FAB 4. Inside The Bucs’ OTAs

Tampa Bay finished up its 2018 offseason OTAs (organized team activities) on Thursday at One Buccaneer Place. All that’s left is next week’s three-day mini-camp, which runs Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. It’s really no different than three more OTAs other than the fact that it is mandatory.

That means we should see defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul for the first time as he has missed all of the OTAs – and we’ll find out why, presuming he shows up next week. In addition to Pierre-Paul, cornerback Brent Grimes and wide receiver DeSean Jackson were also absent on Thursday, but here’s a recap of some of the things I observed during the Bucs’ final OTA.

• The Bucs spent the final week of OTAs doing a lot of red zone work, and the defense stymied the offense for the most part on Thursday.

“The defense got the better of it today,” said Bucs head coach Dirk Koetter. “We got a lot of red zone this whole week. This is our only week where we work for four days and we did a ton of red zone work. The way it worked out is defense got the best of it today but I think offense also got some really good work this week.”

• On the first play of 11-on-11, Jameis Winston’s hard count made defensive tackle Gerald McCoy jump offside. That prompted a tongue-lashing by new defensive line coach Brentson Buckner, who called McCoy out in front of the rest of the D-line. It’s clear that Buckner doesn’t play favorites or sugar coat anything, as he demands accountability from his players.

“Yeah, he’s more intense but you need a coach like that,” Bucs defensive end Noah Spence. “You need somebody to push you all along and tell y’all when you’re doing wrong and not so much what you’re doing right. Keep trying to be the best person you can be. He’s like a big blessing for us. He’s different, but he’s a great coach. No favorites, no favorites. He’s real, like, straight-on.”

Bucs DE Noah Spence – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Speaking of Spence, he revealed that he’s 257 pounds of muscle now after being as low as 228 pounds during one point in training camp last year. Spence said he eats 10 meals a day and has seven protein shakes to keep his weight up.

“I’m pretty sure Noah’s ready to go,” Koetter said. “Nothing in next few weeks, it’s when we put the pads on. Noah’s just had a hard time staying healthy, two unfortunate injuries. He did all he could do – he got them fixed. So, he’s taking care of his body. He has his weight where it needs to be. Physically, he looks great out there.”

Spence was seeing time as a third-string defensive end on Thursday.

• The Bucs often mix-and-match personnel during OTAs, but the primary starting defense on Thursday consisted of Will Gholston at left end, Vinny Curry at right end, Beau Allen and Gerald McCoy at defensive tackle, linebackers Kwon Alexander and Lavonte David, David Rivers at left cornerback, rookie Carlton Davis at right cornerback, Vernon Hargreaves III at slot cornerback with Justin Evans at free safety and Chris Conte at strong safety.

The second-string defense consisted of Patrick O’Connor at left end, Vita Vea and Mitch Unrein at defensive tackle with Vea as the three-technique, Will Clarke at right end, Riley Bullough and Adarius Taylor at linebacker with Javien Elliott at left cornerback, rookie Mark Myers at right cornerback, rookie M.J. Stewart in the slot with Keith Tandy and Isaiah Johnson at safety.

With guard J.R. Sweezy and tackles Donovan Smith and Demar Dotson held out due to injury recovery, the starting offensive line consisted of Cole Garner at left tackle, Ali Marpet at left guard, Ryan Jensen at center, Caleb Benenoch at right guard and Leonard Wester at right tackle. Tight ends Cameron Brate and O.J. Howard saw time with quarterback Jameis Winston and running back Peyton Barber and receivers Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Adam Humphries with the first-team offense, in addition to Charles Sims, who was the starting third-down back.

The second-string offense consisted of rookie left tackle Cole Boozer, rookie left guard Ruben Holcomb, center Adam Gettis, right guard Alex Cappa and right tackle Brad Seaton. Ryan Fitzpatrick was the second-team signal caller and handed the ball off to rookie running back Ronald Jones II and threw the ball to receivers Bobo Wilson, Freddie Martino and tight ends Antony Auclair and Alan Cross. Speedy rookie Shaun Wilson, who has been getting rave reviews at One Buc Place, was the second-string third-down back.

Bucs RG Caleb Benenoch – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

• The Bucs offense had several drops on Thursday, including two by Bobo Wilson, who has shown improvement this offseason, but may be overhyped. Jones also had a drop on a swing pass during practice, and is not nearly as accomplished as a pass-catcher as Sims, Barber and Wilson are.

• Although he was running third string, rookie linebacker Jack Cichy has a presence about him. Despite not being 100 percent recovered from a torn ACL last year, Cichy flows to the ball very well and instantly reads plays and finds the ballcarrier in run defense. It’s clear that he has some real instincts and he will fight Bullough for the Bucs’ final linebacker spot behind Alexander, David, Kendell Beckwith, Taylor and Devante Bond.

• The Bucs are incorporating some more RPOs – run-pass options – into their offense this season after watching teams like Philadelphia and Los Angeles use the scheme to their advantage last year.

“We did kind of steal some of those concepts, or at least some of those ideas, from the Eagles, the Rams – some of the offenses that did have a ton of success last year,” Brate said. “[We’re] just kind of watching what they did on film and seeing what was successful for them. That’s just coming from the college game. They took it from someone else, like you said, a copycat league. We’re trying out different things, seeing if we can spread out the field a little bit more, put a little more stress on the linebackers whether it’s going to be a run or a pass. So, that will only help our offense, I think. We’ll see how that goes.”

• And finally, Brate was very complimentary of Winston’s deep ball this offseason and said that the fourth-year quarterback has made great strides in his downfield accuracy.

“You guys (the media) aren’t here every day, but Jameis’ deep ball I will say looks pretty special so far this spring,” Brate said. “That’s just a testament to him and the receivers getting together this offseason.”

To be honest, in the handful OTAs PewterReport.com has observed, I can’t say that I’ve noticed any improvement. The media has only been able to watch about one-third of the OTAs, but I have not seen Winston hit on more deep passes this year than he did a year ago. With three straight mini-camp practices next week we’ll continue to monitor Winston and see if there is indeed improvement in his downfield accuracy.