The PR Bucs Monday Mailbag is where PewterReport.com’s Mark Cook answers your questions from our Twitter account. You can submit your question each week via Twitter using the hashtag #PRMailbag.

Below are the questions we chose for this week’s edition of the PR Bucs Monday Mailbag.

Question: If you were a NFL player today, would you play this season?

Answer: I would love to just say “of course” without reservation, but that wouldn’t be truthful. There are still too many variables and unanswered questions that myself – if I were a player – would want to be be answered. And according to reports, those questions are being discussed this week by the NFL and the NFLPA.

The biggest question I would have is, exactly how safe would it be and what would the likelihood that I might contract the virus? For a majority of players who fall into the lower risk category the question might not be as big of a deal to them. We don’t know all the answers, but data tells us healthy, in-shape athletes are at a much lower risk for having complications if they were to contract COVID-19.

Bucs head coach Bruce Arians – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

That is the good news.

But what about becoming infected and then spreading it to others in a high-risk group? Maybe a player’s wife or girlfriend has a compromised immune system. Or maybe they pass it on to their parents, who could be diabetic or have cardiovascular disease?

How often would I have to be tested? Would they be the rapid response tests? And how reliable are those tests? I would also like to see how Major League Baseball, the NHL and the NBA fare. They are set to get back in action soon, so seeing if major outbreaks happen and the league’s response would also be something I would want to know.

At the end of the day, I most likely would choose to play because it would be how I made my living. Police officers, firemen, hospital workers, and even someone like by son, who works stocking shelves at Publix right now, just get up and go to work every day and make far less than professional athletes. Most people don’t have a choice not to work due to middle class income levels. But it is each person’s choice and they know their circumstances better than we do. So it would be hard to fault a player who decides to sit out the season with still so many unanswered questions.

Question: How limited is the coverage from reporters in terms of training camp performances or is there gonna be any at all?

Answer: Like everything else, that is all to be determined, but from the info that has put been put out to the public and from sources we have spoken with, there will be some sort of daily camp access by major media outlets like PewterReport.com it appears. But it will be with a much limited workforce.

Bucs ILB Kevin Minter and PewterReport.com’s Scott Reynolds – Photo by: Mark Cook/PR

For instance, at the Bucs’ last training camp, the entire PewterReport.com staff, including myself, Scott Reynolds, Taylor Jenkins, Trevor Sikkema, Matt Matera, and our ace photographer, Cliff Welch, was at nearly every training camp practice. This year we may only be allowed one, or two staff members near the field at the most, so we will be on a rotating basis among our organization.

We should also have access for our photographer, but in a limited capacity as far as days allowed. Likely the team’s photography department will have a pool of photos we can also use from each practice.

Also it is very unlikely that we will get one-on-one access to any players in camp – or even during the regular season. There will be no open locker room media sessions during the 2020 season. We are guessing a lot of conference calls or Zoom calls following practices.

Even head coach Bruce Arians and his staff will likely be kept away from the media as far as in-person interviews go, which make a lot of sense. Tampa Bay has a large coaching staff and a handful of coaches over the age of 50, including Arians himself, who turns 68 this fall, that will need to take extra precautions as they fall into a higher risk group.

Nothing is 100 percent concrete, but we feel comfortable that if the NFL is able to kick off later this month, that we will be able to being our readers some content from in-person reporting.

Question: If the NFL keeps the two pre-season games, would you play Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski in either game?

Answer: I really think the Bucs have to. While Tom Brady’s “not-so” under-the-radar workouts are beneficial, teams can’t simulate accurate game conditions and game speed running around in shorts on a high school field.

Bucs QB Tom Brady and TE Rob Gronkowski – Photo from Brady’s Instagram

Players need to hit and be hit. Brady needs to see how his blocking holds up, how quick he might need to get rid of the ball and what wide receiver Mike Evans looks like going against a cornerback in full pads. He needs to work on his mesh point with running back Ronald Jones on hand offs, and also listen and collaborate with center Ryan Jensen on line calls.

As for Rob Gronkowski, who missed all of 2019, it might be even more important to get in some meaningful reps. It helps that he already has a built-in chemistry with Brady, but getting back into football shape takes actually playing football. There are just a lot of things that can’t be replicated without actually doing them.

There is certainly a risk involved when you put your franchise quarterback out on the field for a preseason game. Brady knows how to play football and will have a complete understanding of the playbook before he ever suits up for an official practice. But as an organization, you’d like some warm-up laps before lining up and starting the race.

Question: In his SR’s Fab 5 recently, Scott gave Gronk a “B” and both O.J. Howard and Cameron Brate a “C” grade. This suggests he sees the tight end position as a weakness on our team. Do you agree?

Answer: I suppose if the Bucs only had Rob Gronkowski, or just O.J. Howard or just Cameron Brate, you could come to that conclusion. But unlike, say, left guard where there is one player, Ali Marpet, who is expected to play 100 percent of the offensive snaps, the tight end position with this team is different. It is a collective group of talent.

Bucs TE Cameron Brate – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

If you call Marpet an “A” player, but his backup is an “F” player then you could say there are weaknesses at the position. That isn’t the case with Tampa Bay’s tight ends. A “B” and two “C” players make up a pretty good overall group. And who says Gronkowski doesn’t become an “A” player or Howard and Brate don’t become “B” players?

I think that was the point Scott Reynolds was making. Right now, Gronkowski is a “B” player and Howard and Brate are “C” players, which is not a bad thing. A “C” means average, not below average, but the Bucs will need more players to elevate their play in 2020 just like some, such as cornerbacks Brian Kelly and Dwight Smith, did back in 2002 to help Tampa Bay get to the Super Bowl.

If you look at the Bucs’ Super Bowl team there were plenty of players whom prior to the start of that season the would have been called “C” players – guys like defensive end Greg Spires, left guard Kerry Jenkins, running back Michael Pittman and safety Dexter Jackson also come to mind – yet they elevated their game to a “B” level or better. That is the hope with this team with the “Brady effect.”