{"id":356358,"date":"2026-07-29T15:59:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T15:59:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/356358\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T15:59:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T15:59:36","slug":"3-observations-from-day-1-of-tampa-bay-buccaneers-training-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/356358\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Observations From Day 1 of Tampa Bay Buccaneers Training Camp"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"72\">TAMPA, FL \u2014 It\u2019s officially time. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are back at training camp.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"75\">The Bucs went through Day 1 on Wednesday for a short practice to kick things off. It was a low-key practice, but the story of the day wasn\u2019t who was there \u2014 it was who wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"78\">BucsGameday was live on the scene are always. Here are our three observations from Day 1 of training camp:<\/p>\n<p>Concerning Absences<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/01kyq7qeabx71mqqty4g.jpg\" alt=\"Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Benjamin Morrison (21) celebrates a play with outside linebacker Lavonte David (54) \" title=\"Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Benjamin Morrison (21) celebrates a play with outside linebacker Lavonte David (54) \" width=\"360\" height=\"203\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"7l\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Benjamin Morrison (21) celebrates a play with outside linebacker Lavonte David (54) during the third quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles  | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7p\">There were two concerning absences today at training camp (one of them was a half absence, at least). <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7s\">Cornerback Benjamin Morrison was present, but he was not participating and was with a trainer off to the side. Bowles insinuated that Morrison would be ready for training camp, so it\u2019s interesting to see him still rehabbing an injury.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7v\">That being said, he later came out suited up with his helmet on. His participation was still limited, and Todd Bowles told reporters he is still nursing an injured hamstring.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7y\">Star left tackle Tristan Wirfs, meanwhile, wasn\u2019t at training camp at all. Justin Skyler started at left tackle in his stead (a good indication that he\u2019s the frontrunner for the swing tackle job).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"81\">Bowles told reporters afterward that Wirfs tweaked his hamstring during a running test and that he\u2019ll be out for a bit while he recovers.<\/p>\n<p>Bucs Offense Keeps it Short on Day 1<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/01kyq7mz9zajjjfnar8f.jpg\" alt=\"Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Zac Robinson before the game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium.  \" title=\"Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Zac Robinson before the game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium.  \" width=\"360\" height=\"203\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"8e\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Zac Robinson before the game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi&#8217;s Stadium.  | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8i\">Tampa Bay\u2019s offense kept it short and simple for the offense on Day 1.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8l\">Most of the day was short passes, dump-offs and running concepts from Zac Robinson and the offense. That makes sense, as the Bucs are still installing his offense in live time as training camp begins.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8o\">Bucky Irving got plenty of looks today, as did rookie wide receiver Ted Hurst. Hurst played with the No. 2s, but he did catch a touchdown pass during a short red-zone period halfway through the day.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Zyon McCollum Grabs a Pick<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/01kyq7jfdgng5j1pvw10.jpg\" alt=\"Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Zyon McCollum (27) warms up before a preseason game against the Tennessee Titans  \" title=\"Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Zyon McCollum (27) warms up before a preseason game against the Tennessee Titans  \" width=\"360\" height=\"203\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"91\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Zyon McCollum (27) warms up before a preseason game against the Tennessee Titans  | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-17\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"95\">Cornerback Zyon McCollum needs a strong showing to prove Tampa Bay\u2019s trust in him isn\u2019t misguided. He took a step toward that on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-18\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"98\">McCollum nabbed a pick off of Baker Mayfield on Wednesday, jumping a route intended for Emeka Egbuka. In a game, it could have gone back all the way, but McCollum was running slower than he normally would, obviously.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-19\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"9b\">Tampa Bay\u2019s defense needs to generate as many turnovers as it can this upcoming season after lacking in that department last year. Between this and Morrison\u2019s pick in OTAs, the secondary could be on the right track.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-21\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"9i\">Sign up to our\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/buccaneers\/newsletter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">free newsletter<\/a>\u00a0and follow us on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BucsGameday?\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/bucsgameday?s=21&amp;t=nyCeWGVWMsSpULqWCupqGA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">X<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/buccaneersgameday?igsh=NWVob203dzZpYnp0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Instagram<\/a>\u00a0for the latest news.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, FL \u2014 It\u2019s officially time. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are back at training camp.\u00a0 The Bucs went&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356359,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-356358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}