Home NFL What To Watch For In The Buccaneers Joint Practices With The Jets

What To Watch For In The Buccaneers Joint Practices With The Jets

August 10, 2026

Training camp is well under way as we head into game week for the first preseason game. For the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that means traveling north to play the New York Jets. We will finally get to watch real (ish) football once again.

However, before that the Bucs have a pair of joint practices with the Jets. These could actually be more beneficial than the actual game considering who may or may not be playing on Friday. It’s a chance to see good on good in organized drills and potentially even scrimmages.

A Chance To Gauge

We know the Jets aren’t a great team, just coming off a 3-14 season. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t have good players. This is a good chance to really gauge some of what the Bucs have.

Here’s what to watch for in the Buccaneers joint practices with the Jets.

Buccaneers interior offensive line vs Jets defensive line

There has been a lot of talk early in camp about how good the Bucs defensive line has looked. And while that’s welcome news, it’s not exactly great for the guys who have been trying to block them. And after watching the depth of the offensive line struggle last year we are all hoping for an upgrade this season.

It’s worth saying that it’s not just the depth I’ll be watching, but also the starters. We are all hoping that Graham Barton takes a step forward this season at center and that right guard Cody Mauch returns from last year’s season ending injury at full strength. It would be encouraging to see them perform well in these practices.

Those Sneaky Jets

The Jets have respectable defensive tackles who no one should overlook. David Onyemata is a veteran run stuffer who came over from Atlanta in the offseason. Harrison Phillips is also a powerful, experienced run stuffer. And I don’t have to tell Florida State fans how powerful rookie Darrell Jackson is in the middle. Even down the depth chart, Mazi Smith was a first round nose tackle just a few years ago.

Pushing this group around won’t be easy. It will make for a good early test for an offensive line that has to refind their footing.

Buccaneers linebackers vs Jets tight ends

The Jets have a surprising amount of depth and talent at tight end. They drafted tight end Mason Taylor in the second round of the 2025 NFL only for them to double down and take tight end Kenyon Sadiq with the 16th overall pick in 2026. There might not be many better tight end duos in the NFL over the next few years.

I even like Jelani Woods who was drafted as an extremely athletic tight end project a few years ago. Truly, this is one of the better tight end rooms in the league top to bottom.

This will be a great test in coverage for the Bucs linebackers. This has been a huge area of weakness for the Buccaneers over the last few seasons. After adding two new starters and another depth linebacker, they are hoping they have solved that problem.

Josiah Trotter has been one of the big storylines in camp thus far. His attitude and physicality have been highly praised, but he was said to need to improve his pass coverage coming out of Missouri. This will be a good chance to prove himself against other young players.

I’ll also be looking for any other depth linebacker to step up in coverage. With Alex Anzalone being the only proven coverage linebacker on the team, it would be nice for someone to emerge as potential depth behind him.

Rueben Bain and David Walker vs Armand Membou and Olu Fashanu

The Jets have invested two of their last three first round picks into offensive tackles. The young duo of Fashanu and Membou is very promising; I was especially impressed with Membou last year. This is a young tackle duo that is looking to establish themselves as one of the best in the game.

What a perfect opportunity for the Bucs young edge rushers to prove that they belong. Rueben Bain and David Walker have been camp standouts. However, there has been no Tristan Wirfs in camp to challenge them (even though Bain has shown well against Luke Goedeke).

This is a heavyweight fight of young talent. Both pairs will want to show that they are on the rise.

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