Bucs camp insider 7-27: Secondary continues to shine

Walker did not practice and wasn’t seen outside watching practice. That was the first “update,” as it’s clear whatever injury he picked up Friday was serious enough to cost him Sunday’s practice even after a Saturday off day.

After practice, Bowles didn’t have much to say when asked about Walker’s status.

“He’s still sore,” Bowles said. “They’re still running tests on him. We’ll see what happens.”

Walker wasn’t the only non-participant on Sunday, as running back DJ Williams, safety Marcus Banks and wide receiver Kameron Johnson were out as well. Tight end Cade Otton also watched on from the sideline, though that very well could’ve been a veteran day off for the fourth-year tight end.

Bowles did have more of an update on presumed No. 3 quarterback Michael Pratt, who has been out of action since early this summer and is currently on the PUP list. He said the second-year signal-caller out of Tulane has a lower back issue and is currently week to week.

In more positive injury news, defensive tackle Greg Gaines was back with the team after missing time earlier this summer and being held out for the first three days of camp.

Bucs Secondary Continues To Add To INT Total

If the defense won Wednesday and Thursday’s practices and the offense won Friday’s, Sunday’s was a bit more of a split between the two sides. The offense made some plays, but the defense did as well. There was a lot of give and take, but perhaps the biggest highlights came from the Tampa Bay secondary.

Early on, it was rookie cornerback Jacob Parrish making a leaping grab to intercept Kyle Trask. It was an athletic play that showed an impressive catch radius from the third-round pick, though head coach Todd Bowles had a teaching moment for him after practice.

“He made a heck of a grab and a heck of a play,” Bowles said. He’s just got to get to the nearest sideline.”

What Bowles was likely referring to was Parrish’s route when returning the interception, as he caught it near one sideline and looped around to return it on the other sideline. Even still, it was another great play from Parrish in a long line of them this summer.

Second-year safety Tykee Smith also looked to have an interception of Trask, as he tipped the ball up to himself and brought it in. It was hard to tell whether he got a second foot down to complete the catch, but it was a fantastic play nonetheless.

And veteran newcomer Kindle Vildor came up with another interception in Sunday’s practice as well, picking off Connor Bazelak in the red zone on a pass intended for Rakim Jarrett.

Bowles has continued to move his defensive backs around to get familiar with different positions and situations, something he talked about after practice.

“A lot of versatility back there. A lot of guys that can do a lot of things,” Bowles said. “All of them are very smart. Vildor coming in, 22, does a lot of things well for us. That was a surprise. We keep moving them around and seeing what they’re good at. We know what they can do at the position they’re in, but we want to see, just in case of emergencies if things come up, can they do other things? So, right now, that’s part of the process of it.”

Sunday’s Red Zone Period Was A Back-&-Forth Affair For The Bucs

In addition to the plays made by Tykee Smith and Kindle Vildor in the red zone period, Tampa Bay’s defense largely fared well down near the goal line on Sunday. Josh Hayes had a near interception, while the secondary as a whole played some tight coverage to force a couple of Baker Mayfield incompletions on passes intended for Mike Evans.

The second-team offense didn’t get much going either, outside of a Kyle Trask-to-Devin Culp touchdown connection inside the 5-yard line. Tez Johnson also had a touchdown late in practice as well, continuing his strong start to camp.

It was actually rookie Connor Bazelak out of Bowling Green who fared the best during the red zone period, as he threw a touchdown to a wide-open Tanner Taula over the middle before hitting Sean Tucker on a screen for another score. Bazelak has gotten a significant number of reps this offseason with the injury to Michael Pratt, but head coach Todd Bowles said after practice that they’ve at least been discussing and looking at the possibility of adding another arm for camp if Pratt remains out for an extended period of time.

“We’ve talked about it,” Bowles said. “We may add one. We’ve been looking. We’ll see what happens, depending on who gets hurt and how much room we’ve got.”

Bucs Offensive Line Has Its Best Day Yet Ahead Of First Padded Practice

The offensive line is always at a disadvantage early on in training camp before the pads come on. There’s only so much they can do to try to stop the guy across from them as they try to get to the quarterback, so any would-be sacks can typically be marked with an asterisk. Still, though, there seemed to be a whole lot of would-be sacks over the first few days of camp. That changed on Sunday.

The offensive line seemed to have its best practice yet, and second-year center Graham Barton said after practice that the communication among the group is way ahead of where it was at this time last year.

“I think our communication through week one of training camp this year versus week one of training camp last year is lightyears different,” Barton said. “I think that’s a testament to the guys we have coming back, Baker taking another step forward, myself being able to try to take another step forward, having two guards by me in Cody and Ben. Communication has been great through a week. I don’t want to jinx anything, but we hope that continues to improve.”

Of course, Barton and the rest of the offensive line is ready to get the pads on for Monday’s practice after spending the ramp-up period of training camp fine-tuning some things.

“Absolutely, play some real football. It’ll be great,” Barton said. “That’s absolutely the truth, it’s not the same without pads on. But you can learn so much and you can still get so much done out of pads. Not taking these four days before pads for granted and working on your footwork and your technique, and now the physicality part comes tomorrow. It’s been a good four days and we’ve just got to keep building on it and we’ll be in a good spot.”

Observations & Highlights From Day 4 Of Bucs Training Camp

Here are some quick-hitting observations from Tampa Bay’s fourth training camp practice of 2025:

• Mike Evans looks ready to go. He’s consistently been open throughout the first four days of training camp, as one might expect from the future Pro Football Hall of Famer.

• Second-year outside linebacker Chris Braswell has gotten off to a roaring start this year and will be someone to keep an eye on when the pads come on. While the offensive line held up well for most of Sunday, Braswell did have a couple of potential sacks off the edge. After practice, fellow pass rusher Yaya Diaby praised the work Braswell has done with his body this offseason and said you can see it in how quickly he’s getting off the ball.
• Jalen McMillan had a rough practice on Sunday with a couple of drops.
• Devin Culp has been one of the stars of the offense early on in camp, and that continued Sunday as he continued to find ways to create separation and get open.
• The Bucs continued to do some shuffling of their second-team offensive line during Sunday’s practice, as rookie Ben Scott got reps at center while Elijah Klein moved back to left guard and new addition Tyler McLellan filled in at right tackle.