It's a new week of preseason work for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and there are some new reasons for optimism as the regular season draws increasingly close.
After securing a 24-16 win over the New York Jets in their 2026 preseason opener on Friday night, Buccaneer players were given Saturday and Sunday off. When the team returned to work with an 110-minute practice session on Monday morning, there were a couple fewer players sidelined by injury.
Perhaps most notably, All-Pro left tackle Tristan Wirfs was in pads and taking part in individual-position drills, marking his first work since the start of training camp. Wirfs had sustained a hamstring injury in the conditioning run on the day veterans reported to camp, relegating him to the sideline for the past three weeks.
"It's time to ramp him up a little bit and see how much he can go through this week," said Head Coach Todd Bowles. "[We'll] kind of see from there."
After injuries decimated their offensive line in 2025, the Buccaneers are hoping to start the season with the same starting five that produced extremely good results in 2024. That would be possible, barring any further developments, if Wirfs progresses well enough to play in the regular season opener on September 13. That starting unit from 2024 – which consists of Wirfs, left guard Ben Bredeson, center Graham Barton, right guard Cody Mauch and right tackle Luke Goedeke – did not take a single snap together last year.
Quarterback Jake Browning also returned to practice on Monday after missing time with a back ailment. Browning had originally been slated to start last Friday's game but he sustained the injury early in Tuesday's joint practice with the Jets and did not see any action for the rest of the week. Browning, who signed with the Buccaneers ostensibly to serve as the primary backup to Baker Mayfield, could potentially make his Tampa Bay debut on Saturday against the Kansas City Chiefs.
"He's doing better," said Bowles. "We'll see how his week goes."
Cornerback Benjamin Morrison, who has been fighting leg injuries since the offseason program, continues to slowly ramp up his work. He got in some individual-position drills in last week's joint practices, and on Monday he took snaps in 11-on-11 drills for the first time this summer. Bowles said it wouldn't be determined until later in the week if Morrison will play in Saturday's game.
"He's progressing," said the coach. "He did some things today, so we'll look to see how he develops during the week. We'll see how he progresses and we'll make that determination on Friday."
Wide receivers Emeka Egbuka (toe) and Jalen McMillan (knee) remained out on Monday and Bowles described both players as day-to-day. Bowles also added "week-to-week" to Ebugka's status and said he was "not sure at this time" if the second-year receiver's start to the regular season would be impacted.
