4 Things I Loved About Bucs’ Spring Practices

Bucs OLB Yaya Diaby and OLBs coach Larry Foote – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

INTRO: Happy Fourth of July, Bucs fans! And Happy Independence Day to America! As we celebrate our country today, I’ve got four key Bucs observations for you in today’s SR’s FAB 5.

Seeing is believing, right? It’s one thing for someone to say something. It’s another thing to see it with your own eyes for proof and confirmation. Bucs head coach Todd Bowles and general manager Jason Licht are straight shooters, which makes my job pretty easy. There’s not a lot of coachspeak with Bowles to decipher. And Licht will either tell you the truth about something or he won’t comment at all on it, which I respect.

But what I love about the open OTA practices and the open mandatory mini-camp is the ability for me to watch Bucs football unfiltered. I get to watch what I want and draw my own conclusions. So here are four things that I saw that I wound up loving about the Bucs from their spring practices. Enjoy!

FAB 1. I Loved Seeing Bucs’ Young OLBs Gravitate To Larry Foote

I’ve covered the Bucs for three decades now and I know a special assistant coach when I see one. Names from the past like defensive line coaches Rod Marinelli and Joe Cullen, secondary coaches Mike Tomlin, Raheem Morris and Jimmy Lake, linebackers coach Joe Barry, and wide receivers coach P.J. Fleck quickly come to mind.

Bucs outside linebackers coach Larry Foote is another special assistant for sure. He has an aura that just makes players gravitate towards him.

During the OTAs that were open to the media and the team’s mandatory three-day mini-camp, the two players who were glued to Foote most often were third-year pro Yaya Diaby and rookie David Walker. Instead of Diaby just standing around and chopping it up with his teammates during special teams periods, of which Diaby does not take part, he was seen talking with Foote, asking questions and going over some pass rush moves.

Diaby takes his craft seriously and knows that he is capable of having a breakout year in terms of sacks, possibly reaching double digits. And he wants to make sure that happens, so he is soaking up as much knowledge as he can get from Foote.

Walker isn’t like any ordinary rookie. He’s already 25 – just a year younger than the 26-year old Diaby – and really mature. A hamstring strain forced him to miss the second week of OTAs and the mandatory mini-camp. Instead of Walker just hanging out with his new teammates on the sidelines, he was often stuck to Foote’s hip, standing right beside his new position coach.

It’s clear that Walker doesn’t plan on being satisfied just making the Bucs’ 53-man roster as a rookie. He wants to not only contribute, but to earn meaningful playing time this year. Showing he’s eager to learn and picking Foote’s brain as often as possible is his ticket to more playing time. And with Walker not being able to be on the field practicing, it was certainly time well spent.

FAB 2. Bucs Are Actually Quite Deep At Inside Linebacker

On June 3 after a Bucs OTA practice, I asked head coach Todd Bowles where his team was the deepest on offense and defense. Bowles’ answer on offense – wide receiver and running back – were not a surprise.

Tampa Bay’s receiver and running back rooms are the envy of the league, really. The Bucs are five-deep at receiver with Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Jalen McMillan and rookies Emeka Egbuka and Tez Johnson. Bucky Irving, Rachaad White and Sean Tucker could all start at running back for some teams around the league.

“Obviously, offense is the wide receiver room,” Bowles said. “You’ve got a bunch of guys that can play. In the running back room, you’ve got three guys back from last year, as well – and we’ve got two guys we’re waiting to see. Those two are on offense.

But on defense, Bowles’ answer to which unit was the deepest caught me – and many in the media – off guard.

“Defensively right now, I like the depth of where the inside [linebackers] are right now, and we’ve got a lot of competition at cornerback,” Bowles said.

Inside linebacker?

I was anticipating Bowles saying outside linebacker, where proven veteran Haason Reddick and promising rookie David Walker join a room that has plenty of potential in Yaya Diaby, Anthony Nelson, Chris Braswell, Jose Ramirez and Markees Watts.

Yet Bowles said inside linebacker, and after he did, I spent much of the remaining OTA practice and three-day mandatory mini-camp practices watching SirVocea Dennis, Anthony Walker Jr. and Deion Jones. And I can see why Bowles said inside linebacker.

With Lavonte David, who knows Bowles’ defense inside and out, sitting out the mandatory mini-camp at age 35, Walker started in his place at Money ‘backer, while Dennis took all of the starter reps at Mike ‘backer. The two worked well together and their communication was on the same wavelength from the start.

Walker reminds me a lot of Kevin Minter, who was a key veteran reserve linebacker in Tampa Bay from 2019-20. He filled in admirably for Devin White for a few games and there was no noticeable drop off in play at middle linebacker. Minter started the 2020 Wild Card game at Washington for White, who was out with COVID-19, and posted six tackles and a pass breakup.

Walker, who turns 30 on August 8, has plenty of starting experience in the league and is seen as a big upgrade over both K.J. Britt and J.J. Russell, who platooned at Mike last year when Dennis suffered his season-ending shoulder surgery in Week 4. At 6-foot-1, 235 pounds, Walker is as big as Britt, but is more fluid and athletic, especially in coverage.

Jones turns 31 on November 4, and like Walker, he has plenty of starting experience. Although it’s been a while since his 2017 Pro Bowl season in Atlanta and his last 100-tackle season, which came with the Falcons in 2021, Jones is still plenty capable in coverage, evidenced by 13 career interceptions, including five pick-sixes.

Jones figures to be ILB4 behind David, Dennis and Walker on the depth chart. Like Walker, he is capable of playing both Mike and Mo linebacker spots, and he too is a huge upgrade over Britt and Russell from an experience and athletic standpoint.

Throw in a trio of young, promising linebackers in John Bullock, Antonio Grier Jr. and Nick Jackson fighting for either ILB5 or a spot on the practice squad, and Bowles is spot on about the sneaky strength of the inside linebacker room this year. Getting rid of Britt and Russell in favor of re-signing Jones, who was a late-season practice squad addition last year, and signing Walker was actually a huge upgrade.

And with David still playing at a high level and Dennis being the best and most impressive Bucs defender this offseason, the inside linebacker room is going to flex its muscle this year and surprise the league.

FAB 3. Josh Grizzard Plans To Have A More Vertical Passing Game

New Bucs offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard will be keeping Liam Coen’s playbook, which worked so well last year as Tampa Bay had one of the most powerful offenses in the league. But Grizzard knows that he can’t just trot out last year’s plays and expect them to work.

Case in point was that Washington got a bead on what Tampa Bay was doing offensively last year and held Coen’s offense, which was averaging 30 points per game in the regular season, to just 20 points in the Commanders’ 23-20 Wild Card win. That was a far cry from the 37-20 drubbing the Bucs laid on the Commanders in Week 1 during Coen’s debut as the play-caller.

This season, there will be plenty of Grizzard’s new wrinkles mixed in with some proven plays from a year ago. One of things that Grizzard wants to do is have a more vertical element to the Bucs passing game in 2025.

Baker Mayfield thrived in Coen’s offense, completing a personal-best and franchise-record 71.4% of his passes for 4,500 yards with 41 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. But the reason why Mayfield’s completion percentage was so high was because he threw 116 screen passes behind the line of scrimmage and another 248 passes within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage.

Mayfield completed 84.3% of those passes for 2,530 yards with 24 touchdowns and just four interceptions within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage. He only attempted 198 passes beyond 10 yards, completing 58% of those throws for 2,155 yards with 19 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

So why is Grizzard wanting Mayfield to attempt a few more passes downfield that have a lesser percentage of being completed? Because in the Rams-based passing attack that Coen imported from Los Angeles, a lot of the yardage gained comes from yards after catch. That means a receiver often needs to break a tackle or elude a defender to turn a 7-yard catch into a 17-yard gain.

If a tackle is made at the catch point, then it’s only a 7-yard gain and it sets up second-and-3. But if the pass travels 10 yards and is caught, then it’s an automatic first down. That’s the goal.

It’s up to Mayfield to become a little more accurate with his passes that travel 10+ yards and 20+ yards. That will be the focus during training camp.

But don’t expect the Bucs offense to revert back to the vertical, bombs away offense that it was under Dirk Koetter and Bruce Arians. We’re talking a few more intermediate passes and a couple more deep shots per game – just to loosen up the pass defense when it creeps up to defend the underneath throws and keep it honest.

Mayfield was outshined a bit by Kyle Trask during the OTAs and mini-camp, who was more accurate downfield. Trask and rookie wide receiver Tez Johnson proved to have quite the downfield chemistry.

Now it will be up to Mayfield to become more accurate with Johnson and every wide receiver he’ll be throwing to on Sundays – just a bit further down the field.

“We’re trying to get some more explosive [plays] in,” Mayfield said. “Obviously, when you look at the stats – I’m not a big stats guy, but we weren’t as much down the field explosive. We were creating a lot of open, in the middle, and guys getting some YAC (yards after catch).

“But, yeah, working on that, being able to connect on the chemistry we’re trying to build right now and just the timing of some of these routes – where the landmarks are and understanding that if it’s two-high [safety coverage], one-high [safety coverage], where we’re trying to throw the ball. This is the time of year we’re working on it. Obviously, you would love to have more down the field shots, but any completion is a good one.”

FAB 4. Two Reserve Bucs Offensive Linemen Stood Out To Me

One of the new offensive linemen who has received quite a bit of buzz this offseason is Ben Chukwuma, an undrafted free agent out of Georgia State. While the Nigerian native lacks experience because he’s essentially only played American football for a few years, he’s a very good athlete and full of promise.

Chukwuma was given the highest amount of guaranteed money for any undrafted free agent around the league this year – $300,000, including a $55,000 signing bonus. That pretty much assures Chukwuma a spot on the practice squad or perhaps OL10 on the depth chart.

Given his status as a raw offensive lineman, don’t expect to see Chukwuma on the field during his rookie season. He’s a developmental, down-the-line kind of player.

But there were two other offensive linemen that I saw during the Bucs offseason practices that really stood out to me – veteran newcomer Charlie Heck and rookie Jake Majors.

Heck received every starting rep at left tackle during the OTAs and the mini-camp with Tristan Wirfs being out due to a knee injury. Those reps were invaluable for Heck, who needs to learn the Bucs system and gain chemistry with left guard Ben Bredeson.

When Wirfs returns to the lineup for training camp, then Heck will taking reps at right tackle, as he’ll be the swing tackle this year to replace Justin Skule, who left for Minnesota in free agency. Heck is the tallest offensive lineman at 6-foot-8, 311 pounds and has good feet and long arms. He seems like a good replacement for Skule, who started four games at right tackle and one game at left tackle last year.

Majors appears to be the front-runner to replace Robert Hainsey as the team’s backup center. He’s taken a lot of reps as the No. 2 center behind Graham Barton, and was a three-year starter at Texas. Majors has plenty of experience and is an excellent, loud communicator.

Majors had a draftable grade by the team, and the Bucs were thrilled to land him in free agency. He’ll be cross-trained at guard to increase his versatility, but center will be his home base. Don’t be surprised if he’s one of the standouts in camp when the pads come on and in the preseason games.

FAB 5. Pewter Report’s Top 50 Bucs List Is Coming Soon

The Buccaneers asked me to participate in a media survey ranking the top 50 players in franchise history. As someone who has covered the team for the past three decades, I was incredibly honored to do so.

Over the next two weeks, I will be sharing my list with you on PewterReport.com in the form of 10 articles with each one listing five Bucs greats, starting at No. 46-50 and then finishing with the final five.

The Pewter Report staff will also be conducting an All-Time Bucs’ Draft where each Pewter Reporter gets a turn at drafting their Bucs team. We’ll be revealing our teams and discussing each one on a Pewter Report Podcast later in July. So look for that on PewterReport.com as well as in podcast form on PewterReportTV, our YouTube channel.

In the meantime, check out my latest Pewter Pulse video on a very popular Buccaneer – rookie safety Shilo Sanders.