Kyle Trask’s Best Day Yet, Peanut Punches Galore

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When the Bucs woke up Friday morning, they could think to themselves for the first time in a while, “We play a football game this month.” Yes, with the calendar flipped to August, we’re down to single-digit days until Tampa Bay’s preseason opener against the Tennessee Titans at Raymond James Stadium. But on Friday morning, the grind continued for the Bucs as they held their eighth practice of training camp at the AdventHealth Training Center.

For the third and final time this summer, practice was open to the general public, so there was unsurprisingly a lively crowd in attendance, and they brought some cloud cover with them.

Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds, Matt Matera and Bailey Adams were in attendance for Friday morning’s practice at One Buc Place, as well as post-practice press conferences with head coach Todd Bowles, outside linebackers Haason Reddick and Chris Braswell and right tackle Luke Goedeke. Here are Pewter Report’s observations and takeaways from Day 8 of Bucs Camp.

Bucs Who Were Not Practicing On Friday

The biggest and most notable absence from Friday’s practice was that of starting quarterback Baker Mayfield. Just as the morning was getting underway, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported that Mayfield has a contusion on his throwing hand and is considered day-to-day.

After practice, head Todd Bowles made it clear the team isn’t worried about the issue with Mayfield’s hand, which makes sense as Pelissero reported that they did precautionary testing and ruled out a more significant injury.

“He’s got a sore hand,” Bowles said. “We gave him the day off. He’s day-to-day, and we’re not worried about it.”

Outside of Mayfield, many of the same Bucs weren’t dressed out for Friday’s practice, as well as a few new ones. Linebacker Lavonte David, tight end Cade Otton, quarterback Michael Pratt, wide receivers Trey Palmer and Kameron Johnson and running back Josh Williams remained out, while wide receivers Ryan Miller and Tez Johnson joined them on the sideline.

No Baker Mayfield, No Problem On Friday As Kyle Trask Took Control

Even without Baker Mayfield on the practice field, the Bucs offense was firing on Friday morning. Backup quarterback Kyle Trask took over with the starters and had a great day, hitting Mike Evans, Jalen McMillan, Sterling Shepard and Devin Culp with regularity throughout the morning.

“It’s probably the best he’s looked since we’ve been in camp,” head coach Todd Bowles said of Trask. “It was one of his better days. He made quicker decisions, he got the ball out of his hand, he did some good things. I’ll probably have to see the tape to see the rest of it.”

Trask also didn’t throw any interceptions on Friday, which was an encouraging sign for the 2021 second-round pick considering he has led the way with a team-high five interceptions so far in camp.

In fact, it was an interception-less day for both Buccaneer quarterbacks as Connor Bazelak stepped up and looked in control as well. The Tampa Bay offense largely dominated the team’s red zone period, with Trask finding Jalen McMillan for a touchdown in the back of the end zone before firing a beautiful touchdown throw to Mike Evans in the corner of the end zone. Evans was well covered by Kindle Vildor and J.J. Roberts, but Trask simply made a perfect throw and Evans hauled it in as he slid to his knees.

From there, Bazelak threw a touchdown to rookie wide receiver Garrett Greene – who went up and got it over safety Rashad Wisdom – and then hit tight end Tanner Taula for another. Not to mention, earlier in a 3rd & Goal period, Bazelak fired a bullet to running back Bucky Irving for a touchdown and had another touchdown throw to Dennis Houston.

While both quarterbacks had their best practices of camp thus far, there’s clearly still a need for another arm as Michael Pratt has been out long-term and Mayfield wasn’t going to play much in the preseason anyway. Bowles said after practice that finding another camp arm is something they’re currently working on.

No INTs, But Bucs Defense Continues To Attack The Football

Friday was just the second time in eight practices thus far that the Bucs defense failed to record an interception. But that didn’t mean the secondary wasn’t attacking the football, making plays and creating takeaways.

Rookie cornerback Benjamin Morrison kept trending upward in Friday’s practice, though his best play wasn’t about his coverage on a receiver – it was what came after. Mike Evans beat him for a decent gain near the sideline, but before the play came to an end, Morrison was there for a “Peanut Punch”, knocking the ball loose for a fumble. While it rolled out of bounds, it was still an impressive display of the rookie’s ability to attack the ball.

He tried another Peanut Punch later on in practice, too, continuing to show his constant desire to get the football. Christian Izien was next up to force a fumble, as he ripped the ball out of tight end Devin Culp’s hands. After a scramble on the ground, defensive tackle Calijah Kancey came up with the recovery. The play was a good 15 yards down the field, so Kancey showed an unrelenting effort in order to be in position to get the ball.

“We want to get the ball out out on defense, but we’ve got to take care of the ball on offense,” Todd Bowles said after practice. “I’m not talking out of both sides of my mouth, I’m just talking as a head coach… It’s great that we’re emphasizing that on defense and it’s getting done. Offensively, we’ve got to secure the football or drives won’t last long.”

And while there weren’t any interceptions on Friday, defenders were still getting their hands on the ball. Izien had a pass breakup in coverage on Culp and later had another while covering Payne Durham, making for an all-around fantastic morning for the third-year defensive back out of Rutgers.

Shilo Sanders and Kindle Vildor also had pass breakups on the day.

Observations & Highlights From Day 8 Of Bucs Training Camp

Here are some quick-hitting observations from Tampa Bay’s eighth training camp practice of 2025:

• Rookie Garrett Greene, who is going from quarterback at West Virginia to wide receiver in the NFL, continues to quietly be very impressive in camp. He had the touchdown catch from Connor Bazelak in the red zone period, then came up with a catch near the sideline toward the end of practice. At the end of the play, he was laid out by Roman Parodie, but he bounced right back up and got back in the huddle, a good show of toughness and grit from the former quarterback.

• Dennis Houston had another good practice for himself as well, catching a touchdown from Connor Bazelak in red zone and hauling in another couple of passes from the rookie quarterback.
• With five receivers – Kameron Johnson, Tez Johnson, Trey Palmer, Ryan Miller and of course Chris Godwin – out of practice, both Greene and Houston made the most of increased reps.
• Vita Vea kept his outstanding camp going on Friday. He is just dominating up the middle thus far and looks primed for another big season.
• The Bucs run game had a good day, with a particular standout play coming when rookie tackle Ben Chukwuma opened the gap and sprung Rachaad White for a long touchdown run of 60+ yards. Sean Tucker had another good day as well, and the newly signed Owen Wright flashed a lot of quickness in the few reps he got.
• Speaking of running backs, it was interesting to see currently injured rookie running back Josh Williams in the huddle for some plays during 11-on-11s, as he seemed to be bringing the plays in for the offense.
• Todd Bowles once again had his defensive backs flying in on blitzes throughout the morning, with Roman Parodie and Jacob Parrish both coming in for pressures.
• The Bucs had a couple of coverage sacks on Friday, too, with one coming from reserve defensive tackle Greg Gaines.
• Jose Ramirez looked to have a couple of sacks, and while he hasn’t been stealing the show by any means, he would appear to have the edge over Markees Watts for the OLB5 role right now after David Walker’s season-ending injury.