The Bucs spent the offseason searching for more physicality, particularly on defense. They wanted more edge. More attitude. More alpha personalities capable of changing the tone in the huddle and on the field.
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What they may not have bargained for was how quickly it would show up.
In the controlled environment of organized team activities — where contact is limited and caution is preached — the Bucs apparently crossed a line.
After reviewing practice film from last week, the NFL determined Tampa Bay had too many players ending up on the ground and penalized the club by taking away one of its offseason workouts.
It’s usually better for coaches to say “Whoa,” than “Sic ‘em.” This week, the league said it for them.
“We gave them off Tuesday. That was their day off. Wednesday, by the league,” coach Todd Bowles said Thursday. “Looking at the first practice, we had too many guys on the ground, so they took a practice from us.”
Bowles said it was less than a handful of plays the NFL took issue with, involving players still learning how to practice in Tampa Bay’s system. Players are not in pads or permitted to have full contact during the offseason workouts.
“It was about three or four plays that they recorded us,” Bowles said. “We try to practice safety as well, and we’ve got a lot of new guys trying to learn how to practice, but we cleaned that up and that kind of took care of it.”
Rules aside, this is in many ways what the Bucs were hoping for when they looked to assemble a team after missing the playoffs in 2025 for the first time in six seasons. The increased intensity and physicality can be felt on both sides of the football.
“I think those guys are going to be tough in the trenches this year, and just seeing them, just going against them these last couple weeks, it’s been tough to try to run the ball,” running back Kenneth Gainwell said. “I feel them coming off the ball strongly, and it’s been good seeing that, and going against that every day it’s going to make us better as an offense.”
It sounded as if Bowles and some of the players may have privately drawn some satisfaction from being told to tone it down.
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Gainwell knows that rules are rules and nobody wants to become injured in a non-padded practice. But he and his teammates are also not apologizing for it. The battle between the offense and defense has swung back and forth this offseason.
“It’s a mentality,” he said. “We want to have that mentality going into this season. We’ve got to understand we’ve got to stay off the ground, but we’ve got to have that fire.”
Defensive back Jacob Parrish sounded pleased by the increased intensity, even if it got the league’s attention.
“That just shows how we’re coming in this year,” Parrish said. ”Being more physical and having that mindset and just trying to carry that (in practice).”
Bowles said the decision to look for players in free agency and the draft with an edge has already begun to show dividends in the way the Bucs practice, and he believes it will carry into the season.
“I feel like it’s been better because of the newer guys we brought in. They’re more alpha-type-mentality guys on both sides of the ball,” Bowles said. ”From Gainwell to (defensive lineman) A’Shawn (Robinson) to (defensive lineman Rakeem Nunez-Roches) to (linebacker Alex) Anzalone, you know, they’re all alpha-type of guys.
“So from a toughness standpoint, wanting to win every play mentally and physically, and trying to make everybody else tough around them, as well as (linebacker Christian) Rozeboom and (outside linebacker Al-Quadin) Muhammad, they’re all like that. I feel like from a leadership standpoint, we’ve gotten the right kind of guys in here for where we’re trying to go.”
“It makes everybody else better, for sure. But it’s hard to do it out of pads,” Bowles continued. “To get that type of intensity mentally going, they’re trying to bring the best out of everybody else, it can’t help but help you on Sunday.”
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But in the meantime, the NFL wants them to tone it down in June.