With a new head coach in Raheem Morris, the Buccaneers are afforded one extra mini-camp during this offseason, though it is voluntary
Raheem Morris's Tampa Bay Buccaneers will officially take the field for the first time this Tuesday.
The eighth head coach in the Buccaneers' 34-year history, Morris has spent the past two months building a staff, preparing for free agency and formulating offensive and defensive strategies. Last week, his 2009 Buccaneers kicked off the squad's 16-week offseason training program. But it won't be until Tuesday that this team and this coach will come together, in full, on the practice field grass.
It should be the start of something good.
Each team in the NFL is allowed to hold one full-team mandatory mini-camp and one additional mandatory camp for rookies during the offseason. However, if the team has a new head coach, it is afforded one extra voluntary camp, and that is usually slotted early in the offseason. That's exactly what the Buccaneers have done, scheduling the first camp under Morris for the turn of April.
The Buccaneers will hold a total of five full-scale practices from Tuesday, March 31 through Thursday, April 2. The team will conduct "two-a-days" on Tuesday and Wednesday and finish up with one final practice on Thursday morning. Theough the camp is voluntary, as mentioned, the Bucs are likely to get virtually complete attendance.
The team will also hold a rookie camp the weekend following the NFL Draft in April, and the 16-week offseason program will conclude with the one full-team mandatory camp in late June. The Bucs are also allotted a total of 14 "organized team activity" days for the offseason, which are voluntary but do allow for some more structured on-field work. The majority of the OTAs will be used in May and June.
Practice will begin at 10:25 a.m ET on each of the three mornings of this week's camp. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Bucs will also practice in the afternoon, beginning at 2:50 p.m.
Morris, Offensive Coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski and Defensive Coordinator Jim Bates will all address the media during the three days of the mini-camp and Buccaneers.com will post those Q&A sessions in their entirety. Buccaneers.com will also bring you exclusive interviews with various players during the three-day camp.
