Tampa Bay Buccaneer players and coaches should probably get their taxes done before the April 15 deadline because there will be some new tasks at hand beginning on that date.
The Buccaneers will begin their 2024 offseason workout program on the third Monday of April, which is true for 25 of the NFL's 32 clubs. Teams with a new head coach in 2024 are permitted to start up to two weeks earlier than that date. As such, offseason programs will begin on April 2 for the Atlanta Falcons, Los Angeles Chargers and Washington Commanders, while the Carolina Panthers, New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks and Tennessee Titans will kick things off on April 8.
Each team's voluntary offseason program can last a maximum of nine weeks and is broken up into three phases, with the amount and variety of work allowed and the involvement of coaches ramping up from one phase to the next. The first two weeks of the program are known as Phase One, in which activities are limited to meetings, strength and conditioning and rehab work only. Phase Two is three weeks long and includes more on-field work and instruction but no drills with live contact or offensive and defensive units going against each other.
Phase Three is the part of the program that most resembles in-season workouts, with teams permitted to hold up to 10 "organized team activity days," or OTAs. While there is still no live contact allowed during OTAs, teams can conduct such offense-vs.-defense drills as 11-on-11, 9-on-7 and 7-on-7. This phase also concludes with a three-day minicamp, which is the only part of the program that is mandatory for veteran players.
The Buccaneers have scheduled nine OTAs to be held between May 21 and June 6, with three a week for three consecutive weeks They specific dates for those workouts are May 21-23, May 28-30 and June 4-June 6. The mandatory minicamp will take place in the middle of the following week, from June 11-13.
Teams are also to conduct a rookie football development program that lasts up to seven weeks and in 2024 will begin on May 13. That includes a post-draft rookie minicamp that can be held on either the first or second weekend after the draft, which this year will be conducted from April 25-27.
