OTA Practice Notes
May 25th, 2021
Bucs backup QB Ryan Griffin.
(As expected, here are notes from today’s OTA practice that was open to the pen and mic club. It was mostly position work, seven-on-seven and 11-on-11. No pads other than helmets. No hitting or tackling, though Joe did see a linebacker get too handsy on a harmless short pass route and knocked receiver T.J. Simmons to the ground. That’s a no-no and the defender got hollered at for it. Like Joe detailed earlier, no starters were in attendance unless you count Giovani Bernard as a starter.)
* As usual, practice begins with special teams work, specifically punt return. And while the Bucs did not practice any returns, rookie Jaelon Darden and the immortal Cyril Grayson were fielding punts — not returning them.
* Trickery! Jaydon Mickens on a jet sweep to the left.
* First play Joe notices Bernard as he catches a pass in the flat near the left sideline and jukes away from a defender for a nice little gain. Already Joe can tell this Bernard is an upgrade in the passing game, just after one play.
* Already Joe is noticing backup quarterback Kyle Trask takes too long to get rid of the ball — too often. He gets a pass to Simmons along the left sideline that was low and short, and Simmons went back and got it to make a nice play. Had there been hitting, Trask would have been flushed, hit or sacked. This would prove to be the first of several throws where Trask took a while to pull the trigger. But hey, he’s a rookie and it is still May.
* On the very next play, Trask throws down the right hashmark but no one is home as the ball thumps on the ground and there isn’t a receiver nearby.
* Tanner Hudson goes high for a pass from Ryan Griffin. Both Griffin and Hudson would have a nice morning of practice, maybe the best practice Joe has seen the two have.
* Josh Pearson of Jacksonville State comes back for a pass along the right sideline, dives and gets it.
* Trask throws over the middle into a crowd and somehow Darden comes up with the ball. Joe isn’t sure how that happened. Darden looked like he was in triple-coverage, and lost in the overgrowth of defenders.
* Trask throws down the right sideline for Darden. Every catch Darden makes, he tucks and runs upfield no matter if the whistle is blown or not. That’s a habit Doug Martin learned from his Greg Schiano days. Let’s hope this is the only habit of Mollie Hamster’s that Darden emulates.
* The offensive play of practice: Griffin, who right now is clearly higher on the roster food chain than Trask, throws to Hudson down the left hashmarks. Hudson is blanketed by two defenders, one in front and one behind him. Tight coverage. Yet Griffin throws an absolute dime, a perfect rainbow pass that fell right into Hudson’s hands, threading the two defenders. You honestly couldn’t get better coverage on Hudson without interference. The pass needed to be a bullseye and it was.
* Very next play looked exactly like the previous pass to Hudson only Griffin hit Jerell Adams, who unlike Hudson got behind his defenders.
* Pearson has made several nice plays on passes along the sidelines, both reaching out for passes and coming back for balls.
* Trask launches a ball down the right sideline to Grayson who lays out for the ball but the pass is just a little too long.
* In a two-minute/hurry-up-offense drill, it seemed as if an offensive lineman stumbled with his feet. Safety Javon Hagan threw up his left hand mimicking a referee pulling a flag out of his pocket trying to get the coaches to blow a whistle for a penalty. The ploy didn’t work.
* Griffin throws to Pearson on a crossing pattern from the left and the pass was just a hair behind him and he couldn’t make the connection.
* Griffin fakes right and then throws down the left hashmark for Hudson.
* Mickens hauls in a pass from Griffin over the middle in traffic for a short gain.
* Griffin throws to Hudson down the left sideline and Griffin drops a pretty pass right in the bucket.
* Same pass, same result this time from Trask who drops the ball in the bucket on Mickens.
* Defensive play of the day: Pearson appears to catch about a 12-15-yards pass down the left hashmark and just as he was pulling in the ball, rookie linebacker Grant Stuard (you know, dude with the hair?) hustles from behind, reaches in and tomahawk chops the ball out of Pearson’s hands for a drop. Somewhere, Antoine Winfield smiled.
š @JDFlash1x pic.twitter.com/lvdHVeOs1I
ā Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) May 25, 2021
May 25th, 2021 at 2:50 pm
Good stuff. Thanks Joe.
May 25th, 2021 at 3:01 pm
Keep them coming, Joe!…Thanks!!
May 25th, 2021 at 3:10 pm
Looking forward to never hearing or reading the name Cyril Grayson again.
May 25th, 2021 at 3:15 pm
I want Trask to be good so damn bad. It’s only May. It’s only May. It’s only May. It’s only May. It’s only May. It’s only May. It’s only May. It’s only May. It’s only May. It’s only May. It’s only May. It’s only May. It’s only May.
May 25th, 2021 at 3:31 pm
Dude…Molly hampster..Iām dying, thatās some funny shi
May 25th, 2021 at 3:34 pm
Iām glad Grant Stuard got noticed. Thereās gotta be a good nickname for him floating out in the universe. Not Mr Irrelevant
May 25th, 2021 at 3:34 pm
Thanks for the notes, Joe….
Not concerned about Trask in the least……and…..I’ve always thought Ryan Griffin should be our #2…..
Darden may be a winner.
May 25th, 2021 at 3:51 pm
C’mon, Joe(s), a little context here, please. I don’t remember Jameis getting this much smack from you when he was first drafted (but then again, anytime I think about the Lost Decade, I black out a little). IS this just normal growing pains of a rookie QB learning the playbook? Or should we legitimately be worried about Trask’s ceiling based on his May performances?
May 25th, 2021 at 3:59 pm
Living the dream!
May 25th, 2021 at 4:06 pm
Not surprised by Trask at all. The question is can he progress? Because the tendencies he showed with the Gators are described above. He needs clean pockets and all day to throw and better hope that Pitts or Toney are open.
May 25th, 2021 at 4:06 pm
As Joe wrote, it’s only May. Ree-LAX. Joe doesn’t remember ripping or praising Jameis in his first rookie OTA practice but if memory serves, he had a nice rookie season. Shoot, two weeks go Trask didn’t know anyone at One Buc Palace other than Arians and Licht.
Joe only wrote what he saw; nothing more and nothing less.
Would it make you feel better if Joe wrote a fiction novel and lied how Trask didn’t let one ball hit the dirt, each pass was on the numbers and he got the ball out of his hands the moment he dropped back? Joe always figured people wanted Joe to be their eyes and ears when he has a chance to watch practice.
Pretty sure Joe wrote some good things about Trask in here as well.
May 25th, 2021 at 4:40 pm
Ummmm. Joes. You dont remember ripping or praising jameis? Early in camp.
I would go into the archives. Nice try though
Jameis winston play was āstellar.ā And you were more then happy to call americas quarterback as nickname. Before even took one snap even in preseason. You still do to this day .
Nah. You were fair in his evaluation. š
May 25th, 2021 at 4:58 pm
I would like Kyle to grow into the position and then be THE GUY that takes over when Brady hangs the cleats up.
We have never been lucky in drafting the franchise QB. Sure we had Doug Williams and our cheap assed owner at the time chased him to Washington. We had Steve Young & Vinny Testaverde. We let Steve go to San Fran and Vinny suffered under horrible coaching & management.
The two best QB’s in franchise history were veterans
Brad Johnson & Tom Brady
Was Trent Dilfer held back by coaching? What’s the excuse for Jameis?
I would like to see the Bucs break this long tradition of not being able to draft a franchise QB and then be successful with that player.
May 25th, 2021 at 5:10 pm
Ummm…. I thought Cyril Grayson was a quidditch player. My bad.
May 25th, 2021 at 5:13 pm
I guess since we won the SB & brought back every single starter (plus 1)……added Gio and had a pretty good draft…..OJ is coming back…..
So…we have to have something to complain about….and that would be Kyle Trask….who probably won’t get an opportunity to start for at least 2 years….
As the meme goes……”C’mon Man!!!”
May 25th, 2021 at 5:18 pm
Darden gonna be a player!
May 25th, 2021 at 5:52 pm
if all we get is darden and the oline kid from the draft, Im good! Tryon is a wild card, who cares, maybe he turns out?
May 25th, 2021 at 6:14 pm
Go for it. Honestly donāt remember. And honestly donāt give a ratās arse. And what does that have to do with Trask practicing like a fourth-string QB? Are you saying Joe made all of this up? Tread carefully.
Joe writes what he sees in practices. If that bothers people, donāt read practice notes.
Have written a story or two since Jameisā first OTA. Whatever Joe wrote, water under the bridge.
Guess Joe should write āquarterback not to be namedā instead of Traskās name whenever he throws an incompletion so the easily triggered donāt have to sit down with a shrink.
Joe has zero agenda with Trask other than whenever he is on the field for the Bucs he plays well.
May 25th, 2021 at 6:51 pm
I feel like Trasks expectations by some of you are grossly skewed, and comparing Trask to Winston is a false equivalency. Iām not a gator fan or FSU fan, Iām a friggin insufferable Notre Dame fan so have no personal feelings in this but letās be real ok, Trask is no where NEAR the prospect that Winston was. Say what you will about winstons career thus far but coming out of college, Winston is/was far and away the superior prospect and was drafted to be the franchise quarterback. Iām surprised that people are surprised that Trask may not be looking as ādynamicā from these first few practices. Itās the long game with this guy and he may not even dress for the games so maybe stop getting feelings hurt with Trask updates.
May 25th, 2021 at 7:20 pm
Who wouldāve thought Trask doesnāt look like an NFL QB? Darden has been nothing short of awesome in early rookie camp. Very excited for this years rookies to be depth and ST under coaching and practice with our All-Star football team. Build through the draft Jason.
May 25th, 2021 at 7:41 pm
Joe I always liked the 2 minute drill play-by-plays. You paint a good picture…..Not easy to do in underwear drills.
Keep em coming.
May 25th, 2021 at 8:46 pm
Thanks Jimmy Jack!
May 26th, 2021 at 1:08 pm
Griffin. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!!! I’m dying. He’ll be gone by Labor Day.
May 26th, 2021 at 7:49 pm
it so happened that LD54 was watching and he smiled too (he is superb at the tomahawk chop)
May 27th, 2021 at 9:59 am
Iām enjoying the updates, thanks Joe.
May 27th, 2021 at 2:33 pm
I always thought Griffin was better than Gabbert but its unfortunate that BA thinks Gabbert is so great. Doesn’t bode well for Griffin.