Todd Bowles and the Bucs opened their three-game preseason slate on Saturday night with a 17-14 win over the Bengals in Cincinnati. While Joe Burrow and a lot of the home team’s starters played the opening series of the game, Tampa Bay sat almost every one of its projected starters.

That was in line with what Bowles did last preseason, as he sat most of his starters for the team’s preseason opener against the Steelers. He then sat a lot of them for the second game of the exhibition slate against the Jets before the first-team guys got their first taste of action in the preseason finale against the Ravens.

So, will Todd Bowles and the Bucs follow a similar plan during the 2024 preseason? The head coach spoke Sunday morning about where his mind currently is regarding the work his starters will receive over the next couple of weeks.

“Depending on how much work we get in Jacksonville during the practice week, I’m leaning towards the third game because we’ll have two weeks to get ready for the game,” Bowles said. “We’ll see how much practice the ‘ones’ get. They’ll have the day off, so they’ll get a lot of work that week.

Bucs HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: USA Today

“Depending on how much work they get, they’ll probably sit this one. If they don’t, then some of them will play a little more. I’m leaning towards the third game where everybody plays.”

Bowles and the Bucs have two joint practices with the Jaguars in Jacksonville this week ahead of Saturday night’s preseason matchup. Those joint practices tend to be extremely valuable for all parties, and many coaches come away from them feeling like their starters got enough reps that they don’t need to risk injury in that week’s preseason game.

What’s interesting about Tampa Bay’s schedule this preseason, though, is that next week will feature another joint practice. The Dolphins will be in town for a joint practice at the AdventHealth Training Center before they take on the Bucs at Raymond James Stadium to close out the preseason that Friday.

With two pairs of joint practices, the Bucs’ starters will get a lot of reps on the practice fields. But it sounds like Todd Bowles currently plans to get his first-teamers some game action at Raymond James Stadium on Aug. 23, though plans are understandably subject to change.

Will Todd Bowles Have Any Bucs Starters Sit Out The Whole Preseason?

While Todd Bowles spoke very generally about the plans for his starters as the rest of the preseason unfolds, it’s fair to wonder if some veteran starters will be sidelined for the whole preseason.

Bucs HC Todd Bowles and OLB Yaya Diaby – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

There may be something to the idea of Baker Mayfield, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin at least getting some live reps in a game setting considering they’re still adjusting to new offensive coordinator Liam Coen’s system. Mayfield and Coen have worked together before, but there’s also value in the two having some gameday communication in the preseason and getting on the same page early rather than going into the regular season opener without all of that ironed out.

But on the defensive side of the ball, does a 13-year veteran like Lavonte David really need preseason snaps? It doesn’t feel like it.

And there’s no need to rush injured starters like Yaya Diaby and Jordan Whitehead back to action before Week 1 against Washington. The team has already said the focus for Diaby will be getting him ready for the regular season. Whitehead’s injury is more minor, but the team won’t want to push it with him either.

Going back to last year again, Todd Bowles elected to have his starters play a full half in the final week of the preseason. So if it all plays out the same way this year, it’ll be the Bucs’ preseason finale against the Dolphins that will feature some more of the regulars.

We’ll see how the next couple of weeks of joint practices with the Jaguars and Dolphins unfold, but for now, it sounds like Buccaneer fans returning to Ray Jay on Aug. 23 may get to see a majority of the team’s starters — at least for some time.