The Bucs held their eighth practice of training camp Friday morning at the AdventHealth Training Center, and it was another hot day with very little breeze. The practice was open to the general public, which made for another lively atmosphere as a whole lot of Buccaneer fans started their Fridays with a trip to One Buc Place.

After a busy day Thursday with the Tristan Wirfs contract extension and an injury to Yaya Diaby (which thankfully wasn’t a worst-case scenario situation), Tampa Bay had one of its longer practices of camp thus far on Friday as things begin to ramp up ahead of the preseason opener next Saturday night at Cincinnati. The team will be back at it for another practice Saturday morning before an off day Sunday.

Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds, Matt Matera, Bailey Adams and Adam Slivon were in attendance for Friday’s practice. Here are their observations:

Bucs Who Were Not Practicing

Chase Edmonds and Shaun Peterson Jr. remained sidelined on Friday, as did starting safety Jordan Whitehead, who is nursing a sore quad. Rookie wide receiver Kameron Johnson, who has been one of the standout players in camp, missed a second straight practice. Head coach Todd Bowles said after practice that Johnson is dealing with a bit of a rib injury. Second-year linebacker SirVocea Dennis also missed Friday’s practice.

Bowles also confirmed that the Bucs will take things week by week with Yaya Diaby, who suffered a high ankle sprain near the end of Thursday’s practice. The focus for the second-year outside linebacker will be getting back to full health for the team’s Week 1 home game against the Commanders.

#Bucs HC Todd Bowles says that they are taking OLB YaYa Diaby’s week-by-week and that he’ll be ready for Week 1. The team got good news with his ankle injury. pic.twitter.com/3s2ozi32N2

— PewterReport 🏴‍☠️ (@PewterReport) August 2, 2024

Tampa Bay also suffered an injury for a third straight practice, with reserve offensive tackle Silas Dzansi getting tangled up with Daniel Grzesiak before being helped off to the side by teammates. Dzansi, who may have a shot at earning one of the final offensive line spots on the 53-man roster out of camp, then headed inside with trainers.

Bucs Defense Continues To Get Its Hands On The Football

Bucs HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

For the Bucs defense, a big theme of the last couple of offseasons has been about generating more turnovers. The same has been the case this summer, and we’ve seen a couple of interceptions in each of the last few practices. There were two more on Friday, with the first coming from linebacker Vi Jones on a John Wolford and the other coming later in 11-on-11s as Jamel Dean intercepted Baker Mayfield.

Dean has been one of the main examples of a Buccaneer defender who puts consistently himself in the right position to make plays and come up with interceptions only to drop them and miss out on big-play opportunities. So to see him come up with his second interception of the week on Friday was a big positive.

“I’ve been trying to make it a big emphasis to catch 50 balls a day,” Dean said. “So when the opportunity comes, it’ll come natural for me. …That’s a big emphasis. Last year, I know I dropped like five interceptions. That separates you from Pro Bowl, All-Pro and basically the rankings. So now I wanted to make it a big emphasis. I’m putting myself in the right situations. I’ve just got to finish.”

After joking earlier this week that Dean may need to be drug tested because he actually held onto a ball, head coach Todd Bowles had a simpler message after his veteran corner came up with a second interception in five days.

“Whatever he’s doing, he needs to keep doing it,” Bowles said.

As for the friendly-but-also-truthful shot Bowles took at Dean after Sunday’s practice?

“It don’t surprise me,” Dean said. “He gives me crap all the time. It’s never good enough. It’s hard to make the guy proud!”

Jamel Dean had his second INT of the week in today’s practice. Todd Bowles famously said Dean may need to be drug tested after he held onto the ball for his first INT earlier this week. Dean had this to say today: pic.twitter.com/YZtb2T6Gry

— PewterReport 🏴‍☠️ (@PewterReport) August 2, 2024

A Couple Of Less-Heralded Rookies Take Center Stage

Bucs TE Devin Culp – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

There’s been a whole lot of talk about the Bucs rookie class so far during training camp, whether it’s been first-round pick Graham Barton, second-round pick Chris Braswell, the pair of third-round picks in Tykee Smith and Jalen McMillan or fourth-round running back Bucky Irving. But during Friday’s practice, a couple of under-the-radar rookies really made some waves.

On the offense, it was tight end Devin Culp, a seventh-round pick out of Washington. He made a couple of catches early on in 11-on-11s before really starring as the second-team offense wrapped up practice with a two-minute drill. He came up with a nice leaping catch on a ball from Kyle Trask on one play, then after the offense hurried to the line to snap the ball, he caught another pass on the next play to set up a field goal try — which was the objective of the drill.

“He’s feisty in the blocking game,” Bowles said of Culp after practice. “He’s got to work on his hands a little more. He can catch the basket ones in his chest, he’s got to have more natural hands. He’s been working on that. He’s been coming down with some lately.”

Behind Cade Otton and Payne Durham, Culp is looking to unseat Ko Kieft as the Bucs’ TE3 or crack the roster as the TE4 if the team carries four players at the position.

Defensively, the less-heralded rookie standout of the day was undrafted linebacker Kalen DeLoach out of Florida State. After coming up with a couple of sacks during Thursday’s practice, he got to work with both the second- and first-team defense Friday with SirVocea Dennis sidelined and Lavonte David getting some reps off.

“We know he’s fast and he plays fast,” Bowles said of DeLoach after practice. “The mental part has to slow down for him, but he’s been making strides every day. Very interested to see him in preseason.”

David, who has been working alongside DeLoach in the linebacker room, is impressed with the rookie.

“He’s one of those guys. I got an opportunity to work reps with Kalen as well,” he said. “He’s one of those young guys who comes in, listens, takes the coaching. Obviously, college ball is way different from NFL ball and this defense that we’re in is very complex. A lot of moving parts into it. So, he’s one of those guys who’s wanting to learn and willing to learn. When me and him are in there together, I can tell he’s listening and he’s understanding what he needs to do. He wants to make plays and he wants to contribute to the football team.”

DeLoach will be looking to beat out J.J. Russell for an inside linebacker spot behind David, K.J. Britt and Dennis.

Highlights And Observations From Day 8 Of Bucs Camp

Here are some quick-hitting observations from Tampa Bay’s eighth training camp practice:

• Vi Jones and Jamel Dean were the only ones who came up with interceptions on Friday, but a couple of other defensive backs made exceptional pass breakups on back-to-back plays. First, it was rookie safety Rashad Wisdom perfectly covering fellow rookie Jalen McMillan to break up a Baker Mayfield deep ball attempt in the end zone. Then, on the next play, second-year cornerback Keenan Isaac made a diving pass breakup near the sideline.
• After standing out during Thursday’s practice, tight ends Cade Otton and Payne Durham — as well as Devin Culp — were heavily involved in the 11-on-11 period, more so than a lot of the team’s wide receivers.
• One receiver who did put together a noteworthy practice was Rakim Jarett. He caught a nice throw from Kyle Trask near the sideline early in 11-on-11s, making for what was a nice chunk play of 25-plus yards. Jarrett later caught a couple more passes in 11-on-11s. He’s firmly in the mix for one of the depth receiver roles as it stands right now.
• With Yaya Diaby’s injury, a host of Bucs outside linebackers saw time with the first-team defense. It started out, predictably, with Joe Tryon-Shoyinka and Anthony Nelson as the bookends, but rookie Chris Braswell got a chance to run with the ones as well.