Bucs Camp Insider 7-27: SirVocea Dennis Strikes Again

Jensen had a scheduled day off as part of his continued recovery from a serious knee injury that he suffered on the second day of training camp a year ago. That injury caused him to miss the entire 2023 regular season, but Jensen was able to make a return for the Bucs’ playoff loss to the Cowboys. Jensen spent the practice helping his teammates from the sidelines.

Aaron Stinnie returned to 11-on-11 work on Thursday. He’s been held out of team drills during the offseason as he recovers from his torn ACL in his left knee, which he suffered last August in a preseason game at Tennessee.

SirVocea Dennis Strikes Again

After not creating a turnover on the first day of training camp, the Bucs defense came up with three takeaways on Thursday in the form of two interceptions and a fumble recovery. The first interception of Tampa Bay’s 2023 camp came from a player who has already made a name for himself as an interceptor this offseason – rookie inside linebacker SirVocea Dennis.

Dennis stepped in front of a Bucs tight end and picked off Kyle Trask, taking the ball down the right sideline during 11-on-11s for what could have been a pick-six. Dennis had his first pick-six of the offseason when he intercepted a pass a few minutes into his first rookie mini-camp practice back in May. He also made a similar play against Trask during the OTAs.

Pewter Report’s JC Allen spoke exclusively to Dennis after practice for his reaction to his interception of Trask.

“To the house [laughs],” Dennis said. “They just ran it before. I know where they want to go, where the holes were in that coverage. I leaned more towards it and then also the player next to me – which was YaYa [Diaby] – I told him to do something so that the quarterback would look there. It ended up working out perfectly, and I just attribute it to film study, really.”

Dennis said his good fortune in recording pick-sixes in practice so far this offseason has been with lots of classroom work.

“It’s just different drops, different coverages, and then I’m more in tune with breaking,” said Dennis, who had two INTs in college, including a pick-six. “We do a lot of things that help me out with my breaks. And not even that, it’s just the film room with Lavonte [David], with Devin [White], Coach [Larry] Foote. It’s helping me on just seeing not only what we have to do but what the offense does as well.”

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles was pleased with his play-making rookie.

“SirVocea [Dennis] made a good play – he was doing it in the spring,” Bowles said. “He got a good break on the ball and came down with it. Nolan [Turner] is very smart – he’s a heady ballplayer. We can’t hold the ball that long and put it over the middle. We got some turnovers, defensively. Offensively, I thought we did [well], moving the ball pretty [well] – as much as you can in shorts and t-shirts. We’ve just got to finish at the end.”

Second-year safety Nolan Turner intercepted Baker Mayfield at the goal line in 7-on-7 drills after Trask’s INT. Earlier in the practice during 11-on-11s, Trask had a fumbled exchange with running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn out of the shotgun, and outside linebacker Anthony Nelson swooped in to scoop up the ball.

Bucs Work On Takeaways And Ball Security

After the offense had a clean day protecting the ball on Wednesday, the individual period on Thursday was spent working on taking the ball away. Todd Bowles had four stations set up that all of his defensive units rotated through.

One station was manned by outside linebackers coach George Edwards, where the defenders took turns as pass rushers, swatting the ball out of the QB’s hands. Inside linebackers coach Larry Foote’s station worked on making a head up tackle and stripping the ball loose.

Cornerbacks coach Kevin Ross worked on punching the ball out from behind. Defensive line coach Kacy Rodgers had a station that worked on diving onto a mat and wrapping up a blocking pad to simulate making a diving tackle at a player’s legs.

Those drills seemed to put the defense in a takeaway mindset for the day on Thursday. Conversely, the Bucs offensive players worked on ball security drills during the same time. Receivers, tight ends and running backs would catch the ball and go through gauntlet drills where coaches would take padded practice shields and work on swatting the players’ arms to try to force a fumble.

Bucs Practice Observations

• Kyle Trask was the starter on Thursday after Baker Mayfield received the starter reps on Wednesday. Outside of an interception and a fumbled exchange with running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn, Trask fared well and had a few highlight throws. One of them was an intermediate shot to receiver David Moore over the middle for a sizeable gain. Trask put some heat on the ball, and it was a great throw and catch.

Another big pass play was a deep shot to tight end Cade Otton down the seam. Trask put some touch on the ball and threw it up high where only the 6-foot-5 Otton could go up and get it. Otton made a great play for a big gain while safety Ryan Neal could only watch.

Trask nearly had a second interception at the end of practice in the red zone but Lavonte David dropped the ball after making a perfect break on Trask’s pass near the goal line.

• Baker Mayfield had a few nice throws of his own. The best catch of the day came from undrafted free agent receiver Rakim Jarrett, who out-leaped cornerback Keenan Isaac for a deep ball down the field on third-and-7. Jarrett laid out for the ball and came down with it for a big-time catch.

“He is making a ton of plays,” Mayfield said of Jarrett. “In one-on-one situations. He has a really good ability to high point the ball. He has good body control when he is in the air. Those are guys that when you have the 1-on-1 matchups in third down situations like that, you are going to try and find those guys who you know are going to make contested catches. I am truly impressed with how he has been so far throughout the offseason and early in camp. He is excited about continuing to progress as well.”

Mayfield also had a nice touchdown on a short fade route into the end zone on a pass to Mike Evans, who high-pointed the ball. Evans also pushed off cornerback Anthony Chesley, so he could have been flagged for offensive pass interference, too.

• Offensive coordinator Dave Canales called a perfectly timed screen pass to running back Patrick Laird while Todd Bowles called for a safety blitz. Ryan Neal came screaming into the backfield and the ball was dumped off right over his head to Laird, who had blockers out in front. The screen went for a big gain of close to 20 yards.

• In the trenches, defensive tackle Pat O’Connor planted rookie guard Cody Mauch into the ground on one play. O’Connor is noticeably bigger and stronger this year and it certainly showed on that play. Reserve outside linebacker Charles Snowden had some nice pass rushes on second-string left tackle Justin Skule. It will be interesting to see if Snowden has enough grit when the pads come on. His 6-foot-7 length is awfully intriguing.

• Dee Delaney remains the Bucs’ starting nickelback due to his experience, and he made a really nice tackle for loss on running back Rachaad White on a run blitz. Chris Izien received second-team reps, with Josh Hayes seeing action on the third team.

• David Wells was on the practice squad last year and is currently the second tight end on the depth chart behind Otton. Wells made two really good plays on the ball, hauling in a big gain from Mayfield off play-action and then later getting more yards after the catch on another reception.

Wells left practice before it ended after catching a third pass from Mayfield, but getting accidentally drilled in the ribs by linebacker K.J. Britt.