Without attending practices of several NFL teams, how is one to know if Todd Bowles’ Buccaneers are putting in top quality work?

There are two ways to know.

First, Bowles teams have been 2-0 to start the past four regular seasons. That’s no coincidence.

Second, guys who watch training camp across the NFL are praising the Bucs’ summer work.

Former NFL tight end Jacob Hester is a voice on ESPN Radio in Baton Rouge. He’s also a co-host with Pat Kirwan, the former NFL assistant coach and personnel man, on SiriusXM NFL Radio. The duo travel the country to watch training camp practices and talk to key people on teams.

Hester and Kirwan rarely compare camps on the air because they don’t want to anger teams and potentially hurt their future access. However, the Bucs found a way to get a nod from both.

“I was at the Saints [training camp] at the end of last week. I was at the Falcons on Monday and I was at the Buccaneers [on Tuesday],” Hester said in Baton Rouge. “It does feel like the Saints and the Buccaneers right now are at the top [of the NFC South]. And it does feel like there’s a gap right now from what I’m hearing and what I’m seeing from those two teams at the bottom: the Falcons and the Panthers.”

Hester praised what he saw from the Bucs and noted Falcons practice was exceptionally “clunky,” especially considering Atlanta was coming off a bad preseason game and had stated it was planning a focused practice. “It did not look like a well-oiled machine [in Atlanta,]” he said.

The Saints, per Hester, “diced up” the Jaguars in practice. Their joint practice, he said, clearly was won by the Saints first- and second-team units.

Kirwan on NFL Radio had a lot of praise for the Bucs’ work rate and barely could hide to Bowles how impreseed he was versus the rest of the league.

“We’ve been to a lot of camps and I’m not gonna compare you to anyone,” he told Bowles. “but the tempo of practice when the ball was snapped, the amount of explosion I was witnessing, you had to be satisfied with what they were delivering today in the the effort area.”

Joe has seen extra juice from the Bucs defense this summer. Several new coaches, new veterans, stud rookies and competition have made a difference.

How that translates to real games is to be determined.