The Bucs began their fourth week of training camp at the AdventHealth Training Center under sunny skies and milder conditions with a nice breeze. Temperatures were in the high 80s on Monday morning, and it felt about 10 degrees cooler than recent outdoor practices.

Tampa Bay practiced in shells (shoulder pads, helmet and and shorts) on Monday and have Tuesday off as the team will be traveling to New Jersey to practice with the Jets.

Bucs Not Practicing

Several Bucs missed practice on Monday, including center Ryan Jensen, rookie outside linebacker YaYa Diaby, rookie inside linebacker SirVocea Dennis, rookie offensive lineman Raiqwon O’Neal and rookie nickel/safety Chris Izien. For Jensen it was the first time he didn’t dress in back-to-back practices, and he didn’t play in Friday’s preseason opener against the Steelers, either.

On Saturday, Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds wrote about the growing concern about Jensen’s health and whether or not he’ll be able to fully return to his Pro Bowl form – if he makes it back to the starting lineup.

QBs Cool Off With Misfires, WRs Drop The Ball

After Sunday’s sizzling practice from Baker Mayfield, the Bucs’ leading quarterback along with Kyle Trask, cooled off on Monday morning. Trask was the starter on Monday and began 11-on-11s with a nice deep shot off play-action to Chris Godwin. The pass was on the money, but a little late, and that allowed safety Antoine Winfield to close in and break up the pass. The play might not have gotten off though, as Shaq Barrett beat right tackle Luke Goedeke and might have had the sack first.

Bucs QB Kyle Trask – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Trask was then off on his next throw to Russell Gage as it was a wild overthrow. It looked like there was miscommunication from Trask and Gage on the play, as the receiver was nowhere near the ball. On the next play, offensive coordinator Dave Canales went back to Gage with a similar pass from Mayfield. Gage ran the right route, but dropped the ball, which was well thrown and on target.

Safety Ryan Neal came in and got a sack on Trask off a blitz. A few plays later, Trask hit Godwin downfield on an intermediate throw, but Winfield blasted Godwin with a big hit, which resulted in a drop. Trask had a pass to Deven Thompkins broken up by nickelback Josh Hayes, who got the start in place of the injured Chris Izien on Monday. On his next pass, tight end Cade Otton dropped Trask’s pass with cornerback Carlton Davis III in tight coverage. Later in 11-on-11 red zone, Thompkins dropped a Trask pass.

Trask did have two nice passes where his receivers came through for him. He had a nice deep out to Palmer, who made a sliding catch before he slid out of bounds in front of Canales. Then in the red zone, Thompkins made a diving catch of a short Trask pass for a touchdown just over the goal line.

Mayfield finally got the ball in the end zone in 11-on-11 red zone drills, hitting Gage on a fade route in the back corner of the end zone with Hayes in coverage. Gage had a rough practice, and even had a rough landing on his touchdown catch. Gage landed hard on his lower back and then had the back of his helmet bang on the turf, but got up and walked off okay.

Mayfield then hit rookie tight end Payne Durham with a touchdown pass over linebacker Ulysees Gilbert, as he started to heat up towards the end of practice.

Even third-string quarterback John Wolford encountered some drops as Trey Palmer couldn’t haul in one of his passes. Hayes nearly picked off one of his passes in the end zone, but dropped the interception.

Bucs Will Only Practice Against The Jets One Time

The Bucs were supposed to practice against the Jets twice this week up in New Jersey, but will only end up having one joint practice, which will be on Wednesday. The Bucs and Jets will hold separate practices on Thursday before having a walk-through at MetLife Stadium on Friday prior to Saturday’s game.

Bucs Practice Observations

• The Bucs switched second-team offensive tackles on Monday with Justin Skule, who started at left tackle in Friday night’s preseason opener against Pittsburgh, playing right tackle and Brandon Walton playing left tackle. Walton has primarily been used at right tackle in camp, but saw some playing time at left tackle early in the 2022 season when Donovan Smith and Josh Wells were injured.

Bucs CB Josh Hayes – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

• Robert Hainsey was the starting center today with John Molchon taking snaps with the second team. Nick Leverett played some left guard with the second team opposite right guard Aaron Stinnie, who started at left guard in the preseason opener versus the Steelers.

• Rookie Josh Hayes started at nickel in place of the injured Chris Izien and made some nice plays in practice. While he dropped an interception in the end zone and gave up one touchdown, he had a nice play on a blitz, coming free to sack Kyle Trask near the end of practice.

• Bucs head coach Todd Bowles was dialing up plenty of pressure from the secondary and several players got sacks. In addition to sacks by Hayes and Ryan Neal, safety Antoine Winfield Jr. also picked up a sack on a perfectly timed blitz that Kyle Trask never saw coming.

• Rookie outside linebacker Markees Watts continues to shine. Coming off a strip-sack in Friday night’s preseason game, Watts had three sacks on Saturday, and split left tackle Tristan Wirfs and left guard Matt Feiler on a sack for a safety on Monday. Watts got to Kyle Trask in the end zone before he could throw the ball.