HEAD COACH BRUCE ARIANS

Opening Statement:

"Again, a very, very good practice. Today's emphases were communication – a lot of shifts, a lot of motions, defensively making adjustments, offensively obviously executing those shifts and motions and the plays correctly. I was really pleased with it. It's a nice little buildup – obviously, [we] took the pads off – for Saturday night. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we'll have a decent game."

(On if he has any update about whether the game on Saturday could be moved due to Tropical Storm Fred)

"That thing is still under watch, whether it would be moved to Friday, Sunday or whatever it is. We'll probably just play in a hell of a lot of rain."

(On if he has an update on S Jordan Whitehead)

"No, he's still out."

(On the absence of Offensive Coordinator Byron Leftwich)

"Yeah, it's a very personal thing with Byron, so I'm not sure when he'll be back but hopefully by Saturday. But we'll wait and see."

(On if Leftwich's absence is COVID-related)

"No, not at all. It's all personal."

(On how this year's training camp compares to ones in years past)

"I wouldn't really consider this camp, it's just practice every day, like a normal season. There's no such thing as camp anymore with days off and limited days in pads. If it was a camp, it would be 'Camp Cupcake,' but other than that it's just normal practice and walk-throughs."

(On the progress of rookie QB Kyle Trask)

"Really good. He was outstanding in every snap he had today. Got the ball out of his hands. The last one was probably his only – it wasn't even a bad throw, there wasn't anybody open. Fundamentally, he's really getting better, and I like where he's at."

(On QB Tom Brady's practice on Wednesday)

"I thought it was outstanding. He just got the guys going. He was very, very accurate. Just a typical solid Brady day."

(On the Buccaneers and Brady having to start with terminology and basic stuff a year ago)

"Yeah, we wouldn't have had all those shifts, motions and all those different gadgets that we were doing today. He couldn't learn them, we couldn't learn them. Yeah, it's night and day having just one mini-camp and these practices versus last year."

(On Tom Brady still wearing a wristband with plays on it)

"The wristband is just to speed the calling up. We wouldn't go through all the verbiage. It's just, 'Play 67. Okay, I got it.' He knows all the words on the wristband now."

(On how important it is to be efficient during hot practices)

"We schedule a number of reps. When the reps are done, we're done. We average somewhere, normally, 60 to 80 plays, and that's more than enough reps. So it's not like, 'Hey, let's get some more because we have time.' I judge the tempo of practice that way a lot. That time that's left over, guys can come out here and work individually, catching Jugs, blocking one-on-one, doing everything to use that time for themselves."

(On measuring players' temperatures during practice)

"I don't think there's any way to measure their temperatures. It's just, you've got to know your body. There's a water bottle right next to you the entire time. They weigh in, they weigh out, we measure all the weight loss and everything so they have that weight gained before they leave the building."

(On if it was easier than usual to put together the first depth chart of the season)

"There's some guys that are second, third, fourth, fifth and are all fighting for one job. But yeah, it was easy to put the top 30 out there, that's for sure."

(On if WR Tyler Johnson has made the type of progress he was hoping for)

"Yeah, Tyler's had about seven or eight really, really good days, had another great day today. He's getting in shape. He's probably got a pound or two to go. But yeah, he's made his commitment. We know what he can do. He's done a really good job blocking, which doesn't sound like much for a receiver but when you have guys who will block you can run the football."

(On TE Codey McElroy)

"Codey can run and catch, too. He's learning a lot of football; a lot of things are new to him. You wouldn't expect to be coaching some of those things at this level until you look at his background. Some of what's obvious to the rest of us isn't obvious to him. He's learning on the fly but he's a big, talented guy and he's willing to put his face in there, or his shoulder."

TIGHT END CAMERON BRATE

(On how it felt to return to practice after his injury)

"Awesome, it felt great to be back out there. It's not very fun when you're just sitting there watching, I don't know how you guys do it - you guys are amazing."

(On if training camp is fun)

"I wasn't practicing, but just watching the guys, the general excitement that everyone has to be back. It's just been such a different position this year than we've been in the past and everyone is excited about that. I mean you guys see it every day – just how competitive it is and how much talent we have on both sides. It wasn't fun watching, but seeing Tom [Brady], I was able to see things I normally wouldn't see if I was practicing and man we've got some good players – it's fun watching these guys practice."

(On if practice is more ramped up this year as opposed to years previous)

"Yeah, I would think so – last year was such a weird year obviously you guys know with COVID, but we had no fans at training camp and there was always that little thought in the back of our minds like, 'Are we actually gonna do this, is it gonna work out?' So to have a sense of normalcy back during these practices is like a welcomed relief – it feels good, it feels right."

RUNNING BACK LEONARD FOURNETTE

(On what he worked on during the offseason to improve for this season)

"Now that I have the system under my belt, just working on communication with the quarterbacks and understanding what they want. For offense, they can change our route and at anytime it can change. I would say communication skills with the quarterbacks and wide receivers and making sure everybody is on the same page."

(On working on the shifts and motions throughout today's practice)

"I think it's something new that we're working on as a whole. I think we just started today. I guess it was kind of like a test, so we know our stuff that we've been studying and everybody is on the same page. I think we kind of needed it today."

(On playing with top talent on the team)

"It was like that last year except we didn't get a lot of time with each other. Now, we have that one year under our belt and we know what we have. Coach Bruce (Arians) always said it's a hard team to make. You have pro bowlers, all-pro and some hall of famers possibly on the same roster and I don't think that's ever been heard of. That's why you have to come out here and compete every day. Understand when you go home and get out of practice, you have to study. The MEs (mental errors), the minor details – that will separate the starters from the non-starters on this team."

(On how particular QB Tom Brady is with the running back position)

"He's very [particular]. To make the best decisions for him, to run our routes a certain way and make sure we clear certain routes and paths for other guys behind us. It's everything he wants in a particular way. We make sure at our best, we give it to him to make him feel comfortable and easy on the backfield."

CORNERBACK SEAN MURPHY-BUNTING

(On the advice he would give the younger players as they head into their first preseason game)

"The main thing I would say is to just go out there and play hard. There's not much you can really control outside of your effort and your attitude – so just being in the playbook, knowing what you have to do and executing what you have to do are the main things I would say."

(On what happened between last training camp and now)

"I would say consistent development – just learning the game of football from the first thing to getting there now - learning the proper techniques to use in certain situations and just developing my game overall. I came into the league strictly as a cornerback, I've never played nickel[back] in my life until I got here. Moving into the inside, you have to develop new traits and that's what I did, and I continue to do." 

(On if there is any better challenge than having to guard the WR Mike Evans, WR Chris Godwin, and WR Antonio Brown every day at practice)

"Oh no, I wouldn't want it any other way – I see Mike a lot on the outside, I see Mike a lot in the slot, I see AB (Antonio Brown) a lot in the slot, I see Chris a lot and they're all different. They give me different looks – [it] lets me test out my different techniques on these guys each and every day – see what works and see what doesn't work for certain guys. Just learning how to execute those properly and what better way would you want than going against those guys with Tom [Brady] at quarterback."

-BUCCANEERS-