The Bucs were back in full pads for Friday’s practice after playing in shells the day before. It was very hot day reaching about 95 degrees with not much cloud coverage or a breeze throughout the two hour practice. This may have led to some of the surprising amount of mistakes committed by the offense.

Bucs Not Practicing Today

C Ryan Jensen

Jensen had a veterans day off. The Bucs will continue their schedule of him practicing every other day. Presumably he’ll participate  tomorrow.

OLB Charles Snowden

That makes two days in a row that Snowden has not been available. He watched on the side as his teammates practiced.

CB Carlton Davis Limited

It was a similar status again for Davis. He wore a jersey and pants while participating during individual drills. He did not do anything in team drills. Jamel Dean and Zyon McCollum were the Bucs starting corners.

Devin White Makes His Presence Felt

There’s been a lot of conversation about Devin White, understandably so. It was good to talk about him in a different light this summer – for his on field performance. White hasn’t been bad by any means so far in training camp, he’s just kind of been invisible compared to the great start by rookie SirVocea Dennis and some noticeable plays by Lavonte David. That was until today.

Bucs RB Rachaad White and ILB Devin White – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

It felt like the Bucs were very blitz heavy today on the defensive side of the ball during various 11-on-11s. White, who’s always been known for his speed, had a couple of great runs at quarterback Kyle Trask. On his first blitz, White nearly got to Kyle Trask, who just got the pass off in time for a sizable gain over the middle to Mike Evans. But Trask would not have as much luck on the next play as White was back at it again, making sure he finished the job in the backfield for a sack.

White loves his horses but he wasn’t just a one-trick pony on Friday. In a later session of 11-on-11s, he played excellent running back on Bucs running Ke’Shawn Vaughn running a route across the middle of the field. White didn’t give him an inch of space, knocking the ball away while also taking Vaughn to the ground to eliminate any possibility of benefitting from the deflection bouncing his way.

There were also some chippy moments from White as well with his fellow namesake – Rachaad White. Following a physical run play involving the two, Devin pushed Rachaad after, which Rachaad then reciprocated. On the next play, things got physical again as Devin covered Rachaad on a passing play and hit him close to when the ball was arriving, which was called for a pass interference. Each player exchanged words after to the point where safety Ryan Neal had to separate them. Cooler heads prevailed, though, and both guys went through the rest of practice without any incidents.

In a time where we haven’t heard anything from Devin White, it was good to see him get fired up.

“Devin’s done great,” head coach Todd Bowles said after practice. “He’s been outstanding. He’s really taken ownership of understanding the defense and its his defense to run. He knows when he can cheat plays and when he can’t cheat plays. That shows the growth he’s showed over the past year.”

Too Many Mistakes By The Offense

It really took a while for the Bucs offense to get it going at the beginning of practice. After Kyle Trask started with the 1’s and completed some short passes, it was then Baker Mayfield’s turn. Mayfield completed a pass to Trey Palmer for a short gain as well, but then the next two consecutive plays were botched snaps at the line of scrimmage between him and center Nick Leverett. It was difficult to tell who was responsible for the miscues, but having it occur two plays in a row really slowed down any momentum the offense was trying to build.

On the next play, tight end Cade Otton ran into the flat and Mayfield threw an easy ball to him. Problem was that Otton dropped it. That started off a full day of drops and mistakes particularly from Bucs wide receivers. In one of the more surprising events, Rakim Jarrett had two drops on the day. Kade Warner missed one and Ryan Miller botched a pass that was in his hands as well.

There were at least two false start penalties committed by the offense and an illegal formation penalty as well. Not the most organized day from that side of the ball.

Good Give And Take From The Bucs During Red Zone

The best events of the practice took place during red zone drills, which saw a great back and forth from the offense and defense. Trask started things off with a completion to Cade Otton short of the end zone. Next was an incompletion as he looked for Mike Evans, who was covered by safety Nolan Turner on the play.

Bucs QBs Kyle Trask, Baker Mayfield and John Wolford – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Following a wide incomplete throw attempting to find Deven Thompkins on a rollout, Anthony Nelson sacked Trask on the following play as Trask couldn’t find anyone open and had to hold the ball for longer than he wanted to. Trask’s session was capped off on a positive note with a touchdown pass to Kade Warner.

The drills for Mayfield went much better in the red zone session. He came right out of the gate with a touchdown pass to Mike Evans in the back of the end zone. Following an incomplete pass, Kaylon Geiger was an inch away from reaching the end zone, but his sideline catch was ruled to be down before the goal line. Mayfield threw another touchdown pass on the following play, hitting David Moore during slant route. Revenge was had by the defense on the next two plays with sacks by Ulysees Gilbert and Will Gholston on John Wolford at quarterback.

Derrek Pitts Jr. Makes Fantastic Interception

With Bucs fans waiting on pins and needles with every throw that Mayfield and Trask make, it was a relatively clean day until the waining moments of practice. Both quarterbacks were stalled at time, but each were able to throw some touchdowns on the day, which was way better than the previous one.

Mostly playing turnover free, the first interception in two days occurred on deep ball thrown by Mayfield far down the left sideline intended for wide receiver Taye Barber. What ended up happening was an incredibly athletic play by rookie undrafted free agent Derrek Pitts Jr. as he jumped in the air and made a play on the ball before Barber could, coming down with it and staying in bounds. 

You can’t really fault Mayfield for making that throw. Just an incredible play.

Bucs Observations

Bucs WR Kade Warner – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

• Hands down the best offensive play came on a 4o-yard play action pass touchdown from John Wolford to wide receiver Russell Gage. The Bucs sent the house on the blitz, but it was protected well and Gage was wide open.

• In other receiver news, Kade Warner had two touchdowns on the day. Mike Evans scored as well and Chris Godwin made a good 20-yard reception on a pass by Mayfield.

• It was sacks galore for the Bucs defense. Devin White, Anthony Nelson, Will Gholston (2), Pat O’Connor, YaYa Diaby and Joe Tryon-Shoyinka all got to the quarterback.

• Running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn made a good 20-yard reception in 7-on-7s. That was one of the biggest plays he’s made in the passing game.

• In the oddest moment of the day, Mayfield’s initial pass in 11-on-11’s was a little high when intended for David Moore. It went off his hands as he jumped for the ball, but because multiple defenders were closing in on Moore, the tipped ball floated over their heads and into the hands of Ryan Miller for what would’ve been a touchdown had he continued running the rest of the way.

• Tristan Wirfs opened up about mentally being in a rough spot from worrying too much about failing in the move from right tackle to left tackle. It was really eye opening to see a player as great as him have the same types of fears as everyday people have on a regular basis.

The Bucs will have practice again on Saturday in an afternoon session beginning at 3:00 PM followed by a day off on Sunday.