Friday morning brought another day to get better – especially for the younger players, whom Head Coach Bruce Arians placed an emphasis on prepping as the Bucs come up on a week to go before their first preseason game.
"A pretty solid day," Arians said following practice. "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."
Even if the Bucs have limited space on their roster with all of their Super Bowl starters returning, players that may not ultimately make the squad have an opportunity to showcase their talents for other teams that will be scouring preseason tape for late additions to their rosters. So, in an effort to get them prepared, we saw a lot of second and third team reps on Friday morning, but that didn't mean there was any shortage of highlights.
View some of the photos from Buccaneers Training Camp practice at the AdventHealth Training Center.
Here are some things that stood out from Friday's practice:
-The first period of full-team drills did see starters pinned against starters and in one of the first plays, rookie outside linebacker Joe Tryon was able to hurry quarterback Tom Brady, forcing him to get rid of the ball early. The result was a pass that went off the hands of tight end O.J. Howard, who wasn't quite to his mark yet.
-Quarterback Blaine Gabbert had a ball intended for wide receiver Scotty Miller intercepted by Ross Cockrell from the safety spot. Cockrell just made an excellent read and came over to undercut the route, snatching it away from Miller.
-Cornerback Herb Miller had a great pass breakup on a long ball intended for Tyler Johnson. He tracked Johnson the whole way and made it impossible for Johnson to get a clean try at the ball.
-In seven-on-seen drills, Brady unleashed a beautiful 40-yard pass to wide receiver Mike Evans, who made the grab easy down the sideline.
-Brady attempted another deep ball immediately after, this one to Miller, who ended up making the catch after leaping up in the air but he couldn't quite get both feet inbounds on the way back down. It was a heck of an effort by Miller, though.
-Rookie quarterback Kyle Trask showed off an arm of his own as he went deep for running back Ke'Shawn Vaughn, streaking down the sideline. Vaughn caught it easily, proving that he's indeed been working on his pass-catching ability this offseason.
-In the red zone period, Brady hit rookie wide receiver Jaelon Darden in the corner of the end zone for a score.
-From the 10-yard line, fans were treated to a Brady-Gronk 'tuddy' as tight end Rob Gronkowski made a great move to cut to the outside behind inside linebacker Joe Jones to get open. Brady fired and Gronk crossed the goal line easily.
-It was quarterback Ryan Griffin's turn to impress with an excellent throw to the very back of the end zone as wide receiver T.J. Simmons was skimming the line. Cornerback Dee Delaney was right there with him but 83 snatched the ball out of the air and away from the defender to get the score.
-Vaughn wasn't done for the day on impressive catches as he made a hard-fought diving grab from Griffin right at the goal line for the score. Vaughn trotted off the field to a high five from Brady, who was clearly impressed with the catch.
-In the last period of full-team drills, outside linebacker Anthony Nelson tipped a ball at the line over the middle and it almost ended in an interception for safety Javon Hagan, but he couldn't quite hold on to make the catch.
-Trask again showed off his cannon with a long ball to wide receiver Jaydon Mickens, who then pulled a quick spin move to leave two defenders on the ground as he jogged the rest of the way into the end zone.