May 28 Updates
In the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft, the Buccaneers drafted North Dakota State's Cody Mauch, who had been a consensus FCS All-American in 2022 while playing left tackle for the Bison. As expected, the Bucs immediately moved Mauch to right guard, put him into the starting lineup in Week One and never looked back. Mauch ended up playing all 1,237 offensive snaps Tampa Bay mustered in 2023.
There were the inevitable ups and downs for Mauch, as would be expected of any rookie starter coming from an FCS program and promptly learning a new position. But both the team and Mauch himself felt as if he made steady progress throughout the fall.
"Early in the season last year, [my] head [was] swimming a little bit," said Mauch during the Buccaneers' second week of OTAs on Tuesday. "Naturally, you're a rookie, you know you're kind of thrown into the fire, but I thought every single game got a little bit better. [I was] a lot more confident every game, especially towards the end of the season there, right when we all started clicking as an offense and as a team in general."
In the wake of that promising debut season, the goal for Mauch in Season Two is simple: Get bigger and stronger.
"Obviously, the biggest thing for Cody, [is] you look for more strength, obviously, coming in out of college last year," said Head Coach Todd Bowles. "He's worked on that in the offseason – he looks bigger. He's always been smart, he's always been tough, and I think the game has slowed down for him quite a bit."
Mauch took that suggestion to heart and has stepped up his efforts in the weight room to add muscle to his frame.
"One of the biggest things for me this offseason was I wanted to get a little bit more strength, put on a little bit more weight," he said. "That's been good so far. I thought I've been doing a lot better in the weight room. I've put on 12 to 15 pounds, which has been a pretty good offseason. Just seeing if we can now get that to correlate on the field as well."
CLICK HERE to listen to more of Cody Mauch's post-practice thoughts.
May 21 Updates
In a move reminiscent of his predecessor, Bruce Arians, Buccaneers Head Coach Todd Bowles viewed practice from a golf cart as the team began a three-week run of OTAs. It's a temporary solution to help Bowles move around the field following knee replacement surgery on his left leg.
"A skateboard would have been great, but they gave me a golf cart," joked Bowles after the two-hour field session.
It was frankly impressive that Bowles was on the field at all, as he underwent the procedure just six days ago. At the time, his Buccaneers were finishing up Phase II of the offseason program, which allows for work on the field mainly just individual-position drills and no offense-vs.-defense work. The OTA practices, of which the Bucs can hold a maximum of 10, are more akin to in-season work, in which full-team drills are allowed.
Bowles said the first three days after the surgery last week were difficult but he has begun physical therapy now and is seeing improvement.
"I'm feeling pretty good right now," he said, indicating that the knee will not be an issue by the time the season begins.
CLICK HERE to hear the rest of Bowles' comments after Tuesday's practice.
May 16 Updates
For the second year in a row, Buccaneers Quarterbacks Coach Thad Lewis will take part in the NFL's Coach Accelerator Program, which serves as an opportunity for team officials to engage with diverse coaching candidates for potential future openings. This year's program, the fifth of its kind, will take plate in Nashville during the Spring League Meeting.
"It means a lot to be recognized by the Buccaneers organization for exposure opportunities like the Coach Accelerator program," said Lewis. "Last year was an eye-opening experience being introduced to the highest decision-makers from around the league all at once. I'm excited to represent our organization again and build on those connections as I continue my growth as a coach."
Last year, Lewis was about to embark on his first season as Tampa Bay's quarterbacks coach, having been promoted from his previous spot as an assistant wide receivers coach. He began his career as a participant in the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship with the Buccaneers in 2020.
Candidates can build relationships with club owners and executives and further develop and hone their leadership skills. To date, the program has successfully contributed to an increase in diverse candidates being interviewed for open positions, and many past participants have been promoted and hired into more senior coaching positions.
In addition to networking and personal development programming, the league will provide coaches with insight to future initiatives, both on and off the field, to contextualize how the game will continue to develop and where the NFL is evolving.
May 6 Updates
In 2023, the Buccaneers had one man, second-year wide receiver Deven Thompkins, deep to field every single punt and kickoff the team received. In 2024, the team may look to diversify its return options.
Special Teams Coordinator Thomas McGaughey is very early in the process of identifying options to bring back punts and kickoffs, and he doesn't even have any of the team's rookies in the building yet. It's premature to produce any list of potential candidates, and the real competition won't begin until there are live reps in the preseason. Still, he did briefly mention three names as a starting point, and one of them is new to the team: fourth-round draft pick Bucky Irving, a running back out of Oregon.
"Right now we're the process of just trying to figure out who we're going to put back there," said McGaughey. "Obviously you've got DT and guys that have been here before [like] Chase [Edmonds]. We've got young guys coming in, they'll compete. Bucky will be back there. We'll see."
Irving has some kickoff return experience from college, running out 14 kicks for 334 yards (23.9-yard average) over three seasons with Minnesota and Oregon. Perhaps more importantly, he has physical traits that show up in his primary job of running the ball on offense that would potentially translate very well to the NFL's new form of kickoffs. Some have suggested that the format will make the return more like an offensive play with an established line of scrimmage and few players with running starts, an assessment that McGaughey agreed with on Monday. One break through that line could produce a very gib play.
"The nice thing I like about Bucky is he gets to his top speeds early," said Offensive Coordinator Liam Coen of Irving's strengths as a runner. "When he accepts the handoff, he bursts and accelerates through the hole and can make people miss in space."
Coen is also confident that Irving would happily accept a shot at winning a job on kickoff return, where the new rules allow for teams to keep two return men in the "landing zone" while the other nine players on that unit line up at their own 35.
"Bucky's pretty dynamic, where he gives us the ability in the run and pass game, right? The screen game," said Coen. "And then also from a special teams standpoint in the return game as well. I'm actually pretty close with the OC out at Oregon, Will [Stein], and he told me [Irving] was his favorite player that he's ever coached, somebody that is team-first, will do anything and everything he's asked to do."
CLICK HERE for more thoughts from Coach McGaughey on the new kickoff rule.
