In just five months, new Head Coach Bruce Arians and his coaching staff have wasted no time setting a new tone at One Buc Place. Some of the more polarizing players, like DeSean Jackson or Brent Grimes, are gone. Even players that seemingly didn’t fit well into the new culture, like Gerald McCoy, are also gone.
It may just be OTAs, but Arians’ staff has already cemented in the minds of players that there is no room for nonsense for the 2019 Buccaneers. So much so that the once common place rap and hip hop heard at practice is nowhere to be found so far this off-season.
Arians so far has brought accountability to a team that has evidently been lacking in that department. No matter if they are an All-Pro, rookie, or just a long time veteran, if they aren’t playing to a certain standard this coaching staff will not hesitate to pull such a player off the field. No one is untouchable.
The first example of this was when Vernon Hargreaves III was pull from practice and seen watching from the sidelines for the day early in OTAs. Reason being? He wasn’t prepared to play football according to Arians. Since that point, Hargreaves has been back on the practice field getting in reps. Make no mistake though, this was a reality check for him. And a lesson for the rest of the team. The lesson? You will be held accountable for everything that you do.
It’s early in the 2019 NFL season, but the Arians era Bucs are swiftly changing the culture throughout the building. Will it translate wins come the Fall? Nothing can be said for sure, but one thing is for certain… Things are changing in Tampa Bay.
