Todd Bowles is already hitting Buccaneers rookies with stuff they’ve never seen in practice before and it’s a smart approach
The Buccaneers wrapped up rookie minicamp over the weekend and there was one interesting tidbit of information about Todd Bowles that shed light on a very smart and unique approach he took with the first-year players.
Rookie minicamp is obviously an introduction to a whole new world for first-year players and Todd Bowles introduced the new crop of Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookies to something they had never seen before in their first-ever NFL practice.
“It was definitely different today, you know, on the walkthrough,” rookie DB Keionte Scott told reporters. “You see him over there, and he’s the quarterback for the scout team on the walkthrough. That’s definitely different, but I think it just brings another perspective. You know, your head coach is a defensive guy [and] he wants to make sure the defensive side of the ball is unlocked for sure, especially with him being a coordinator.
“So I think it just puts a little bit more fire behind the defensive guys, you know, understanding that the head guy’s over here [and] he wants to make sure that the defense is doing their job.”
Todd Bowles’ approach is a smart one that gets him off to a fast start with the Buccaneers rookies
Coaches never know how players are adapting/developing without being in the fray. Sure, they can watch post-practice film and go from there, but Bowles’ approach allows him to get out in front of that. Meaning, he gets a head start on where everyone is mentally just by lining up as the Buccaneers quarterback in practice.
“I can see, defensively, who has a vein in their head [and] may need to see it again, or if they do the wrong thing, I can put it in the formation to where they learn from it and correct mistakes better that way,” Bowles explained. “I can see everybody’s eyes and I can see everybody’s face. And it’s more for me not to play quarterback, but for me to see the entire picture and know who needs it again and who may miss something. And when their coaches tell them something and they still have a vein in their head, they didn’t comprehend it.
“So I’ll probably need to run that play again so they can get that. It’s a good view for me to see whether they’re getting it or not.”
That kind of perspective really helps Bowles and the rest of the Buccaneers coaches “game plan” for each player on an individual level.
Think about it: If one guy is ahead of the other and vice-versa, well, now the coaches know who needs more on their plate and maybe who needs a little less. Rookie minicamp, and a rookie offseason in general, is like drinking through a firehose and an overload can really affect a player’s Year 1 impact in a negative way.
This is nothing new for Bowles, either. According to him, he’s been doing it for long time. For whatever reason, no player nor reporter has commented on it. Because it was treated as new territory during Friday’s press conference.
Either way, this is what NFL coaching looks like: Creative, effective, and logical maneuvers that help put players in the best position possible to develop and win games.
Now, it’s all about seeing how it can help these guys up their level of play over the coming months and into the regular season.