Bucs OC Josh Grizzard – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
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Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds answers your questions from the @PewterReport X account this week in the Bucs Mailbag. Submit your question to SR each week via X using the hashtag #PRMailbag. Here are the Bucs questions we chose to answer for this week’s edition.
QUESTION: Scott, really curious on your thoughts on how Josh Grizzard did during OTAs and mini-camp, how the players were taking to him running the offense, and also if anything caught your eye that he’s doing different than Liam Coen?
ANSWER: From my personal observation, I thought Josh Grizzard performed well in his first time as a play-caller in the second week of OTAs and in the mandatory mini-camp. Those were the two weeks where the Bucs had open call-it periods without any scripted plays. Pass game coordinator George Edwards called plays for the defense, while head coach Todd Bowles looked on as a neutral observer, watching closely as Grizzard called plays.
“I think it helps him a great deal,” Bowles said of Grizzard using the call-it periods to brush up on his play-calling. “It’s a work in progress, obviously. Again, without pads, you can’t really see it. But understanding situations for him and seeing it rapid fire and not having it on a sheet can only help him.”
Bucs OC Josh Grizzard and QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
I didn’t hear anything negative about Grizzard’s play-calling from any of my other Bucs sources. The offensive players, particularly Mike Evans and Bucky Irving, gave him a thumb’s up and I don’t think being an offensive coordinator is too big for him. He’s super smart and seems ready for this new role, and I’m excited to see him call plays in the preseason.
As for anything that’s new under Grizzard, the Bucs’ passing attack looks like it has a little more vertical element to it. I asked quarterback Baker Mayfield if that was the case and he confirmed it.
“We’re trying to get some more explosive [plays] in,” Mayfield said. “Obviously, when you look at the stats – I’m not a big stats guy, but we weren’t as much down the field explosive. We were creating a lot of open, in the middle, and guys getting some YAC (yards after catch).
“But, yeah, working on that, being able to connect on the chemistry we’re trying to build right now and just the timing of some of these routes – where the landmarks are and understanding that if it’s two-high [safety coverage], one-high [safety coverage], where we’re trying to throw the ball. This is the time of year we’re working on it. Obviously, you would love to have more down the field shots, but any completion is a good one.”
QUESTION: Has Tez Johnson really looked that good? Or is he just going to turn into Kenny Bell 3.0?
ANSWER: I like what you did there by saying Kenny Bell 3.0, a former Day 3 pick. Because Kenny Bell 2.0 was another Day 3 wide receiver bust in Jaelon Darden, right? Good memory.
If you’re not familiar with Bell, the former Tampa Bay wide receiver, he was the Bucs’ fifth-round pick in 2015 and spent his rookie season on injured reserve and he was waived the next year. Bell looked great in OTAs and the mini-camp in shorts, a t-shirt and a helmet. He looked like a real player, but then faded a bit in training camp when the pads came on and then wilted under the lights in the preseason.
Bucs WR Tez Johnson – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
Darden, a fourth-round pick in 2021, was the same way. Looked like a dude in OTAs and mini-camp, but then when the pads came on his smallish size showed up and he shied away from contact and struggled to get open. Neither Bell nor Darden were good enough in pads to stick around. But I don’t think that will be the case with Tez Johnson.
Bell had 181 catches for 2,689 yards and 21 touchdowns at Nebraska by comparison. And while Darden put up crazy numbers in college with 230 catches for 2,782 yards and 38 touchdowns, he played at North Texas. The jump to the NFL was too big for Darden given the fact he played at a small school.
Johnson excelled at Oregon and was on a national championship-contending team playing in the PAC-12 and the Big Ten conferences. He caught 310 passes for 3,889 yards and 28 touchdowns in his five seasons between Troy (2020-22) and Oregon (2023-24), averaging 1,000 yards per season and 10 touchdowns per year in each of his last two seasons with the Ducks. Although he’s wire thin at 5-foot-10, 165 pounds, Johnson has a degree of toughness about him and his confidence is filled to the brim. We’ll find out for sure when the pads come on, but I think he’s the real deal.
QUESTION: Saw that Benjamin Morrison didn’t practice on the second and third day of mini-camp (I think he was out there on the first day). Was that precautionary on the Bucs part because of his injury recovery? I think he can be a stud – just hope he can stay healthy!
ANSWER: Bucs head coach Todd Bowles alluded to the fact that it was just a minor injury for rookie cornerback Benjamin Morrison. My guess is a pulled hamstring. Rookie pass rusher David Walker, the Bucs’ fourth-round pick, missed the last week of OTAs and the mini-camp with a hamstring injury. It’s not uncommon for new players who aren’t from the state of Florida to suffer some hamstring issues due to dehydration in the hot and humid climate.
Bucs CB Benjamin Morrison – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
From what I understand, Morrison has been medically cleared to return to action from his hip surgery recovery. He even took part in the rookie mini-camp, but was held out of the team portion of drills. Yet two weeks later he was a full participant for the first week of OTAs, which was a bit of a surprise to me. Morrison was running around and leaping and doing everything you would expect from a healthy football player.
I too think Morrison can be a stud. Tampa Bay got a steal in the second round with the talented ballhawk from Notre Dame. He’ll supplant Jamel Dean as the starting cornerback sooner rather than later. He’s going to be exciting to watch in the preseason where he should get plenty of reps.
QUESTION: Any reason behind the team not adding James Wilder to the Bucs Ring of Honor?
ANSWER: Yes, and after Pewter Report spent a few years publicly campaigning for former running back James Wilder’s entry into the Bucs Ring of Honor, we were told off the record that it was essentially a waste of time and just wasn’t going to happen. I know the reason, but it’s private and I would rather not say it publicly in the interest of preserving Wilder’s reputation.
Wilder, who played for the Bucs from 1981-89, rushed for 5,957 yards and 37 touchdowns on 1,575 carries, and caught 430 passes for 3,492 yards and nine touchdowns. That’s 869 more rushing yards than Mike Alstott (5,088) ran for his is 11-year Bucs career. Wilder’s career rushing touchdown record of 37 stood for 12 years until Alstott broke it in 2001. Yet Wilder is still the Bucs’ all-time leading rusher – well over three decades later.
Former Bucs RB James Wilder – Photo courtesy of the Buccaneers
Wilder had a franchise-record 14 100-yard rushing games and three 100-yard games as a receiving threat out of the backfield. The Bucs have had six running backs rush for 1,000 yards – Reggie Cobb, Errict Rhett, Warrick Dunn, Carnell “Cadillac” Williams, Doug Martin and Bucky Irving – in team history, but Wilder was the first to have two 1,000-yard seasons and the first to do so in back-to-back years in 1984 and ’85.
Wilder also has plenty of other Tampa Bay records that still stand until this day, including:
Most career rushing attempts by a running back: 1,575 – 1981-89
Most rushing yards by a running back in a single season: 1,544 – 1984
Most carries by a running back in a single season: 407 – 1984
Most rushing touchdowns in a season: 13 – 1984
Most receptions by a running back in a single season: 85 – 1984
Most receiving yards by a running back in a single season: 675 – 1984
Most total offensive yards by a Buccaneer in a single season: 2,229 – 1984
Most career total offensive yards by a Buccaneer: 9,449 yards – 1981-89
Wilder also set a record for most receptions in a game by a Buccaneer with 13 against Minnesota on September 15, 1985. That record was later tied by Earnest Graham in 2007 and then surpassed by Chris Godwin, who had 15 catches at Atlanta on Dec. 5, 2021.
There’s no doubt that Wilder has had a Bucs Ring of Honor-worthy career, but I just don’t think it will happen – unfortunately.
