2021 Buccaneers Training Camp Takeaways: Day 2

This was also after Smith commented on how hot it was and talked about how players can lose up to 10 pounds in a single practice in this heat.

Anyway, here’s a few more things that stood out beyond the sun:

-I’m going to be honest, I’m not quite sure how it happened but outside linebacker Joe Tryon ended up with the ball running down the sidelines in special teams drills and if you’re telling me this guy has ball skills on special teams on top of his physical abilities rushing the passer, then that makes me very excited.

-Defensive Coordinator Todd Bowles likes to start practices out on the right foot for the defense – literally. He makes every defensive player line up and then has another one of his coaches simulate a hard count with the infamous ball on a stick. If one single player jumps, they stay at five. If they do it perfectly it goes down to four, then three and so on. But if a guy jumps again, it goes back up to five. Bowles wants five clean get-offs from his entire defense before they start practice.

-I cannot stress enough how quick inside linebacker Lavonte David is laterally. It doesn’t matter if it’s a running back, tight end or even receiver, David keeps up with all of them in coverage.

-Rookie wide receiver Jaelon Darden had an insane sideline catch where he tipped the ball up to himself, then twisted around to catch it while falling out of bounds and still managed to drag both feet. He even earned a ‘good catch’ from Bowles, who was standing right there.

-Wide receiver Scotty Miller seemed to get in the mix a little more today. The receivers did a little bit of shuffling around and we saw a lot out of both Miller and Darden on the first field.

-In the seven-on-seven period, quarterback Tom Brady seemed to be getting the running backs more involved in underneath routes. Running back Ronald Jones even made it into the end zone on a short slant during the period.