TAMPA, Fla. — Following the celebration of Creamsicle Day for Monday's training camp session, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are ready to take their practice to New Jersey for the rest of the week.
The team will have joint practices with Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets before the two teams play against each other on Saturday's preseason game.
Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said this is a good opportunity to see where his team stands regarding competing against a side that is expected to win the Super Bowl this season.
“It’ll be very good to get some situation football done against someone other than ourselves," Bowles said after Monday's training camp session. "We need a lot of work, we need to see different things. Everybody gets kind of stuck in a rut – so to speak – camp-wise and kind of knowing who does what and what does it when.
"It’ll be good to go up against somebody else. It’ll be good work for us.”
Another reason why it'll be good to train with the Jets is because of the possibility of appearing on "Hard Knocks," which will certainly get fans excited.
The sports documentary follows the journey of different teams across the NFL in their training camp sessions, and this year, the Jets were selected as the franchise to be filmed.
There will be a total of five episodes in this season of the show, and only one has been released so far.
This now begs the question, will the Bucs be on "Hard Knocks?" The answer – yes.
Tampa Bay will have its only joint practice with New York on Wednesday, Aug 15, and this is something Bowles said has been planned since the spring. Both teams were supposed to also practice on Thursday, Aug. 16, but that has since been canceled.
The "Hard Knocks" camera crew most likely would have known of the Bucs' visit to the Jets' training grounds.
Cameras will likely be out during the joint practice as Rodgers and star wide receiver Garrett Wilson get their first taste of going up against starters on a different NFL team.
The next question is when the episode featuring the Bucs will be aired on HBO and its streaming service, Max. That has yet to be announced, but fans should expect it to either be the third or fourth episode of the season.
Regarding Saturday's preseason game, Bowles confirmed last week quarterback Kyle Trask will be the starter.
Trask and Baker Mayfield are continuing to battle it out for the starting quarterback position. The team's latest unofficial depth revealed that neither of the two has been named as the starter. Fans can expect a decision on that to be reached after the team's third preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens.
Tampa Bay's season opener is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 10, on the road against the Minnesota Vikings. That game can be seen on 10 Tampa Bay. To see the team's full schedule, click here.