After a day off on Thursday, the Bucs returned to practice on Friday at the AdventHealth Training Center with a few reinforcements. Wide receiver Chris Godwin, who had missed the previous two sessions due to undisclosed reasons, returned to practice for the team. Godwin looked sharp, reeling in a touchdown and a 20-yard pass from quarterback Tom Brady during 11-on-11’s.

Joining him in returning was tight end O.J. Howard. Howard has been seen warming up and catching the ball off to the side the first four days of camp. Today the Bucs tight end was doing individual drills with the tight ends and participated in 7-on-7 drills later in practice. He was kept out of 11-on-11 team drills. Howard continues to work his way back from a ruptured Achilles he suffered in Week 4 last season.

On the defensive side of the ball, the big news is the arrival of safety Jordan Whitehead. Whitehead was placed on the team’s COVID/Reserve list at the start of training camp. The safety’s appearance is a good sign, meaning that he is out of COVID isolation. However, he did not participate with the team during individual or team drills, practicing off to the side.

New safety Raven Greene also made his debut to Bucs camp. Greene missed the first four practices due to an excused absence. Greene is behind in the competition at safety with second-year player Javon Hagan and cornerback Ross Cockrell, who is being cross trained at the position.

After having a veteran’s off day on Wednesday quarterback Tom Brady, tight end Rob Gronkowski, center Ryan Jensen and outside linebacker Jason Pierre-Paul all returned to action for Friday’s practice. Outside linebacker Cam Gill missed his second consecutive practice. Meanwhile veteran linebacker Lavonte David and defensive end William Gholston had days off today. Kevin Minter took first-team reps alongside Devin White in place of David.