COURTESY OF TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS MEDIA RELATIONS DEPARTMENT
(On the cohesion of the offense throughout training camp)
“Today was a tough day for us, but overall I think these last couple weeks have been pretty productive for us as an offense. Everyone is playing fast, we’re coming together on the same page [and] we’ve been making some pretty clutch plays during the big moments. I think we’ve been doing a really good job.”
(On his comfortability working in the back of the end zone)
“When you’re down in the redzone, the back of the end zone is usually the least covered part of the end zone, so it’s always kind of easy to sneak back there and get open. We kind of know that and a lot of routes consist of being back there. I was just in position to have opportunities to get back there and run those routes. The red zone is tight spaces – it’s kind of hard to get open, but the guys are doing a great job finding me. I’m doing a great job trying to get open and working with the quarterbacks on whatever route it is. The red zone is definitely somewhere we want to improve in this year and it’s something that I think my position in general can have a big impact on the team with.”
(On TE Cameron Brate)
“Yeah, he’s having a good camp. He’s making plays for us. He’s always been helpful for us when it comes down to being a second set of eyes and ears on certain things, with helping us with the playbook and whatnot. I always have appreciated him for that, but I’m definitely seeing him play really fast and making some plays. It’s really good to see that.”
(On TE Antony Auclair’s development as a pass catcher)
“He’s always had the great hands. He just never really had the chance to display it a lot sometimes in games just cause of how great of a job he does in the run game. He stays in and does that for us. He’s always had hands ever since we came in as rookies. His route-running – he has taken that to the next level too. I think this offseason everyone kind of just dedicated to just knowing the consistency of the routes we need to get open on and the details to where it’s just taken over for the whole room and everyone has bought into that type of mentality.”
(On the tight end group overall)
“Us as a whole unit, we’re very talented. We have a standard set in the room that we know week in and week out, we need to maintain that bar and hold each other accountable. I think we’ll have an opportunity to display a lot of those things this year during the season.”
