TAMPA, Fla. — The first week of organized team activities (OTAs) is in the books, and not surprisingly, none of the Buccaneers starters showed up for "official" on-field work at the team's facility.
Friday, future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady and other starters worked out at the facility on their own with some passing drills, but it wasn't an official OTA. The league limits the amount of contact allowed during OTAs; still, most veterans decided to work out on their own.
Head coach Bruce Arians hopes more starters show up to the team facility in the coming weeks because they couldn't show up at this time last year.
"It’s huge, but last year was so different because of the pandemic," Arians said after practice. "This year they can be here. Like I said, they wouldn’t be practicing, but they could be working on this field. I’d love to see them all out here together."
The Super Bowl champions return all 22 starters from last year's squad, but defensive coordinator Todd Bowles said this will be a different team.
"We tweaked some things for us to get better at. We know some things that hurt us," Bowles said via Zoom. "As a team, we have to re-jell, re-do our chemistry and everything else to try to get better from there."
Bowles, who won a Super Bowl as a player with Washington, said Tampa Bay won't repeat just by showing up and that if players think that, "we've already lost."
Bucs first-round pick Joe Tryon hasn't done much in terms of practice. He's rehabbing from minor knee surgery. But outside linebackers coach Larry Foote thinks Tryon will be just fine once he's able to join the workouts at full speed.
"He’s going to fit in with what we’re trying to build here with his mentality. He should have no problem fitting in," Foote said. "Just looking at his size, you can do a lot with him. He’s agile, so Todd Bowles is in the kitchen right now cooking up some stuff for him.”
Bucs OTAs continue on Tuesday.
