This fits into the enhanced attention to football detail at One Buc Palace this year.

Joe was intrigued yesterday hearing Todd Bowles tell Inside Football “we got a speed coach in here” as a part of a broader plan to prevent injury.

There’s no mention on the Buccaneers’ official website about a speed coach hiring or position, and the Bucs’ new head strength and conditioning coach was an in-house promotion and his assistant was on staff last year.

Back in 2019, Bucco Bruce Arians arrived in Tampa with Roger Kingdom, the former U.S. Olympic gold medal hurdler and college football player. He was the Bucs’ speed coach into 2021.

Joe loves the “speed coach” addition — whomever it may be. Running is a massive part of football, especially defensive football. Not coaching the finer points of that skill would be an opportunity lost.

Joe sees the Bucs’ 2026 emphasis on details while watching Danny Smith coach special teams. The situational work and the pace of those periods has a very fresh look and feel from past year. There are other examples, too. The Bucs’ head strength coach, Chad Wade, also has drawn raves from players for tweaks to that process.