kick off that part’s out of it. Matt [Gay] can kick off but Bradley is excellent at it so it’s, who’s going to be the most accurate guy and who’s going to kick that game-winner at 52, or 55, consistently.”

On Ryan Smith and if his suspension impacted the draft
“No. I wasn’t aware until a little bit later but those guys would have been taken anyway. And I hate for him, I think it was a dumb mistake what happened. A lot of these guys put stuff in their bodies that they didn’t get here and that’s the consequences so we’ll live with that and hopefully he’ll be back after those four games and still have a spot.”

On if he’s against playing rookies a lot in their first year
I was in Arizona, and we drafted some guys that we knew were going to redshirt because we knew we weren’t going to need them that year. This is probably the most mature group of rookies that I’ve ever been around in my 20-something years in the NFL. These guys are serious men coming to work, they’re not silly guys with a lot of money in their pocket and one of the things that I think we learned in Arizona was that, that great talent that might be a tick immature, take the guy right next to him that is mature because these guys have to play now.”

On Devin White carrying such great expectations and pressure entering his first year
“I think that was a big part of the evaluation process, how mature he was and the accolades from coaches that we really trust who were around him every day. You hear Coach Ed [Orgeron] talk now about how they can’t replace him. So the sky’s the limit, let’s let him fail before we pull him back. See what he can’t do, right now he can do everything and until he says, ‘woah, I can’t learn all of this stuff,’ or, ‘I can’t do that.’ I don’ think that’s every coming out of his mouth though, knowing him.”

On Deone Buccannon
“He can play safety, he can play linebacker, he can play special teams. That ankle is finally healthy so he can run again so he’ll find his niche because position flexibility is so huge when you’re putting those 53 guys together. If we want to play him as safety against a running team, we can do it. If we want to play him in the pass game as a nickle linebacker, dollar linebacker, he can handle it because he’s a very versatile player and he loves to play football.”

On Winston’s turnovers, in addition to the defense in past years, putting the Bucs behind early
“That’s all a part of still learning. Learning this offense, learning to dump it down, when to take the shots. We talk a lot about that, even two days ago. Ryan took a shot on third down, I looked at him and he said, ‘I would have thrown it to Cam.’ I said what about on first down? ‘I’d throw the touchdown.’ I said, exactly. Every play there’s a short pass, a long pass, what’s your matchup, and learning that. We had Scotty [Miller] matched on a safety and we took the safe pass when we had the touchdown, you look on film and woah. You can’t miss those matchups and it’s just that learning process and learning guys, Breshad [Perriman] and Scotty, those guys too.”

On walking the line to avoid Winston losing his aggressiveness
“You don’t want them playing scared, just playing smart. There’s a big difference. You don’t ever want a player playing scared, you want them playing smart and fast.”

How much of Winston’s improvements will be mental compared to technique
“Probably 70% is upstairs. I think he has improved his footwork dramatically because he’s worked so hard at it and that helps because that stops that high, hot one over the middle. That high, hot one down the middle has nothing to do with your brain, it’s your technique, and that’s where he gets into trouble, firing one down the middle and it’s high and hot. We’ve worked a lot, talking about second base throws and not passes where guys have to reach up and get it.”

On the running game
“I’m fine where we’re at. Peyton [Barber] came in at 229 and he looks fantastic. Is he going to hit home runs, 70 yards? Probably not, but he’s going to pound people and that’s what we like because it sets up the play action pass. I’m excited to see Ronald Jones because I think progressed so much during the spring. He looks like he’s in great shape and he’s hungry. Todd McNair has done a great job with those guys. Andre Ellington is healthy for the first time and he brings something different. I’m find with those guys. For what we like doing I think RoJo can be really explosive and Peyton will be steady, they’re good pass blockers, and Dare [Ogunbowale] is in that mix too. He’s an excellent route-runner.”

On Jason Pierre-Paul and the possibility of surgery
“I think surgery has been ruled out but I can’t swear, that’s the doctors. Seeing him yesterday he was in great spirits and he’s improving. It’s making progress so I think everything is on course.”

On Ndamukong Suh being a leader up front
“I think for Suh, just be you. You don’t have to come in here and be a ra-ra guy, just be you, play hard and guys will follow you. He’s already helping guys, giving guys tips and to me that’s leading. If you’re helping your room get better that’s leading. I always go back to Jerome Bettis. He taught Willie Parker to play to take his job and that was the Steeler way. Your veteran guys coach your younger guys to help us win. If they take your job eventually, so be it. Hines Ward did the same thing in our receiver room. I think he’ll add that to our room.”

On Justin Evans’ progress and how big of a concern it is
“I have no idea. If he had practiced all spring and I had him penciled in as a starter I’d be concerned but I haven’t seen him play. I’ve seen all the other guys play so if he returns and he is what I hope he is, that’s adding to the picture.”

On how nice it is to have a no-drama training camp
“It’s great. That’s what it’s all about. We had the tragedy of the accident early with JPP and everything else has been smooth. These guys just put their head down and go to work and that’s all you can ask for.”

On Jason Pierre-Paul’s timetable
“He is such a freak healer. I wouldn’t put it past him to be ready then but the doctor says until October, he’s on his original time so no setbacks, knock on wood, I would stick with that.”

On how to know how much to get on guys
“Ben [Roethlisberger] asked me when I took over as the coordinator in Pittsburgh, he said, ‘are you going to holler at me like you do the receivers?’ and I said, I hope not, you’re a quarterback. Each and every guy is different, they learn different and I think this coaching staff is experienced and mature enough to handle each guy differently. Some guys have learning disabilities, some guys don’t. Some guys learn on the board and some have to walk it through. Our job is to get them taught and I’m very, very excited about this coaching staff, I think it’s one of the best there’s every been.”

On his message to fans coming to training camp
“Come have fun. We’re going to have fun. It’s going to be a lot different when we put pads on, there will be a lot of hollering and screaming, there won’t be any damn music. You’ll hear some things so put some earplugs on the kids but it should be fun. They should see guys working their tails off and be excited about it.”

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