Todd Bowles Explains Why He Canceled Final Minicamp Practice
June 17th, 2026
Summer vacation starts now.
The joke this week around Bucs minicamp was, hey, maybe we will get lucky and Todd Bowles will cancel the final day of minicamp.
The joke came true.
Joe confesses to being shocked Bowles canceled tomorrow’s schedule minicamp practice. The next time the Bucs will see each other will be for training camp July 30.
Yeah, Joe knows other coaches canceled minicamp. Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay canceled their teams’ minicamps. Mike LaFleur at Arizona canceled his final minicamp practice, too.
That doesn’t surprise Joe. Those guys are young, offensive minds who see the game a different way and — dare Joe say the following? — may be a little more enlightened to the game and to their players.
Bowles is an old-school, 1980s player from the Joe Gibbs (playing) and Bill Parcells (coaching) trees. Those guys believed in work, more work, still more work, work until you drop.
Plus, the Bucs have new coaches on defense and a new offensive coordinator. Surely Bowles would want as many snaps as he could get before the summer break?
Well, apparently not.
Bowles spoke with the local pen and mic club after practice about his decision.
“Oh, we had a good practice,” Bowles said about the offseason. “Tomorrow’s practice [was] going to be more [for] the younger guys anyway, and they got a lot of reps today, especially closing it out in two minutes.
“So we feel good where we are.”
And it wasn’t just this week that Bowles was happy with. He felt the Bucs worked really well and got everything accomplished through the entire underwear football season.
“I think they did a good job working — working together,” Bowles said of his team. “They put in the work in [OTAs] as well as minicamp here.
“So we’re off to a good start that way. Obviously, a lot more work to do. Very pleased with how we ended and where we are.”
Bowles also didn’t want to test his good fortune. Last year the Bucs were decimated by injuries, specifically on offense.
“For the most part [players kept] the soft tissue injuries down,” Bowles said. “I thought they did a good job coming and training that hard.
“So getting the scheme down and everything else was part of [his decision to start summer vacation earlier]. I thought they did a good job there.”
Joe doesn’t know if the following is good or bad but with more and more teams outright canceling minicamp or at least knocking off a day or two, even old school defensive coaches, Joe wonders how long it will be before the NFLPA negotiates with the NFL to do away with underwear football altogether in order for the NFL to have its coveted 18th regular season game?
June 17th, 2026 at 2:19 pm
With all of the blown coverages we have witnessed during the Bowles regime, it feels like the team could benefit from more practice – not less.
June 17th, 2026 at 2:28 pm
@3rd and 28
it feels like the team could benefit from more practice – not less.
We are talking about Practice though 3rd and 28
We are talking about practice, not the game!
June 17th, 2026 at 2:34 pm
In the end, the results will be the same regardless of whether the Bucs had zero or 10 more of these slow walk throughs. SuperBowles will have them ready to charge out of the blocks on opening day, fresh off of that climactic 2-7 collapse in the 2025 season.
June 17th, 2026 at 2:36 pm
Joe wonders how long it will be before the NFLPA negotiates with the NFL to do away with underwear football altogether in order for the NFL to have its coveted 18th regular season game?
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great point joe….
do away with spring OTAs along with 1 Preseason game….
extend the training camp by 2weeks with the first 2 weeks for conditioning and rookies to get adapt…3days off and then roll right into TC
GO BUCS!!!!
June 17th, 2026 at 2:42 pm
Makes zero difference although it might have been smarter to excuse all the vets and give the young guys a chance to stand out.
June 17th, 2026 at 2:51 pm
Hmmm.
Let’s see, how do we put down Todd for doing what McVay and Shanahan are also doing ? 🤔
June 17th, 2026 at 2:51 pm
“So getting the scheme down and everything else was part of [his decision to start summer vacation earlier]. I thought they did a good job there.”
Again, guys get so caught up on there not being contact you lose sight of the fact these are all install sessions with guys repping their roles. That, plus it being a physical fitness evaluation/acclamation process to what the program will be once they come back for training camp. When they do come back, the staff will see how well these guys retained what they learned in the spring and build on that over the course of the summer. It’s a slow build up, and the start of what we’ll see on Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays.
June 17th, 2026 at 2:53 pm
I think he did that last year too.
June 17th, 2026 at 3:24 pm
Didn’t they always do this and go to a movie or get ice cream?
June 17th, 2026 at 3:55 pm
I was expecting to hear the heat index over 100 degrees to be the reason.
June 17th, 2026 at 4:42 pm
“Bowles is an old-school…believes in work, more work, still more work, work until you drop.”
Are we talking about the same Bowles? The guy that’s known for cupcake training camps? The only HC in the league that gives his entire team the whole bye week off? The coach that multiple players complained about not being ready because of too many soft walkthroughs?
June 17th, 2026 at 4:48 pm
Well, they didn’t practice AT ALL, for throughout the entire Bye-Week last season, and rarely practiced after that… So, why not then!? Why bother with practicing now!?
June 17th, 2026 at 4:49 pm
They didn’t practice AT ALL for throughout the entire Bye-Week last season, and rarely practiced after that… So, why bother with practicing now!?
June 17th, 2026 at 4:52 pm
Of course the soft tissue injuries have been reduced. Deand and Evans are gone.
June 17th, 2026 at 5:14 pm
“So we feel good where we are.” – Toad Bowels
Where you are is a .500 football team that can’t win meaningful games, especially in prime time.
A defense that cannot tackle or stop opponents in the red zone.
And a team that could only muster two wins versus garbage teams in nine games at the end of 2025.
You are what your record says you are. Pathetic and soft.
June 17th, 2026 at 5:44 pm
This month off will give Todd a chance to eat a ton of KitKats and write his new book, “The Art of the Collapse: Insights on Regression.”
Working hard to keep that post 2025 bye momentum going.
June 17th, 2026 at 6:18 pm
So sorry Mr. Bowles, but it seems like you’ve had enough years to figure out how to be a head coach in the NFL. What you’re doing is not working to this point, and it seems like this year won’t be any different. I hope I’m wrong but Bucs fans are tired of this and this will be your last year if it’s more of the same. If I’m JL I’d hope for the best but prepare for the worst. Maybe start looking for a potential replacement soon unless they are vastly improved this year.