TAMPA, Fla. — Between the signing of Tom Brady and trade for Rob Gronkowski — plus the departure of 2015 No. 1 overall draft pick Jameis Winston — the 2020 offseason was unlike any other for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The team went from relative obscurity to being touted Super Bowl contenders overnight, despite having not reached the postseason since 2007. Did they make enough moves to make this a real possibility?
Here’s a position-by-position look at whether the Bucs are better, worse or the same as the 2019 team on offense, and key areas to watch for.
Quarterbacks
Additions: Tom Brady (Patriots),
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Jones can start again on first and second down. He isn’t a natural pass-catcher, but he does have home-run speed and ran with more confidence as the season progressed last year. Vaughn has better hands than Jones, but on tape he lacks Jones’ burst and looks like another Barber — he’s solid and he can do all the things you ask him to, but he’s not spectacular. How much of an impact he’ll be able to make depends on how quickly he can digest the playbook and where he is in terms of blitz pickup, with which Jones still struggles.
The competition for the third-down back probably will come between Ogunbowale and Logan, who served as the Bucs’ primary kick returner last year before going to injured reserve because of a fractured thumb. At 5-foot-8 and 188 pounds, Calais is smaller than the other backs, but his 4.42 40-yard dash was the third fastest at the combine this year. Ideally, the Bucs should have made another move here, by giving Brady a more proven back with pass-catching skills like Devonta Freeman, but Freeman’s asking price is reportedly more than the $5 million the Bucs have remaining in salary-cap space.
Wide receivers
Tight ends
Additions: Rob Gronkowski (trade, Patriots)
Losses: None
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — In an offseason in which Denver Broncos fans have had extra time to mine the wired world for even the smallest of nuggets about the team’s offseason overhaul, rookie wide receiver Jerry Jeudy has become a ray of electronic sun.
His workout videos, usually posted on his social media accounts, have fueled plenty of drive-time discussion in his new football home, making the Broncos’ first-round pick this past April the team’s retweet king over the past two months.
When Jeudy posted a 43-second clip of some footwork drills last month, former six-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Chad Johnson simply posted, “Moses parted the Red Sea for feet like this.”
Another 29-second clip Jeudy posted earlier this month showcased his route-running work and made Jeudy the face, and the feet, that launched a thousand emojis.
“I love the way he plays,” is how Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton put it earlier this offseason. “… He’s going to add a lot more pressure to defenses with his speed, his route-running ability. I think it’s going to open up a lot for a lot of the guys on the field.”
The Broncos say Jeudy was the top receiver on their draft board this past April when, in their efforts to rev up one of the league’s lowest-scoring offenses last season, they were more than happy to scoop him up with the 15th pick overall. He was the second receiver selected — his former teammate at Alabama Henry Ruggs III was the first wide receiver selected at No. 12 by the Las Vegas Raiders — and Jeudy is expected to be a walk-in starter for the Broncos whenever the team returns to the field.
His appearances at workouts organized by quarterback Drew Lock in recent weeks had teammates buzzing about his potential in an offense that needed upgrading. The Broncos finished 28th or worse last season in most of the major categories on offense, including scoring, total offense, third-down conversions and red zone scoring. They scored 16 or fewer points nine times last season and went 2-7 in those games.
The NFL has banned jersey exchanges in 2020 as the league attempts to play through the coronavirus pandemic, according to a set of protocols distributed to teams Wednesday and obtained Thursday by ESPN.
Jersey exchanges have gained in popularity in recent years, and their elimination was met with immediate derision from some prominent players on social media. San Francisco 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman tweeted that it was a “perfect example of NFL thinking in a nutshell,” noting that players will “engage in a full contact game” only to find that it isn’t safe to exchange jerseys. Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson tweeted that it was “DAMN SILLY.”
The NFL Players Association, however, signed off on the policy, which states: “A key component of the NFL and NFLPA’s COVID-19 Protocols is limiting exposure risk to NFL players, coaches, club medical staffs, and other club and league staff.”
All postgame interactions with less than 6 feet of separation are prohibited.
Other highlights of the policy include:
• Coaches and players who aren’t likely to appear in the game are “strongly encouraged” but not required to wear masks on the sideline. Assistant coaches who work in the coaches’ booth must wear a mask as they walk to and from the locker room or field. Other people who have field access, such as broadcast partners and NFL representatives, must wear masks. A maximum of 184 people can be granted field access for a game, not counting players, coaches and other staffers who receive bench access.
• Players and coaches must submit to multiple temperature checks before games and cannot participate if they have a fever of more than 100.4 degrees.
• Every effort must be made to space lockers 6 feet apart in both the home and visitors locker room. Plexiglass partitions are also an option.
• Arrangements must be made to ensure that there are no shared water cups or bottles on the sideline.
• Players are required to spend the night before games at the team hotel, even if they are playing in their home stadium.
These policies will take effect for preseason and regular-season games. The NFL is planning to have two preseason games for each team, but the NFLPA has endorsed a training camp with no preseason games. Rookies and selected veterans can report to training camp as early as July 21, with full teams eligible to report on July 28.
