Bucs Minicamp Day 2 Notes
June 12th, 2025
Bucs rookie safety Shilo Sanders fields a throw during defensive back drills Wednesday at Bucs minicamp.
How about midnight notes on yesterday’s Day 2 of minicamp? Joe’s got you covered.
* The Bucs play music chosen by the players while they warm up for practice. This didn’t happen when Bucco Bruce Arians was around but Todd Bowles relented because at least Donovan Smith had a hissy fit about no music. The music ends when the stretching ends. So when Joe walked about for the start of practice, Joe heard “Enter Sandman” by Metallica blasted over the three practice fields at One Buc Palace. Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht is a huge Metallica fan, too, and caught both of the band’s shows last weekend in Tampa. So immediately, Joe thought, “Jason Licht commandeered the iTunes app.” He’s known to do this every blue moon or so. Sure enough, a minute or two later, Licht comes walking out to practice, pumping his right fist as if he’s playing air drums. (The second song was Black Sabbath, which fully confirmed to Joe that Licht was up to some high jinks.)
* Bucky Irving is up to Bucky Irving things, weaving through traffic for a big run. No pads, hitting or tackling, of course.
* Baker Mayfield deep to Emeka Egbuka to the left side. Egbuka badly beat Jacob Parrish and once Egbuka got maybe two steps past Parrish, the Kansas State product fell down. Touchdown Bucs.
* Rachaad White is jammed at line but finally breaks through to the right.
* Mayfield to White to the right sideline.
* Kyle Trask to free agent receiver Dennis Houston, who was on a crossing pattern from the left.
* Really bad snap to Trask, which sailed over Trask’s right shoulder. Trask ran back to his right to corral the loose ball. Trask did a helluva job scooping the ball up and throwing it away over the right sideline.
* Mayfield flushed as the pocket breaks down and he’s off and running up the middle.
* Mayfield to Jalen McMillan along the right sideline and Joe isn’t sure McMillan was able to get both feet inbounds.
* Mayfield pumps right and throws over the middle to McMillan. Jamel Dean with the “tackle.”
* Cool move by Bucky. He rushed right to the inside of Cody Mauch. There is a crease, but not much of a hole. That doesn’t stop Bucky who runs sideways to squeeze through the hole for a nice gain.
* Ko Kieft hauls in a pass from Trask along the right sideline.
* Trask to Houston on another crossing pattern.
* Trask is jostled by a heavy rush as the pocket collapses. He damn near fumbled as Trask held the ball up like the Statue of Liberty holding the flame to keep the ball away from the linemen. Trask then quickly threw the ball away to the right.
* It is almost irresponsible for Joe to type the following but he has to type what he sees. All practice long Trask was hounded by a pass rush. Swing tackle Charlie Heck was working with the first team in place of Tristan Wirfs. So you can’t blame Heck. But the way the second-team offensive line has struggled to protect Trask this week, Bucs fans better work their rosaries, hoping no offensive line starter gets hurt. Yeah, it’s really, really early and there’s no hitting. But in underwear football, with training camp five or six weeks away, the second team offensive line sure looks like it needs some work.
* Trask throws a little behind Kameron Johnson to the right sideline but Johnson was still able to haul the pass in.
* Trask hits Johnson along the left sideline this time. Trask was under duress from the rush. This will be a recurring theme all morning.
* Joe is typing his note verbatim from his notebook following the Trask-to-Johnson pass:
“Second team OL doing a sh!tty job.”
* Rachaad White busts through for a run up the middle.
* Joe mentioned the big screen TV the Bucs are now using for practice to show replays to the players. The Bucs can have all sorts of angles of practice but it appears the two popular angles are end zone angles with a feed for offense and a feed for defense in addition to an All-22-like feed. The end zone cameras are behind the goal posts and the cameras are actually higher than the goal post uprights, which are 35-feet tall (over 45 feet if you count the distance from the ground to the crossbar). So the end zone cameras look to be no more than 50 feet in the air.
* Bucky runs up the middle inside of Ben Bredeson.
* Mayfield hits Cade Otton on a short pass to the right.
* Mayfield throws right down the right sideline and McMillan runs under it for a huge gain. Perfect.
* Trask throws quickly to the right and C.J. Brewer nearly broke it up.
* Trask to Rakim Jarrett to the right.
* Trask to Payne Durham to the left side for six along the left sideline.
* This Tez Johnson plays bigger than his size. Trask throws a short pass to the left but very high. Maybe Trask forgot Johnson is not Mike Evans. No matter. Johnson skies high, grabs the ball, slams to the ground but holds on.
* Today, Tristan Wirfs is wearing a black wrap on his right leg, not a big ugly brace. Progress, though he’s not practicing. Wirfs was just standing on the sideline watching.
* Mayfield with a screen to the left for White who gets a nice gain. Joe has stated this for years: It sure looks like White is a misplaced receiver. And a good one.
* The immortal Roman Parodie (Ohio), an UDFA, picks off Mayfield and houses the ball. Pick six and the defense hoots and hollers.
* Trask throws to Sterling Shepard to the left sideline and it appeared Shepard didn’t get inbounds. Close.
* Mayfield perfectly hits a seam pass for Cade Otton but the ball pops out of his hands, incomplete.
* Trask tries for Tanner Taula down the right sideline but Taula bobbles the ball and it falls to the ground.
* Jamel Dean had a pick-six of Mayfield! Wonder if he was drug tested? (That’s a one-liner Bucs coach Todd Bowles used last year when Dean had a pick in training camp.)
Bucs GM @jasonrlicht on beat with Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich during Day 2 of Mandatory Metallica… or minicamp pic.twitter.com/vcSf0iNQgP
— Kyle Burger (@kyle_burger) June 11, 2025
June 12th, 2025 at 12:41 am
Thank you for the notes Joe! I hope Wirfs is good!
June 12th, 2025 at 12:42 am
Thanks Joe!, hope to get a David Walker spotting at some point. So far what I have read, indicates we have work to do. Seems like minicamp is good to get these players acclimated aand learning the play book so they can hit the ground running in training camp.
June 12th, 2025 at 12:46 am
Gotta rock Welcome to the Jungle next
June 12th, 2025 at 12:56 am
Great notes Joe. Now I’m too pumped to sleep. It’s ok.
June 12th, 2025 at 12:56 am
What makes you think we’re awake right now and checking the site? Psshh
June 12th, 2025 at 1:57 am
Love it. Thanks Joe(s)
June 12th, 2025 at 2:07 am
No mention of the Trask to Tez TD??
June 12th, 2025 at 3:41 am
Any sightings of Shilo Sanders doing anything worthy of football news? I’m curious if he’s dialed in or more of a influencer posing as a NFL player.
June 12th, 2025 at 3:46 am
Waited up to read this at 3:45 AM. Thanks Joe!
June 12th, 2025 at 3:56 am
Licht just notched yet another ataboy for this fan! Gotta love this dude!
Was Trask and the second team O line going agaist the first team defense? Just wondering how much I should worry. Yes it’s OTAs but…
Does Dean get alot of trash talk from Bowles or is Bowles seriously on his butt. That is two instances of some comments made to Dean in practice that I have read today. I know that it can be all in fun but sometimes there is a point to be made by the coach. At least in my experience.
Go Bucs!
June 12th, 2025 at 4:44 am
Love it! Metallica was just here too. Family members went and said it was great.
Good to hear something more about Durham. Trask sounds busy. Go Bucky! Hope Wirfs fairs well. At least now it’s only a leg wrap. We all wear wraps at times when getting injured. Not as worried as yesterday now.
Thank you Joe for the detailed notes. They are the best out there.
June 12th, 2025 at 5:01 am
Is Devin Culp not there or is he merely a ghost???!
June 12th, 2025 at 6:22 am
In fairness, its almost impossible to pass block when the d-line doesn’t have shoulder pads on. Nothing to “hold” onto for o-linemen
June 12th, 2025 at 6:28 am
Hard to see every play when you have a wall of players standing between you and the field.
June 12th, 2025 at 6:31 am
Look at the top of this page.
If Joe sees a play (provided he can even see the field), he types it up.
June 12th, 2025 at 6:33 am
Bowles doesn’t discriminate with his sarcasm with defensive backs.
June 12th, 2025 at 6:39 am
Don’t recall seeing him make a play (yet). Again, if a guy makes a play that Joe sees (field sometimes screened by a wall of players during underwear football), he types it up.
Now to be fair, Joe doesn’t care about third-team dudes. Most (not all) will be Apple salesmen, short-order cooks and Jimmy Johns managers in a few weeks. If Culp is with the third team, that’s probably why Joe hasn’t seen him.
June 12th, 2025 at 6:39 am
🙂
June 12th, 2025 at 6:50 am
Believe it was the second team defense. Joe barely has time to put his binoculars down, take notes and grab his binoculars again between plays to notice who is on defense unless a defender makes a play.
And, sadly, Joe likes to follow the ball since there is no instant replay available. Experimental replay TV is too far away to be able to make out anything on it but general images. For example, can tell what camera angle they are using and that’s about it. The replay screen is a good 60-70 yards away from where media is situated.
June 12th, 2025 at 7:10 am
Thanks again Joe!
That wall of players stuff is lame as hell!
Go Bucs!
June 12th, 2025 at 7:11 am
Joe, thank you so much for working so late to get these typed up.
Sounds like the O-line back ups need some work. I remember thinking “this doesn’t sound too good” to myself when I read that Justin Skule and Bob Hainsey were both leaving. Hope that doesn’t come back to bite us in the backside.
Nice to see Ko Kieft get a mention. Looking to see some bigger things from Devin and Payne this year.
Leg brace to wrap… sounds like Tristan is trending in the right direction.
Joe, nothing in any of your notes yet about Antione. Is he practicing?
June 12th, 2025 at 7:52 am
@Joe,
Thanks for that tip. I wasn’t really talking about drills though, more interested in how he’s doing in 11 on 11 and 7 on 7 kinda stuff. I guess it’s a wait and watch.
June 12th, 2025 at 8:01 am
Thanks Joe! AW3 is playing, right?
June 12th, 2025 at 8:07 am
You know Jason Licht was at that Metallica concert a few nights ago in Tampa.
June 12th, 2025 at 8:35 am
1sparkybuc:
“No mention of the Trask to Tez TD ??”
It is interesting how different observers can have different opinions of what they are seeing. I read another site reporting on the same practices who said Trask has actually been outplaying Mayfield in the first two practices , the completions , mentioning the deep throws and scrambles , while this Joe did mention Trask’s completions but emphasized how he was being pressured , the other article emphasized Mayfield’s three interceptions and misses while Joe did not. It reminds me of the story of the three blind men who were asked to describe an elephant after touching it , one described it as huge after feeling of its side , one described it as snake like after feeling the trunk and one described it as small after feeling the tail, I guess everybody’s opinion depends on where they stand and their point of view.
June 12th, 2025 at 8:55 am
Both shows.
June 12th, 2025 at 9:04 am
Joe, thanks for the notes. From some of your comments, sounds to me that you need an assistant to scribble your notes down while you keep the binoculars up the whole time!! Just fire off your comments and know they will be captured! Time to go big time man!!!
June 12th, 2025 at 9:20 am
surprised to hear Rakim Jarrett before trey palmer….
GO BUCS!!!!
June 12th, 2025 at 9:26 am
Sure would be nice. Gets much better at training camp where Joe sits up in the bleachers and gets an unobstructed view.
June 12th, 2025 at 9:32 am
@?????? Is Devin Culp not there or is he merely a ghost???!
Don’t recall seeing him make a play (yet). Again, if a guy makes a play that Joe sees (often the field is screened by a wall of players during underwear football), he types it up.
@Famu_Rattler Says: Hey Joe, Devin Culp # is 82….#82… look for that Nbr in practice. I for one expect to see nbr #82 a lot. So, because you are writing for us, the Joebucfans, we want to hear more of the players we are excited for. So, make a note and add some of these names to it and bring back some updates please and thank you.
Culp
Watson
Walker
Shilo
Tucker
SVD
Looking forward to your updates. LFG…. Go Bucs ,,,, Go Bucs
June 12th, 2025 at 12:24 pm
Do you really want to read “Joe saw Devin Culp walk off the field after practice… ?”
If Joe doesn’t write about the play, then there’s no point of doing notes. Get on the field (at least with the second team), get involved with the play and Joe will write about the guy. Joe is not going to make stuff up just so someone wants to see a certain name.
June 12th, 2025 at 12:28 pm
We should start a GoFundMe to get Joe a pair of those binoculars which also records video. Before you yell at me that no recordings are allowed in practice, Joe, I would submit that the video could be used for personal use only to help you type up these notes. Don’t release the vid to fans, just for documentation purposes.
Or are the Bucs SO strict that if they catch you recording in stealth mode, they’ll revoke your OneBuc hall pass? Just curious…
June 12th, 2025 at 12:30 pm
Not “yelling.” At all. No video or still photography allowed after the 30-minute window.
Now fans are allowed to record practices at training camp but media can’t. ☹️
June 12th, 2025 at 2:46 pm
Mayfield with a screen to the left for White who gets a nice gain. Joe has stated this for years: It sure looks like White is a misplaced receiver. And a good one.
———-
I still like White as a RB, and I’m actually glad to hear he lost some weight, but with as good of a blocker as he is, I almost wonder if he put on some weight, if he could be a small TE, or at least an H-Back?
June 12th, 2025 at 2:57 pm
Thanks for the reply, Joe. One would think, in today’s climate of EVERYTHING being caught on cam, that the Bucs would allow it from media.
If they did allow it, it’d make THIS fan happier! 😉
June 12th, 2025 at 9:30 pm
Think it is only a matter of time before the NFL allows teams to stream underwear football and training camp practices where fans, for a fee, can watch. Been saying that for a few years and so far, no dice.
Too much gold in them thar hills to pass up. And we all know the NFL is about revenue.
Do remember about 15 years ago, maybe not that long, where there were rumors the NFL was going to sell All-22 tape. The “football people” lost their minds. “How can you even consider this? You’re giving away state secrets.”
Of course the NFL did eventually sell All-22 tape. Too much money to pass up. And did any NFL team lose a game because, Butch in Butte, Mont. watched Vikings All-22 when he got home from ranch work? 🙂