Observations From Buccaneers Training Camp No. 11

Editor’s note: This story has been updated as Friday’s training camp practice was Tampa Bay’s eleventh of the preseason. The story previously said it was practice No. 10, however, it was the tenth practice open to the public.

The eleventh practice of Buccaneers training camp 2021 is in the books, as Tampa Bay approaches the one-week mark before its first preseason game of the season against Cincinnati.

The Bucs didn’t spent too much time running team drills, but focused on special teams at the beginning of practice before conducting plenty of individual and one-on-one scenarios. The offense also trained on Hail Mary passes and clock management before breaking off into the final period, which included 11 vs. 11.

AllBucs was in attendance for Friday’s practice and compiled the observations, news, notes and quotes below.

Tryon is impressing everyone

Head coach Bruce Arians and defensive coordinator Todd Bowles raved about first-round rookie edge defender Joe Tryon earlier this week. AllBucs could see why on Friday, and so could fellow outside linebackers Jason Pierre-Paul and Shaquil Barrett.

Both Pierre-Paul and Barrett praised Tryon after the conclusion of practice for the work he has put in with the team this offseason, Pierre-Paul going as far to call Tryon “amazing” and “the difference maker” for the Buccaneers’ edge rush.

Tryon took the field for some reps with Barrett and Pierre-Paul, working with the starters in unique packages that included three edge rushers. He created pressure on numerous reps, including a near-would-be sack on Blaine Gabbert from the right side of the defensive front following a sturdy long-arm pass rush move.

Bowles indicated that Tryon could drop into coverage from his role earlier this week, but stressed that he will primarily rush and set the edge. That being said, we saw Tryon drop back several times on Friday. On one rep, Tryon aligned as a nickel cornerback and blitzed from the hashes – closing in on the backfield very quickly.

Rough day for Succop

Buccaneers starting kicker Ryan Succop, to put it lightly, didn’t look like the starting kicker during practice No. 10. Succop went 3-of-7 in field goal drills that AllBucs observed, going 1/1 from 27 yards out, 0/2 from 32 yards, 1/1 from 37 yards, 0/2 from 42 yards, and 1/1 from 47 yards.

The Buccaneers signed Succop to a three-year contract extension worth $12 million this offseason after he earned the starting job in 2020 training camp. He held down the role nicely last year, going 28-of-31 on field goal attempts and 52-of-57 on extra points.

It’s tough to imagine Succop’s job is in any danger following one rough outing, but at the same time, kicks of the lengths he missed from should not be tough to convert – especially considering his salary. Look for Succop to bounce back in the coming days at camp.

Vaughn shows off improved receiving skills

Meeting with media after practice, running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn acknowledged his offseason training regimen being primarily focused on his pass-catching abilities.

You could tell that was the case by his performance on Friday.

AllBucs saw Vaughn make two impressive catches on Friday: A high-effort, diving reception in the flats, and a catch while sliding in a goalline situation throughout team drills as well.

Vaughn seems like the likely candidate for Tampa Bay’s No. 4 running back role at this point, and will need to showcase versatility in his second pro season in order to take snaps away from the trio that is Ronald Jones II, Leonard Fournette, and Giovani Bernard. He seems to be on the right track.

Trask struggles, Kinley nearly intercepts two of his passes

Rookie quarterback Kyle Trask hasn’t had an issue picking up the Buccaneers offense, earning a comparison to Andrew Luck from Arians earlier in the offseason for the mental side of his game.

We’d just like to see more precision and zip from the Bucs’ second-round pick.

Trask struggled quite a bit on Friday, as some passes were wobbly and inaccurate from routes on air through team drills. In particular, Trask had two interceptions dropped by undrafted rookie cornerback Cameron Kinley in 11 on 11, one being an overthrow toward the left hash and the other being underthrown toward a comeback route on the right boundary.

Trask won’t be rushed onto the field for Tampa Bay anytime soon and has time to continue developing his game on his side. Ideally, he’ll limit the near-turnovers and continue to improve upon the physical aspect of his game in order to catch up with the reads he is correctly making.

Hudson is our favorite for TE4 spot

Each time AllBucs has observed Bucs practice this offseason, tight end Tanner Hudson has stood out positively. He did the same on Friday while working with the second and third team offenses.

Hudson isn’t doing anything overly special, per se, but has been a dependable safety valve for the backup quarterbacks in team drills by consistently getting open over the short-middle of the field and catching passes. He did that at least three times on Friday, and did much of the same dating back into the summer.

As of right now, Hudson should sit comfortably ahead of Jerell Adams, Codey McElroy and De’Quan Hampton for Tampa Bay’s No. 4 tight end role, barring any setbacks or stellar showings from his competition in the preseason.

Another day, another interception from Cockrell

Defensive back Ross Cockrell continues to make “wow” plays throughout training camp, tallying yet another interception and bringing his camp count to at least six.

Cockrell, a nickel cornerback aligning at safety due to depth issues once again, jumped an out-breaking route during 7 on 7 and made a leaping interception in a congested area with a cornerback and receiver making contact as well.

Entering training camp, Tampa Bay’s starting secondary was seemingly locked in with Carlton Davis III, Sean Murphy-Bunting, Jamel Dean, Antoine Winfield Jr. and Jordan Whitehead leading the way. But it is impossible to ignore how productive Cockrell has been in camp, as well as his much-needed versatility. Tampa Bay could be forced to hand Cockrell a starting role should one of the above players not meet expectations by week one.

Important quotes

“[It was] a pretty solid day. A lot of it was for younger players to get some more reps, so next week when they get their chance, they can put good things on tape. And I thought the starters-on-the-starters was pretty solid today.” – head coach Bruce Arians on Friday’s practice

“Joe is going to be amazing. He’s doing stuff that I’m looking at and thinking, ‘Man, I wish I would of knew that when I was a rookie.’ He’s doing amazing stuff out there. Me and (Shaquil Barrett) were just talking about him on the sideline while watching him go at it with the tools. I told Shaq, ‘He’s going to be the difference maker for us.’ He’s been moving since day one when he got here. From there to now, he’s been moving tremendously. He just has to stay on his feet. I had that problem myself.” – edge rusher Jason Pierre-Paul on rookie Joe Tryon

“I don’t think people got to know how close they got later in their careers. It wasn’t as adversarial as everybody thought it was. When you’re two guys in the stature they’re in, they’re about the only guys you can talk to. So, yeah, I think it speaks a lot about Tom. It was his idea to get us all up there. We’ve got a couple of coaches going up Saturday for some other guys, and the rest of us will go up Sunday and we’ll all come back Sunday night.” – head coach Bruce Arians on Tom Brady attending Peyton Manning‘s Hall of Fame enshrinement

“It’s amazing man, just to see their leadership and the way that they go about their business on a daily basis. It’s just amazing to be a part of and then try to take anything from them because they have been doing this [for] really long at a high level. You want to try to do whatever you can to imitate any of that type of success – it’s just been amazing to watch. I’m happy that I was able to play with Peyton [Manning], and I’m happy I’m able to play with Tom [Brady] and win a Super Bowl with both of them is pretty awesome as well. Hopefully we keep working, doing what we have to do so we can be in the same position as last year.” – edge rusher Shaquil Barrett on playing with Tom Brady and Peyton Manning after they joined new teams

“All those guys I want to see in a game. They’ve kind of seen the same offense over and over so they should be able to diagnose it a little bit better than they’re diagnosing it. For those guys – the fourth, fifth corner; fourth, fifth safeties; fourth, fifth linebackers, inside [and] outside; the same thing offensively – there’s a bunch of competition that I want to see in games. I’ve seen enough practice, I just want to see it in games now.” – head coach Bruce Arians on the backup cornerback competition

Stay tuned to AllBucs for further coverage of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ offseason updates, and other news and analysis. Follow along on social media at @SIBuccaneers on Twitter and Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sports Illustrated on Facebook.

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