The Buccaneers were back outside Thursday after three straight days inside the indoor practice facility, and Day 7 of training camp brought a little bit of everything: a handful of injuries, another disruptive showing from David Walker, and more trouble than usual for Tampa Bay’s ground game.
The injury list kept growing in the usual camp way. Tez Johnson sat out because of a strained groin he suffered Tuesday, while Jalen McMillan also didn’t participate after he “banged up his knee”, per head coach Todd Bowles.
Alex Anzalone was out for a rest day after being sore. Tristan Wirfs and Vita Vea, both sidelined by injuries suffered during preseason conditioning, remained out but were present at practice.
There was also some movement on the healthy front. Emeka Egbuka returned to team drills Thursday after missing them for a few days. Benjamin Morrison, meanwhile, still did not take part in team drills, but he was back for individual work.
The name that kept popping up on defense was Walker. Depending on how you want to count it, the outside linebacker has had a sack every day of camp so far, and Thursday kept the streak alive.
He had a would-be sack on Jake Browning early, then got to Browning again on the final play of practice. It wasn’t officially a sack, though - Browning lost the ball after contact with his own lineman, and Walker was right there to recover it.
After practice, Bowles said he was impressed with Walker’s athleticism and speed, especially considering he’s coming off a torn ACL last season. Walker is moving well in pads, and Bowles sees him in position for a big role in this defense in 2026.
If the defense was making life miserable, the run game was doing little to help the offense. Tampa Bay has struggled to run the football all camp, with most of the concepts getting stuffed or blown up at the line.
Big gains from Kenny Gainwell and Bucky Irving have been hard to find. The outside linebackers have done a good job setting the edge, and the inside linebackers have been quick to fill the gaps.
The short screen game had a rough Thursday too. One of the cleanest defensive plays of the day came when Rueben Bain Jr. blew up a Bucky Irving screen and sent him to the turf midway through practice.
That said, the offense wasn’t completely shut down. Tampa Bay did score three touchdowns during the red zone period, but the defense was the group that stood out most on this overcast day at One Buc Place.
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