Bucs Training Camp 2026 Day 1 Notes
July 29th, 2026
Inside linebacker Josiah Trotter runs through agilities drills Wednesday.
The Bucs got lucky on the first practice of 2026 training camp. It was a little steamy at first but then the clouds came, followed by a welcome cool shower. With the strong breeze out of the west, it was actually comfortable out at One Buc Palace today.
* Yes, boys and girls, it is still underwear football. No hitting allowed of any sort. Pads are supposed to come on next week.
* Whew. Todd Bowles isn’t monkeying around. He has Jacob Parrish as an outside corner.
* Rueben Bain makes sure Bucky Irving doesn’t get too far past the line on a run up the middle. Think Dikembe Mutombo, “No, no, no.”
* Baker Mayfield throws to Chris Godwin near the right sideline. Godwin’s route looked awfully smooth and quick.
* Oh, no. Bain drops back into coverage. Why?
* Jake Browning to Tez Johnson down the right sideline for maybe 15 yards.
* Browning to Payne Durham over the middle for a short gain.
* Kenneth Gainwell lived up to his name. He had a nice gain for about 12 yards up the middle.
* Damarion Williams up the middle for nothing.
* Jalon Daniels down the right seam for Dennis Houston.
* Loyal: Joe sees a young fan wearing a Devin White jersey.
* Mayfield to Cade Otton along the right sideline.
* Gainwell is stopped at the line.
* Here comes Kancey: Calijah Kancey races into the backfield and is in Mayfield’s grill. Mayfield has to dump the ball off to avoid a “sack.” Remember: No hitting in underwear football.
* Exact same play but this time in was Antoine Winfield who was flying into Mayfield’s face. Mayfield was able to get the ball into the hands of Bucky who made a nice gain of it.
* RAIN: And here comes the rain. Came down pretty good. It was steamy so the breeze and the cool rain was very likely welcomed by the players. As Bill Cowher would say, “Wet ball drills!” Coaches love to practice in the rain.
* Bad pass by Browning. Joe couldn’t tell if he was trying to hit Ted Hurst or not.
* Kadarius Calloway (New Mexico State) gets a few yards running up the middle.
* Godwin catches a short pass from Mayfield down the left sideline.
* Dang, Godwin looks smooth out there.
* Godwin catches a pass from Mayfield on the right side right in front of Parrish.
* Jalen McMillan catches a short pass from Mayfield to the right.
* Bucs are throwing a lot of short passes today.
7-on-7
* Gainwell catches a pass from Mayfield short and to the left.
* Tez Johnson’s mom dresses him funny. Either that or Johnson put his practice gear on in the dark. Tez is wearing a pink fluorescent shoe on his left football a yellow-highlighter-colored shoe on his right.
* Browning hits Tez over the middle but Tez couldn’t hold on.
* Durham catches a short pass from Browning down the left sideline.
* Browning pumps, looks, pumps, looks, pumps and dumps the ball off to the right for Hurst.
11-on-11
* Finally, a long pass. Browning hits Hurst down the right hash for the first long pass-and-catch of the day.
* Daniels connects with Houston on a long pass.
* Gainwell runs to the left for little gain.
* Mayfield pumps three times and dumps it off to Bucky. Josiah Trotter was right there to stop him.
* A’Shawn Robinson gets pressure from the right side.
* Sean Tucker runs up the middle for a few.
* Browning throws deep to Hurst down the left side. Hurst lookin’ smooth.
* Tucker runs off left tackle for nothing.
* Browning throws deep over the middle and Tez runs down the right seam. The pass was inside of Tez who made a strong adjustment to break to the ball. The pass was a tad low but it hit Tez right in the hands. He couldn’t hang on.
* Zyon McCollum picks Mayfield but hold up. It looked like Bain would have had a sack.
* Mayfield to Otton to the right side.
* Mayfield throws incomplete but he may have been just getting rid of the ball as he had pressure from his right side.
* Mayfield dumps the ball off to Bucky.
* Browning connects with Bauer Sharp to the right.
* Browning throws another deep ball over the middle for Tez and this time the Oregon product hauls it in.
* Browning is chased out of the pocket by Chris Braswell (!) as he races in from the left. That’s two plays Braswell has made today. What’s going on out there?
* By Joe’s count, Browning threw just four long passes. Mayfield didn’t throw one.
July 29th, 2026 at 10:34 pm
Great to have your notes back, Joe. Football is coming!
Go Bucs!
July 29th, 2026 at 10:39 pm
Great notes as always. Short passes is what Baker does. Want to see Hurst with the 1s. Let’s see how often Bain goes into coverage.
July 29th, 2026 at 10:40 pm
NOT a coincidence
July 29th, 2026 at 10:51 pm
Why do I have the feeling a lot of people are going to be, “Oh yeah, Chris Godwin”
July 29th, 2026 at 11:01 pm
* By Joe’s count, Browning threw just four long passes. Mayfield didn’t throw one.
———–
That is great news – it hopefully means Zac watched the Coen tape and realizes that Baker is best when he’s getting the ball out quick on short passes where Baker is quite accurate.
Also, said it many times, at the end of last year, when you watched the ALL-22, Godwin looked like himself – the production wasn’t there because Baker was playing some really bad football. If Baker bounces back, Godwin is going to have a huge year – he’s still the teams #1 WR. I know personally I’m picking him up in fantasy leagues everywhere because he’s cheap and going to offer a massive upside if Baker is “healthy”.
July 29th, 2026 at 11:07 pm
Football’s back! Thank you Joe!!!
July 29th, 2026 at 11:21 pm
Is this a repeat post with a few new tidbits?
July 29th, 2026 at 11:22 pm
Thanks JOE. Drunken the haters will come out saying I told you they should have kept Godwin after he has a big year and trust me he’s going too. He’s fully healthy
July 29th, 2026 at 11:57 pm
Thanks Joe!
It’s good to see the defense making some plays – something that’s hard to do in shells.
July 30th, 2026 at 12:02 am
Yes and no. Both Joes took notes. Same, but different perspective.
One of the Joe’s was typing notes live on his laptop as practice went on and then hit “send” when practice ended. The other Joe is too paranoid about taking his $1,000 MacBook outside in a crowd.
July 30th, 2026 at 12:09 am
Love the practice notes, thanks Joe(s)!
July 30th, 2026 at 12:45 am
“Tez is wearing a pink fluorescent shoe on his left football a (sic) yellow-highlighter-colored shoe on his right.”
Now THAT is a funny mental image, lol.
July 30th, 2026 at 1:03 am
Thanks for the updated notes Joe – was nice to see the additional notes / details. For what it’s worth, I like the rushed early notes and then the more flushed out nightly notes – seems like a good compromise to get the info out, and still make sure everything is hit on.
Appreciate it, but you will not see it again. –Joe
July 30th, 2026 at 1:06 am
Sounds like the D-line is getting quite a bit of pressure…. That’s a good sign. Also will whip the O-line into shape in a hurry.
July 30th, 2026 at 1:43 am
The one thing I AM looking forward to is how the new D line stacks up against our “potential” #3 O line when the grove gets going. FINALLY a feeling of we’re back in the qb hunting game!
I’m particularly jazzed about seeing Bain and Walker in action. It’s pretty much like we’ve picked up two new Defensive Ends or for some, Outside line bakers.
I know they’re ” rookie fresh “, but after Licht has talked up Walker for the last two years AND the FACT that Bain DID HAVE one of “THE BEST TO EVER DO IT”, train him Properly… I get the warm and fuzzies inside… (at least something to look forward to for a change). Either way, I sure am excited to see what we’ve got.
July 30th, 2026 at 3:42 am
Sounds like Coen’s dink and dunk offense has returned. It suits Mayfield who is very accurate on short to intermediate throws but very inaccurate on downfield passes.
July 30th, 2026 at 5:58 am
Joe(s), thank you for the notes!
July 30th, 2026 at 5:59 am
“Exact same play but this time in was Antoine Winfield who was flying into Mayfield’s face.” – wait a minute, isn’t AW a safety? WTF! Why isn’t he protecting the defensive back field? Did he convert to defensive line? Oh the shame! Fire the defensive coach. – Sarcasm
July 30th, 2026 at 6:06 am
“One of the Joe’s was typing notes live on his laptop as practice went on and then hit “send” when practice ended. The other Joe is too paranoid about taking his $1,000 MacBook outside in a crowd.”
Voice-to-text impractical?
July 30th, 2026 at 6:38 am
Davey, I see what you did there. LOL
July 30th, 2026 at 6:50 am
I hope Bain’s first official play of his career is an interception for a touchdown! (After dropping into coverage.)😂🤣😂😘
July 30th, 2026 at 7:53 am
Correct. Imagine sitting near a guy who is doing play-by-play into his phone for two hours. You’d want to punch him! LOL
July 30th, 2026 at 8:20 am
“I hope Bain’s first official play of his career is an interception for a touchdown! (After dropping into coverage.)”
Heads would explode like the aliens from “Mars Attacks”.
July 30th, 2026 at 8:22 am
That’s for wasting my time Joe. You guys need to get it together.
July 30th, 2026 at 8:44 am
@WBL: Yeah, ………..So you get it!
July 30th, 2026 at 8:49 am
Bucs run a 3-4. Any combination of the “4” could be in coverage on a given play. This is not news. The “no Bain in coverage” crowd will have to get over it.
July 30th, 2026 at 9:19 am
You mean the Bucs won’t rush 5 players on every play?? Unimaginable that they would have drop into a passing window or cover the flats.
July 30th, 2026 at 10:05 am
You think maybe they are working with Baker to get the ball out instead of pulling it down? Short passes and check downs? Loving Hurst so far…In shorts. CG is schooling some Defenders? Yes!!! Could Jason have been telling us the truth about Braswell? Hope so. Did Browning look that dang good Joe?
Thanks Joe! Was the rain a welcome thing for the Joes? Gotta be hot for you too.
Go Bucs!
July 30th, 2026 at 3:08 pm
“deep to Hurst down the left side. Hurst lookin’ smooth”
That is great news!
Seems the Bucs are going to have a 5 headed monster at WR this year. Which will be tough for any team to defend. Especially since our Backs are good pass catchers as well. And Otton certainly is no slouch as a receiver either…..
Baker will have a lot of good options to throw to this year!