Todd Bowles Says He “Finally” Has Depth At Nearly Every Position
July 23rd, 2025
SirVocea Dennis with undrafted free agent linebacker Joch Bullock at Bucs training camp today.
Mark the tape!
Head coach Todd Bowles looks at the Bucs roster and sees a payload he hasn’t seen before as Tampa Bay head coach.
Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht is somewhere nodding his head in agreement.
“I think we finally have depth at almost every positon right now,” Bowles said after today’s Day 1 of training camp. “So as the camp goes on, those things will sort themselves out, but everybody’s on edge right now and everybody’s putting their best foot forward. And that’s what you like to see going into training camp.”
That “on edge” Bowles refers to is the enhanced competition on his roster at so many positions, including cornerback.
He’s competing for an outside corner starting job.
Second-round rookie Benjamin Morrison got multiple chances today against Mike Evans during the 11-on-11 sessions of underwear football.
“[Morrison] is pushing the starters, him and [third-round pick Jacob] Parrish,” Bowles told the Ira Kaufman Podcast on Monday. “Zyon [McCollum] and Dean played very well; they’re very good corners. But we have a lot of competition at corner and camp will play out and we will play the guy we feel deserves to start.”
Joe’s also hearing that undrafted rookie running back Josh Williams really has the eyes of coaches, and there are several others.
Bowles says the talent is in the building, more than before. Now it’s time to hang Ws, lots of them.
July 23rd, 2025 at 11:56 am
More talent than the the Superbowl team, just need edges like Shaq and JPP! LFG Yaya and Hassan!
July 23rd, 2025 at 11:57 am
The Bucs problem has been hanging on these underperforming players for years and years. What’s the purpose of having depth, if these drafted players will always be at the top of the depth chart, just because they were drafted high.
The way our back 7 played last season on defense
There should be open competition for EVERY Edge Rusher, ILB, CB, Safety position. This include AWJ, LVD, Diaby, MCCollum, Dean etc
July 23rd, 2025 at 11:57 am
Just word play. Almost every position could mean 4 positions lack depth.
July 23rd, 2025 at 12:12 pm
So Morrison signed his deal..?
July 23rd, 2025 at 12:21 pm
sirvocea hurt yet?
July 23rd, 2025 at 12:37 pm
And along with that depth comes the standard conundrum: Who to keep?
July 23rd, 2025 at 12:50 pm
@ LakelandBuc:
Sharing is caring my friend… Open competition for LVD!?! LMFAO!!! I didn’t realize they legalized in Florida already… WHO on the roster, scratch that the league, will unseat one of the best most underrated players to ever put on a Bucs uni??? Smh…!
July 23rd, 2025 at 1:11 pm
Im not sure that we have any excuses this year to at least go deep in the playoffs. I think the D will be significantly better.
July 23rd, 2025 at 1:15 pm
Injuries yet again before training camp. Never enough depth to deal with the type of injuries the Bucs have every season. BTW, Desmond didn’t hit the weight he needs to be at so it’s questionable the Bucs will even let him practice. The guy is blowing his one chance.
July 23rd, 2025 at 1:15 pm
LouBucFan,
Lavonte is pushing 36
It’s time we got more speed on defense
He has been a great Buc, sure fire Hall of Famer
But we need young blood, more speed, younger legs
July 23rd, 2025 at 1:16 pm
How are u 469 lbs and cant lose weight. Come on dude. Ridiculous
July 23rd, 2025 at 1:19 pm
He says depth but he really means competition. It’s so important to have it on the practice field. When you have guys challenging each other on a daily basis it just makes everyone stronger. When you’re competing for your job on basically every rep, you stay on top of your game and by game day there’s no “switch to flip”. It’s just another day at the office. The position battles all across the defensive roster will be fun to watch and the defense should improve greatly because of it. If it doesn’t? Well then there’s only one person to blame.
July 23rd, 2025 at 1:24 pm
Alrighty then! I guess it is all on the coaches now to get us to the Promised Land!
July 23rd, 2025 at 1:30 pm
It’s the Bucs year!
July 23rd, 2025 at 1:38 pm
OT depth is not great – ILB depth seems like it could be better – No top 12 TE and the depth behind Otton still seems suspect…. Depth behind stud DTs Vea, Kancey (and Hall) is a bit weak….
Other than those (hopefully) minor roster shortcomings – this team is loaded with talent and ready to compete for a Super Bowl this year!
Pass Rush will be the key…. If the Bucs front 4/5 can get consistent pressure on QBs this year – we are going to see a big jump in the Defenses ability to get off the field – whether by punt or turnovers (which should increase dramatically for the Bucs D in 2025!)
July 23rd, 2025 at 1:54 pm
My peter is so hard after reading this
July 23rd, 2025 at 1:56 pm
Lakeland Buc … ‘But we need young blood, more speed, younger legs’.
LVD’s leadership value out there is invaluable Lakeland. Age MIGHT have cost him a step, but, like Ronde did, he makes up for it with experience. Couldn’t have hurt him too bad though, because he ended up with 80 blitzes, most on the team, and 5.5 sacks, the 3rd most on the team. I’m actually hoping that he decides to give us one more year.
July 23rd, 2025 at 2:45 pm
Would argue that inside LB and our entire offensive line have glaring depth issues. It’s hard to list the qb there since just about every team will be shaky if they lose their starter but I’d prefer a back up with more game exp
Cant solve it all. Need some luck
July 23rd, 2025 at 2:49 pm
Defense Rules,
This defense is too old, and too slow
Teams were cake walking around us, even backups were abusing our Defense. Depth means nothing, when they old and slow
July 23rd, 2025 at 2:58 pm
Prime example,
Against the Ravens, Derrick Henry ran over our top ranked run defense, like they were a bunch of rag dolls. 244 team yards rushing against us. Then Washed up Kirk Cousins dropped over 500 yards on our old, slow pass defense. Every one of those players job should be in jeopardy. We need to get younger and faster on defense..
July 23rd, 2025 at 3:38 pm
Yeah but most of that was 1 run in the Ravens game. We go up 24-7 like we should have in the 2nd quarter we put them 1 dimensional. They were on their heels, we had Evans drop a TD with his hammie and Bake threw an INT at what the 5? It is the competition at depth, as someone said and we do have a youth movement. David is fine if he has a supporting cast, can’t do it alone.
July 23rd, 2025 at 3:42 pm
That game is, I think, a prime example to use to the team. We come out smoking and keep on smokin, as Boston sang, and don’t look back. Evans injury deflated the team but they can’t sllow that to happen and with the depth and players we now have that shouldn’t happen and should be drilled into their heads every single day, just as Rice said, practice is where your art takes shape and makes one great.
July 23rd, 2025 at 3:42 pm
Pun not intended
July 23rd, 2025 at 3:45 pm
Joe nixed my statement of using the Ravens game as an example not to let injuries or anything else interrupt the flow of the game. We came out smoking in that game and and should have, as Boston sang, kept on smoking and not looked back.
July 23rd, 2025 at 3:59 pm
Lakeland! LVD out ran Jayden Daniels last year. We’re not going to turn him out to pasture just because of his age. Let’s wait until his play starts to decline AND we have someone to replace him.
July 23rd, 2025 at 4:25 pm
Ask the magic 8 ball if this will make a difference in pass defense performance. Answer: “Signs point to ‘no’ .”
July 23rd, 2025 at 4:37 pm
We have depth at every position, really? Where’s the depth at NT? Gains isn’t practicing, Watson is to fat to play. How about OT? Wirfs out, and backup tackles are also out. That’s why they had tryouts yesterday. Inside backer? Walker is dealing with injury. It’s the first day of camp, and several players are nursing injuries.
July 23rd, 2025 at 8:09 pm
Everyone has depth until injuries hit. Hopefully, Bowles will play backups enough to keep everyone sharp and healthy.