As debates rage across the NFL about whether players should show up to voluntary workouts or work out on their own and risk losing their salaries if they get hurt away from the team facility, the Buccaneers have found an interesting compromise: Players are gathering for their own workouts, but at the team facility.
Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians loves it.
“Really pleased and excited to see the guys working together,” Arians said Friday, via the Tampa Bay Times. “Zoom meetings have been excellent. We’ll be ready for minicamp to start a new journey.”
Arians said he doesn’t think veteran players need to be on the field at Organized Team Activities and he would rather focus on rookies anyway, but he urged veterans to work out at the facility for their own protection. The NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement requires teams to pay players their salaries if they miss the season because of an offseason injury suffered at the team facility, but it allows teams to avoid paying players anything if they get injured on their own.
We don’t know how many Buccaneers players are working out together at the team facility, but quarterbacks Tom Brady and Blaine Gabbert have reportedly been throwing to Rob Gronkowski, Cameron Brate, Mike Evans and Antonio Brown. Arians has promised them coaches won’t interfere with their workouts and that they can come and go as they please.
