Wilcox, who was our practice MVP yesterday, and drafted rookie Justin Evans in the second round. Safety was thought of as a position where the Bucs needed the most help this offseason. Yesterday Conte had a fantastic pass break up deep down the field on Mike Evans, and today Conte followed that up by getting himself a nice diving interception. Conte has been the starting strong safety with Keith Tandy as the free safety next to him. In year two of defensive coordinator Mike Smith’s scheme, we’re seeing the defense get off to some hot starts in practice. Conte has had his fair share of bad plays, but not all of the groan-worthy mishaps can be pinned on him, even if he’s the closets guy in coverage. If that doesn’t work, it has a tendency to make the wrong guy look bad. I’m not saying Conte has been close to Pro Bowl caliber, but a lot of what happens in the secondary is about other players doing their own job paired with good communication – especially for safeties. Safety Chris Conte – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR But fans don’t remember those plays nearly as much as they do him getting torched down the middle by Cardinals wide receiver, John Brown, or looking helpless against Amari Cooper of the Raiders. For instance, Conte had an incredible pick-6 against the Bears last year, and after coming back from injury, had what should have been a diving interception in Week 17 against Carolina. Unless you’re someone like Earl Thomas, Harrison Smith or Eric Berry, the bad plays can often outweigh the good in the minds of most fans, even if there’s more positives. Conte Came To PlayĬhris Conte has never been a general fan favorite – it’s hard for most safeties to be. Some are more guaranteed of that honor than others, and for those who find themselves on or near the cusp, days like today mean everything. There are 90 players on this roster, and each one of them wants to call himself a Tampa Bay Buccaneer by the time September rolls around. It just mean that some of the non-household names were the ones stealing the show. When you don’t see names like Mike Evans, Jameis Winston, Gerald McCoy or Lavonte David in the headlines of a practice day, that doesn’t mean the practice was a boring one. But, this morning the players donned their shoulder pads for the first time – also known as “shells.” To this point, each of the previous practices featured players in just shorts and shirts. Sunday’s training camp practice for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was the first of the year with some sort of pads on.
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