May 9, 2025 • 15 mins
Team Reporter Casey Phillips, Senior Writer/Editor and Staff Writer/Reporter Brianna Dix talk about all the latest Bucs news in this week's edition of Bucs Insider. The team discussed moments from Day 1 of rookie minicamp, rookie jersey numbers and notable 2025 undrafted free agents.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome into Bucks Insider, coming to you from the Buck Studio,
presented by Ticketmaster Casey Phillips here with Scott Smith and
bre Dix. And right before we shot this here, we
had football happening.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
On the field.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
We were out there, we saw it ourselves. There's no pads,
but they're still football happening. And it does feel like
just such an exciting time of year when you have
these new players, especially in because it is officially rookie
Mini camp. That's what's happening out there is starting today
and going through this weekend, and it's such a great
opportunity to get your eyes on these new guys for
the first time. And I'd just love to hear kind
of first impressions of both being out there and watching them.
(00:32):
And then also Todd Bowles spoke right after practice, so
what stood out.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Well, it's it's hot already.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yes, we can attest to that. If you see sweat
on us. That is why little toast.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
Yeah, I didn't think we expected it to be quite
this hot. So these players that are new to the
area are getting their indoctrination. And again a couple and
said that was one of the main focuses of the
weekend was getting used.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
To the weather.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (00:52):
Well, and then on the field, Jacob Parrish had an
interception today, so that was a little exciting.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
And Todd Bowles always reiterates.
Speaker 5 (00:59):
This is just us Schwartz and T shirts, so don't
make too much of it. But he did say that
he was the fastest player on the field today when asked,
and then said that outside linebacker David Walker was had
the best performance on the field today of all the
players in shorts and T shirts.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
So actually, when you talk about Jacob Parrish, I think
the more notable thing that Todd Bule said was he
kind of reacted almost he had a strong reaction to
somebody asking if Jacob Parish could play outside cornerback in
a pinch. He's like, no, he can play outside cornerback.
He could play cornerback on the outside for any team
in this league.
Speaker 5 (01:32):
Actually said he thought he was better on the.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Yes, we're gonna work him in the nickel and on that,
but he can play right now on the outside. So
I mean that was a pretty emphatic statement.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Exciting.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
Another interesting thing about, of course, that was our third
round quarterback out of Kansas State, our second round quarterback
out of Notre Dame. Benjamin Morrison wasn't really expected to
do much in this camp, probably the one rookie that
was going to be held out because he, you know,
he's still coming back from the hip surgery from last year.
Everybody says he's fully covered, they just need to get
him in football shape. But he was out there doing
some stuff and Todd Bowles said, anything he can do
(02:05):
in OTA's right now coming up and is a bonus
because their target was him being fully go by the
start training camp.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Yeah, which is really great. All right.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
So also one of the things we find out now
not quite as important as you know, where guys are
going to play and how they look, but we do
learn their jersey numbers, and so everybody can get excited
about maybe if they're going to buy some of these
rookies jerseys down the line.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
So this is the official numbers for our draft picks.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Of course, we'll find out more about if other guys,
like undrafted guys or as people make the roster, more
numbers will get decided and picked out here.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
But we start with our draft picks and those are
their numbers. So anything stand out to you guys about that.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
Well, first of all, we have to always say that
these things are subject to change. Yes, you know, as
some guys may leave the roster, some other numbers could
become available, but that doesn't mean they will change. This
very well could be what we see if if I'm
a Mecca, a booka where's number nine? He'll be the
first receiver in the regular season for the Bucks ever
to do that. And really, the I mean Joe try
and Tranko was just in it right right, quarterback Mike
(03:00):
Pulaski in ninety two who never actually got on the field.
Every other nine has been a punter or a kicker.
So we talk about guys. I always liked to think
about guys coming in here and making that number their
own in franchise history.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
He's probably got the easiest.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Path, that's true. Yeah, yeah, yeah, took the easiest time.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
And so now Mac is like, well, this is the
next best thing in terms of forging my eyes.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
He just said todays like the number doesn't really matter. Yeah,
it's gonna be the same.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
I think fans care more than they do right now.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
I do like the twenty one and the twenty five.
Those are really good cornerback numbers, in my opinion makes
me think of DONNYE. Abraham and Brian Kelly, among others.
But those are really good quarterback.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Now, now, if you ask us a tribute question about
what numbers those guys wore, we should have the answer.
You have a chapter which one I don't which which was.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Twenty one for Donny Abraham, who was briefly our all
time leading interceptor man, and then twenty five.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
That is a good number.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
And Brian Kelly wore twenty five for a long time
and led the tied, led the team that great two
thousand and two defense. When we think of Warren Sapp
and Randie, he actually led that defense in interceptions.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Wow, that's a question, don't Scott question about Yeah, you
were like, dang it.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
I thought that would get.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
When people ask me about underrated Buccaneers because a lot
of our former star players are rated. Yeah, and people
know how great our Hall of famers were. I think
Brian kelly'shigh on that list.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Yeah, I think that.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Now there's a new twenty five down, new.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Twenty five in town. All right.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
So now, also we want to go over a little
bit about the different categories of players that are out
there because I think, of course, a lot of the
attention goes to there being draft picks, and I think
a lot of people mainly focus on you got draft
picks in there, and oh, maybe there's a few undrafted
free agents.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
But to really have a mini camp, you actually have to.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Have a lot of bodies out there just to make
it work from a numbers standpoint, So what are our
categories of who all participates in a rookie minie camp?
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Because it is a lot more, I think than a
lot of people.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
It adds up to sixty one today, and were already
talked about the six draft picks, but the next category
would be the undrafted free agent signings. So there were
fifteen of those. So those are the guys that our
scouts are all calling on the phone right for the
draft end and trying to convince him to come here.
There's fifteen of them here and generally especially here for
some reason, a couple of these guys make it every year,
like Kaevon Merriweather recently and Tyreek Funderberg, Yeah, Christian Izzy
(05:10):
in a couple of years ago.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
These guys end up in some of them end up
in big roles.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Yeah, it's very true.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
So a couple of them here. I don't think we
need to go through all of them. You know, Connor
Baslak is probably the top quarterback in this rookie mini
camp from Bowling GREENNY. Threw for over three thousand yards
and eighteen touchdowns and just five picks last year. Another
interesting one there, you'll see on the list. We got
a boulded is Ben Chuck Wooma Georgia State. This kid
had I guess I can call him a kid, right.
(05:34):
I think he just turned twenty four yesterday, so I
don't know if he's a kid, but he had never
played football until two years ago.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
What ever, at any level, that's great.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
His family moved His family moved to Georgia from Nigeria
when he was seventeen, didn't play in high school, got
to Georgia State, wasn't playing there either, and then they
had an open tryout. And as soon as I was coaches,
I'm like, you're on the team.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
You don't even have to try out. Did you see
that guy out there today?
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (05:59):
He is well put together. Yes, there's a big man
who's like yah ya yabi.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
So that'll be an interesting one.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
And the Buccaneers interestingly fully guaranteed him three hundred thousand,
which is a lot more than most practice squad I
mean one hundreds of guys get And that to me
tells me they see him being around in the fall,
whether it's on, they act for us from the practice squad,
because you're gonna end up paying him that much for
a year on the practice squad, So now it's just guaranteed.
So that was to get him to come here and
say somewhere else, because I think there are other teams
(06:27):
that liked him. One more I wanted to point out
is Josh Williams, the running back from LSU, had a
nice little career at LSU. The reason I find him
interesting is that in nineteen ninety seven, his father, Jermaine Williams,
also also a running back, began his NFL career as
an undrafted free agent with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Look at that.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
I love when you get like a father son like
tandem like that. Also, I'm really excited you brought up
the quarterback because even though next to it said bowling green,
Uh huh, do you know where else he played?
Speaker 3 (06:53):
I got a guest, Missuri, you would be.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Guessing correctly, and so even though he transferred out, I'm
gonna let it.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
I'm gonna let it slide, and I'm.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Gonna take ownership with him now watching him as as Anthony,
I'm always pressuring our front office staff to take more
Miszoo people, and there's a chance. The day that they
signed guys, I got a text from a front office
person that was like, there you happy to transfer out
but still and I was like, thank you.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
She doesn't ever, yeah, doesn't at these people. I did
want to hit on the Texas boy. Jake Major is
the center.
Speaker 6 (07:22):
He had a school record fifty six career starts, a
lot of starts. It's a lot of starts, it is,
and I think one of the things that I'm sure
our coaching staff really liked. But throughout the pre Jaft process,
a lot of scouts raved about his high football IQ,
his ability to make protection adjustments, like he's well balanced
balanced in past set. So I think it'll be fun
(07:44):
to see what he does out there. Yeah, and the
depth that he could add along the offensive line in
the interior.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
And I think offensive line, especially those backup roles are
so up for grabs now. Even though we brought back
all those starters. You know, you did lose Hainsey and
School and these backup guys. So I think that's going
to be an interesting one for us to watch all
all mini camp and training camp. So that was the
undrafted rookies portion. What is the next category that we
have of people that are out here?
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Well, then you got first year players.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
So these are guys that are already on your roster
but have not accrued a season free agency credit yet,
so they're ones on the roster of first year players.
You know, guys like tied end ten or Taling. There's
the list right there. That's not every first year player
on the list, but some are dealing with minor injuries.
So those six participated. You know, DJ Williams probably would
be fourth on your depth tried to running back right now?
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Yeah, So I mean anything else stand out to you there?
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Rashad Wisdom.
Speaker 7 (08:33):
Todd Willis has talked a lot about He's a guy
that's consistently been in the building, was there for phase one,
phase two, and really just liked his approach. But also,
I mean you look back to what he did at
Texas San Antonio and he finished his collegiate career at UTSA,
the all time leader in total tackles and solo tackles,
but just the guy that's kind of physical and coverage
(08:54):
and run support, kind of that downhill striker. So I'm
excited to see what he does throughout the rest of
military mini camping.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Yeah, and I also just want to shout him out.
He's a like community champion. He's a guy that goes
to all of these community events.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
You smile on his face always great dude.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
And also he was in charge of he along with
one or two other guys, were in charge of decorating
for the holidays in their position room as rookies last year.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
His room was, in my opinion, hands down.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
The best impressive because the old lineman usually go on, I.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Know, and that's why I walked in and saw the
dv's room and I was like wow, and it was him,
and it was yeah, largely him, along with Banks a
couple of other guys, but yeah, I thought that it was
a like love, I love.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
The spirit, you know, going in the community decorating the room.
I was like, I love this.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
It's word.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
Noting the Bucks did not draft a safety and Jordan
white Head is no longer with us, and you know, TAKEE.
Smith might be a starter now in safety whatever. We
don't know yet, but I think there's room on the
roster for a couple guys like HD Wisdom guy, Yeah,
to make it, or maybe some of these undrafting guys.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
So then now what's our next category of people that
are out of rooky minicamp.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
So then you have rookie trab players and this is
there's a lot of them. There's thirty of them with us,
I believe. So it's going to take a couple of
screens here to get through him. I'm really not going
to go through it.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
I just had him roll up the strange scrolling like
credits at the end of the movie here and then
get done an extra scene, you know, like after a
Marvel movies.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
Let this be our You got some you see casting
a wide net here, I mean South Dakota State, Saginaw, Valley,
Mount Union, Augustana.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
So I'm not like, I never heard.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Of multiple of those in my life.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
That's not very nice.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
I just want to sound like I I this is
what I love about our scouting department, going to schools I've.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Never heard of.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Yeah, and there's a whole other page room here.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Like I said, I'm not really not gonna break any
of them down because generally each year you I see
us signing two to four of these guys, so there
aren't tryouts, and then a couple of them generally get
signed in that usually involves having to released somebody else.
But you know, you could talk about these tryouts do
lead to something for a few guys.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
And the one I always think of is Adam Humphreys.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Yeah, all of them, he's probably had the biggest role.
Speaker 7 (10:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
After that was Marquis Watts one last year.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
I believe he was, Yes, I think it was two
years ago, two years ago. Yeah, Yeah, that's a great
example Marquees Wats. But I mean Am Humphreys, Yeah, nice career.
I think I wrote it down here. So he had
maybe a couple thousand receiving yards with us over the
course of four years and then got a nice contract
in Tennessee. So not all these guys will make it
or make it here, but you might one or two
of these names might become.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Well known theme someone. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
And then finally our last category, the one that maybe
a lot of people kind of forget it exists.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
You can also come to one of these camps, even
though they call it rookie camp, you can also come
on a trial contract if you're a guy who's seen
some action in the league before. And again there's no
need of calling these guys out until they're.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Actually on the roster.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
But you see them here, some guys that have played
a little bit, you know, and they're trying to get
another shot, get a foot in the door before training
camp starts.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
So another thing that is really cool about Rookie Une
Camp that's kind of we gone through all the people
that are out there player wise, but there are also
a lot of coaches out there that if you were
to take a look and see this, it is practically
a one to one ratio of coaches to players right
now because the Bucks are hosting something they call the
National Coaching Academy. And in case you even heard this,
(11:58):
last year was the first year that we did it.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
It is truly an incredible program.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
You always hear about the idea of a lot of
coaching is who you know right and getting in the
pipeline and making those connections, and so the Buccaneers wanted
to try to help other coaches be able to do this,
to build those relationships, to learn the information they need,
and to try to get that foot in the door
to create more of a pipeline for these coaches who
love it and you know, could have a really bright
future but maybe just haven't gotten to meet anyone or
(12:23):
get their foot in the door. So huge application process,
I mean, so many people apply for this, it is incredible.
More than the thousand people apply and only around twenty
five get chosen to come, and then five get chosen
from after the rookie mini camp weekend to come back
to really be part of training camp and part of
more of a coaching fellowship. But man, it's not just
are they out there kind of on the field watching,
(12:44):
which is alreadyquot I mean, they're in meetings, they're at practice,
they're spending a lot of time with coaches. But also
the team has come up with a ton of programming
and I got to be a part of a lot
of it this week where they bring in a lot
of players, coaches, professionals, different people to talk with them.
And so I got to host a panel that was
Tony Dungee and Rende Barbara again other that I mean.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
That's I was very unnecessary. Frankly, I could have just been.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Like, go, it's a lot of football.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
It's a lot of football.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Knowledge, a lot of broadcasting, and so I was like, man,
this is great, But yeah it was. Theirs was a
lot about the player coach relationship and.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
How to build that correctly.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
And then we also had multiple members from our front
office staff, where we had Rob McCartney, Mike Greenberg, Jackie Davidson,
all kind of from that front office side, talking about
how to build a roster, how to scout, how to
work on you know, salary cap, talking to agents, all
of that. We had uh, you know, Coach Bowls and
Jason Light up there talking together, and myself and then
our chief communications officer Nelson Louis led a media training
(13:37):
for all of them. I mean, there's just so much
that they provide. I cannot imagine the value this is
as someone who's.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Or maybe early in their coaching career.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Yeah, the knowledge you get, the connections you get to make,
and I learned a ton of being in there as well.
They did film sessions with a bunch of our quality
control coaches, and it's also even about life in addition
to just coaching. Like I remember Coach Bowl said a
quote that we really loved where he said, don't sacrifice
who you are for what you want, as talking about
as you decide what jobs to take, as you decide
(14:07):
how to navigate your career. I'm like, man, that's a
quote for anything, that's not just a football quote. And
so it's just been an incredible experience, and so we
have loved having all these coaches here.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
It's an amazing program.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Obviously, if you or someone else you know is in
the coaching ranks, be sure to look out for it
next year for that application process. But yeah, all these
coaches are out there with the rookies, getting a chance
to eat lunch with them, watch them at practice, talk
with them, and I mean, how great for all these
rookies to have a thousand coaches all out at your
mini camp as well, I think.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
From listening to a couple of them talk to the
media that they really value that time in the meeting
room with the coaches. Like one of them was talking
about getting to work with Thomas McGahee and Keith Danney's like,
I would never get to work with these coaches in.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Any other way.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
The wisdom you're getting is, yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Yeah, it sounded like they were really overwhelmed by how
great the program.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Was, and I wanted to save this one for last
as well, because not only did they sit in all
these meeting rooms and get all these presentations, they ended
up go being out on the field themselves thanks to
one John Gruden.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
That John Gruden came out.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
And walked them through all this old film and footage
from his time coaching different things and made them all
do their own quarterback cadences, made them all call the
plays and was critiquing, you know, are we loud enough,
are we clear enough? And then brought them down on
the field and was having them run plays, throw passes,
doing the whole thing was. It was truly incredible to watch,
(15:26):
and that was a lot of fun to see him
back in leading that session with everybody. So that was
definitely one that you were not going to fall asleep in.
At the end of that one, he does, he really does.
So that was another incredible one. But yeah, that's gonna
do it for us on decisis of Bucks Insider, thank
you so much for being with us, and we'll have
more coverage of the rest of Brookie Mini Camp next week.
Welcome into Bucks Insider, coming to you from the Buck Studio,
presented by Ticketmaster Casey Phillips here with Scott Smith and
bre Dix. And right before we shot this here, we
had football happening.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
On the field.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
We were out there, we saw it ourselves. There's no pads,
but they're still football happening. And it does feel like
just such an exciting time of year when you have
these new players, especially in because it is officially rookie
Mini camp. That's what's happening out there is starting today
and going through this weekend, and it's such a great
opportunity to get your eyes on these new guys for
the first time. And I'd just love to hear kind
of first impressions of both being out there and watching them.
(00:32):
And then also Todd Bowles spoke right after practice, so
what stood out.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Well, it's it's hot already.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yes, we can attest to that. If you see sweat
on us. That is why little toast.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
Yeah, I didn't think we expected it to be quite
this hot. So these players that are new to the
area are getting their indoctrination. And again a couple and
said that was one of the main focuses of the
weekend was getting used.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
To the weather.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (00:52):
Well, and then on the field, Jacob Parrish had an
interception today, so that was a little exciting.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
And Todd Bowles always reiterates.
Speaker 5 (00:59):
This is just us Schwartz and T shirts, so don't
make too much of it. But he did say that
he was the fastest player on the field today when asked,
and then said that outside linebacker David Walker was had
the best performance on the field today of all the
players in shorts and T shirts.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
So actually, when you talk about Jacob Parrish, I think
the more notable thing that Todd Bule said was he
kind of reacted almost he had a strong reaction to
somebody asking if Jacob Parish could play outside cornerback in
a pinch. He's like, no, he can play outside cornerback.
He could play cornerback on the outside for any team
in this league.
Speaker 5 (01:32):
Actually said he thought he was better on the.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Yes, we're gonna work him in the nickel and on that,
but he can play right now on the outside. So
I mean that was a pretty emphatic statement.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Exciting.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
Another interesting thing about, of course, that was our third
round quarterback out of Kansas State, our second round quarterback
out of Notre Dame. Benjamin Morrison wasn't really expected to
do much in this camp, probably the one rookie that
was going to be held out because he, you know,
he's still coming back from the hip surgery from last year.
Everybody says he's fully covered, they just need to get
him in football shape. But he was out there doing
some stuff and Todd Bowles said, anything he can do
(02:05):
in OTA's right now coming up and is a bonus
because their target was him being fully go by the
start training camp.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Yeah, which is really great. All right.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
So also one of the things we find out now
not quite as important as you know, where guys are
going to play and how they look, but we do
learn their jersey numbers, and so everybody can get excited
about maybe if they're going to buy some of these
rookies jerseys down the line.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
So this is the official numbers for our draft picks.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Of course, we'll find out more about if other guys,
like undrafted guys or as people make the roster, more
numbers will get decided and picked out here.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
But we start with our draft picks and those are
their numbers. So anything stand out to you guys about that.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
Well, first of all, we have to always say that
these things are subject to change. Yes, you know, as
some guys may leave the roster, some other numbers could
become available, but that doesn't mean they will change. This
very well could be what we see if if I'm
a Mecca, a booka where's number nine? He'll be the
first receiver in the regular season for the Bucks ever
to do that. And really, the I mean Joe try
and Tranko was just in it right right, quarterback Mike
(03:00):
Pulaski in ninety two who never actually got on the field.
Every other nine has been a punter or a kicker.
So we talk about guys. I always liked to think
about guys coming in here and making that number their
own in franchise history.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
He's probably got the easiest.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Path, that's true. Yeah, yeah, yeah, took the easiest time.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
And so now Mac is like, well, this is the
next best thing in terms of forging my eyes.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
He just said todays like the number doesn't really matter. Yeah,
it's gonna be the same.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
I think fans care more than they do right now.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
I do like the twenty one and the twenty five.
Those are really good cornerback numbers, in my opinion makes
me think of DONNYE. Abraham and Brian Kelly, among others.
But those are really good quarterback.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Now, now, if you ask us a tribute question about
what numbers those guys wore, we should have the answer.
You have a chapter which one I don't which which was.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Twenty one for Donny Abraham, who was briefly our all
time leading interceptor man, and then twenty five.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
That is a good number.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
And Brian Kelly wore twenty five for a long time
and led the tied, led the team that great two
thousand and two defense. When we think of Warren Sapp
and Randie, he actually led that defense in interceptions.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Wow, that's a question, don't Scott question about Yeah, you
were like, dang it.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
I thought that would get.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
When people ask me about underrated Buccaneers because a lot
of our former star players are rated. Yeah, and people
know how great our Hall of famers were. I think
Brian kelly'shigh on that list.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Yeah, I think that.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Now there's a new twenty five down, new.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Twenty five in town. All right.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
So now, also we want to go over a little
bit about the different categories of players that are out
there because I think, of course, a lot of the
attention goes to there being draft picks, and I think
a lot of people mainly focus on you got draft
picks in there, and oh, maybe there's a few undrafted
free agents.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
But to really have a mini camp, you actually have to.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Have a lot of bodies out there just to make
it work from a numbers standpoint, So what are our
categories of who all participates in a rookie minie camp?
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Because it is a lot more, I think than a
lot of people.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
It adds up to sixty one today, and were already
talked about the six draft picks, but the next category
would be the undrafted free agent signings. So there were
fifteen of those. So those are the guys that our
scouts are all calling on the phone right for the
draft end and trying to convince him to come here.
There's fifteen of them here and generally especially here for
some reason, a couple of these guys make it every year,
like Kaevon Merriweather recently and Tyreek Funderberg, Yeah, Christian Izzy
(05:10):
in a couple of years ago.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
These guys end up in some of them end up
in big roles.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Yeah, it's very true.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
So a couple of them here. I don't think we
need to go through all of them. You know, Connor
Baslak is probably the top quarterback in this rookie mini
camp from Bowling GREENNY. Threw for over three thousand yards
and eighteen touchdowns and just five picks last year. Another
interesting one there, you'll see on the list. We got
a boulded is Ben Chuck Wooma Georgia State. This kid
had I guess I can call him a kid, right.
(05:34):
I think he just turned twenty four yesterday, so I
don't know if he's a kid, but he had never
played football until two years ago.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
What ever, at any level, that's great.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
His family moved His family moved to Georgia from Nigeria
when he was seventeen, didn't play in high school, got
to Georgia State, wasn't playing there either, and then they
had an open tryout. And as soon as I was coaches,
I'm like, you're on the team.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
You don't even have to try out. Did you see
that guy out there today?
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (05:59):
He is well put together. Yes, there's a big man
who's like yah ya yabi.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
So that'll be an interesting one.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
And the Buccaneers interestingly fully guaranteed him three hundred thousand,
which is a lot more than most practice squad I
mean one hundreds of guys get And that to me
tells me they see him being around in the fall,
whether it's on, they act for us from the practice squad,
because you're gonna end up paying him that much for
a year on the practice squad, So now it's just guaranteed.
So that was to get him to come here and
say somewhere else, because I think there are other teams
(06:27):
that liked him. One more I wanted to point out
is Josh Williams, the running back from LSU, had a
nice little career at LSU. The reason I find him
interesting is that in nineteen ninety seven, his father, Jermaine Williams,
also also a running back, began his NFL career as
an undrafted free agent with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Look at that.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
I love when you get like a father son like
tandem like that. Also, I'm really excited you brought up
the quarterback because even though next to it said bowling green,
Uh huh, do you know where else he played?
Speaker 3 (06:53):
I got a guest, Missuri, you would be.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Guessing correctly, and so even though he transferred out, I'm
gonna let it.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
I'm gonna let it slide, and I'm.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Gonna take ownership with him now watching him as as Anthony,
I'm always pressuring our front office staff to take more
Miszoo people, and there's a chance. The day that they
signed guys, I got a text from a front office
person that was like, there you happy to transfer out
but still and I was like, thank you.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
She doesn't ever, yeah, doesn't at these people. I did
want to hit on the Texas boy. Jake Major is
the center.
Speaker 6 (07:22):
He had a school record fifty six career starts, a
lot of starts. It's a lot of starts, it is,
and I think one of the things that I'm sure
our coaching staff really liked. But throughout the pre Jaft process,
a lot of scouts raved about his high football IQ,
his ability to make protection adjustments, like he's well balanced
balanced in past set. So I think it'll be fun
(07:44):
to see what he does out there. Yeah, and the
depth that he could add along the offensive line in
the interior.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
And I think offensive line, especially those backup roles are
so up for grabs now. Even though we brought back
all those starters. You know, you did lose Hainsey and
School and these backup guys. So I think that's going
to be an interesting one for us to watch all
all mini camp and training camp. So that was the
undrafted rookies portion. What is the next category that we
have of people that are out here?
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Well, then you got first year players.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
So these are guys that are already on your roster
but have not accrued a season free agency credit yet,
so they're ones on the roster of first year players.
You know, guys like tied end ten or Taling. There's
the list right there. That's not every first year player
on the list, but some are dealing with minor injuries.
So those six participated. You know, DJ Williams probably would
be fourth on your depth tried to running back right now?
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Yeah, So I mean anything else stand out to you there?
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Rashad Wisdom.
Speaker 7 (08:33):
Todd Willis has talked a lot about He's a guy
that's consistently been in the building, was there for phase one,
phase two, and really just liked his approach. But also,
I mean you look back to what he did at
Texas San Antonio and he finished his collegiate career at UTSA,
the all time leader in total tackles and solo tackles,
but just the guy that's kind of physical and coverage
(08:54):
and run support, kind of that downhill striker. So I'm
excited to see what he does throughout the rest of
military mini camping.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Yeah, and I also just want to shout him out.
He's a like community champion. He's a guy that goes
to all of these community events.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
You smile on his face always great dude.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
And also he was in charge of he along with
one or two other guys, were in charge of decorating
for the holidays in their position room as rookies last year.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
His room was, in my opinion, hands down.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
The best impressive because the old lineman usually go on, I.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Know, and that's why I walked in and saw the
dv's room and I was like wow, and it was him,
and it was yeah, largely him, along with Banks a
couple of other guys, but yeah, I thought that it was
a like love, I love.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
The spirit, you know, going in the community decorating the room.
I was like, I love this.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
It's word.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
Noting the Bucks did not draft a safety and Jordan
white Head is no longer with us, and you know, TAKEE.
Smith might be a starter now in safety whatever. We
don't know yet, but I think there's room on the
roster for a couple guys like HD Wisdom guy, Yeah,
to make it, or maybe some of these undrafting guys.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
So then now what's our next category of people that
are out of rooky minicamp.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
So then you have rookie trab players and this is
there's a lot of them. There's thirty of them with us,
I believe. So it's going to take a couple of
screens here to get through him. I'm really not going
to go through it.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
I just had him roll up the strange scrolling like
credits at the end of the movie here and then
get done an extra scene, you know, like after a
Marvel movies.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
Let this be our You got some you see casting
a wide net here, I mean South Dakota State, Saginaw, Valley,
Mount Union, Augustana.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
So I'm not like, I never heard.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Of multiple of those in my life.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
That's not very nice.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
I just want to sound like I I this is
what I love about our scouting department, going to schools I've.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Never heard of.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Yeah, and there's a whole other page room here.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Like I said, I'm not really not gonna break any
of them down because generally each year you I see
us signing two to four of these guys, so there
aren't tryouts, and then a couple of them generally get
signed in that usually involves having to released somebody else.
But you know, you could talk about these tryouts do
lead to something for a few guys.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
And the one I always think of is Adam Humphreys.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Yeah, all of them, he's probably had the biggest role.
Speaker 7 (10:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
After that was Marquis Watts one last year.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
I believe he was, Yes, I think it was two
years ago, two years ago. Yeah, Yeah, that's a great
example Marquees Wats. But I mean Am Humphreys, Yeah, nice career.
I think I wrote it down here. So he had
maybe a couple thousand receiving yards with us over the
course of four years and then got a nice contract
in Tennessee. So not all these guys will make it
or make it here, but you might one or two
of these names might become.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Well known theme someone. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
And then finally our last category, the one that maybe
a lot of people kind of forget it exists.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
You can also come to one of these camps, even
though they call it rookie camp, you can also come
on a trial contract if you're a guy who's seen
some action in the league before. And again there's no
need of calling these guys out until they're.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Actually on the roster.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
But you see them here, some guys that have played
a little bit, you know, and they're trying to get
another shot, get a foot in the door before training
camp starts.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
So another thing that is really cool about Rookie Une
Camp that's kind of we gone through all the people
that are out there player wise, but there are also
a lot of coaches out there that if you were
to take a look and see this, it is practically
a one to one ratio of coaches to players right
now because the Bucks are hosting something they call the
National Coaching Academy. And in case you even heard this,
(11:58):
last year was the first year that we did it.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
It is truly an incredible program.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
You always hear about the idea of a lot of
coaching is who you know right and getting in the
pipeline and making those connections, and so the Buccaneers wanted
to try to help other coaches be able to do this,
to build those relationships, to learn the information they need,
and to try to get that foot in the door
to create more of a pipeline for these coaches who
love it and you know, could have a really bright
future but maybe just haven't gotten to meet anyone or
(12:23):
get their foot in the door. So huge application process,
I mean, so many people apply for this, it is incredible.
More than the thousand people apply and only around twenty
five get chosen to come, and then five get chosen
from after the rookie mini camp weekend to come back
to really be part of training camp and part of
more of a coaching fellowship. But man, it's not just
are they out there kind of on the field watching,
(12:44):
which is alreadyquot I mean, they're in meetings, they're at practice,
they're spending a lot of time with coaches. But also
the team has come up with a ton of programming
and I got to be a part of a lot
of it this week where they bring in a lot
of players, coaches, professionals, different people to talk with them.
And so I got to host a panel that was
Tony Dungee and Rende Barbara again other that I mean.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
That's I was very unnecessary. Frankly, I could have just been.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Like, go, it's a lot of football.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
It's a lot of football.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Knowledge, a lot of broadcasting, and so I was like, man,
this is great, But yeah it was. Theirs was a
lot about the player coach relationship and.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
How to build that correctly.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
And then we also had multiple members from our front
office staff, where we had Rob McCartney, Mike Greenberg, Jackie Davidson,
all kind of from that front office side, talking about
how to build a roster, how to scout, how to
work on you know, salary cap, talking to agents, all
of that. We had uh, you know, Coach Bowls and
Jason Light up there talking together, and myself and then
our chief communications officer Nelson Louis led a media training
(13:37):
for all of them. I mean, there's just so much
that they provide. I cannot imagine the value this is
as someone who's.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Or maybe early in their coaching career.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Yeah, the knowledge you get, the connections you get to make,
and I learned a ton of being in there as well.
They did film sessions with a bunch of our quality
control coaches, and it's also even about life in addition
to just coaching. Like I remember Coach Bowl said a
quote that we really loved where he said, don't sacrifice
who you are for what you want, as talking about
as you decide what jobs to take, as you decide
(14:07):
how to navigate your career. I'm like, man, that's a
quote for anything, that's not just a football quote. And
so it's just been an incredible experience, and so we
have loved having all these coaches here.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
It's an amazing program.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Obviously, if you or someone else you know is in
the coaching ranks, be sure to look out for it
next year for that application process. But yeah, all these
coaches are out there with the rookies, getting a chance
to eat lunch with them, watch them at practice, talk
with them, and I mean, how great for all these
rookies to have a thousand coaches all out at your
mini camp as well, I think.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
From listening to a couple of them talk to the
media that they really value that time in the meeting
room with the coaches. Like one of them was talking
about getting to work with Thomas McGahee and Keith Danney's like,
I would never get to work with these coaches in.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Any other way.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
The wisdom you're getting is, yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Yeah, it sounded like they were really overwhelmed by how
great the program.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Was, and I wanted to save this one for last
as well, because not only did they sit in all
these meeting rooms and get all these presentations, they ended
up go being out on the field themselves thanks to
one John Gruden.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
That John Gruden came out.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
And walked them through all this old film and footage
from his time coaching different things and made them all
do their own quarterback cadences, made them all call the
plays and was critiquing, you know, are we loud enough,
are we clear enough? And then brought them down on
the field and was having them run plays, throw passes,
doing the whole thing was. It was truly incredible to watch,
(15:26):
and that was a lot of fun to see him
back in leading that session with everybody. So that was
definitely one that you were not going to fall asleep in.
At the end of that one, he does, he really does.
So that was another incredible one. But yeah, that's gonna
do it for us on decisis of Bucks Insider, thank
you so much for being with us, and we'll have
more coverage of the rest of Brookie Mini Camp next week.
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