Maybe it’s the fruits of an offseason spent rebuilding what was clearly a crumbled defensive line in 2017. Maybe it’s just the fact that we haven’t seen good defensive line play in Tampa Bay in a long time. Whatever it was, the perception on Saturday was that the Bucs’ defensive line was dominating.

In a very pleasant surprise, Bucs defensive end Will Gholston had a great practice on Saturday.

The Bucs had Gholston playing inside as a defensive tackle for some of the first preseason game in Miami due to the lack of depth with Vita Vea and Mitch Unrein both out. That seemed to play well into his strength as a power rusher, and that performance seemed to give him confidence into Saturday’s practice.

Although Gholston was doing all this against second and third string offensive linemen, you can’t hold his competition against him; you still have to note that he’s performing better than they are.

It’s been an encouraging week for Gholston.

Bucs right tackle Demar Dotson has been easing his way back into the line up and back into football shape after his surgery this offseason, but defensive tackle Gerald McCoy certainly didn’t ease up on him in the rep above.

McCoy got the first sack of 2018 for the Buccaneers in the limited snaps he played as a starter against Miami. With an upgraded cast around him, we could see a renaissance year from the franchise defensive tackle.

The highlight of the defensive line work came from Jason Pierre-Paul, who was purposefully used as the one-on-one defensive end with some of the back up players.

You never know when your number is going to be called due to injuries in front of you on the depth chart. Knowing how thin they are at offensive tackle with Leonard Wester out and Caleb Benenoch now at guard, players like Brad Seaton, shown above, need to get those high competition reps.

As you can see, it’s still a work in progress — JPP isn’t, though.

The Bucs have a day off on Sunday before getting back at it for two practices in Tampa Bay and then the trip to Nashville and the joint practices with the Tennessee Titans.