The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had an unexpectedly light week of practice.

The Bucs had a scheduled day off on Tuesday. However, their scheduled practice on Wednesday had to be forfeited, because the NFL informed the team it had "too many guys on the ground" during an earlier practice, according to head coach Todd Bowles.

"It was about three or four plays that recorded us," Bowles said. "We're trying to practice safety as well. We've got a lot of new guys trying to learn how to practice, but we cleaned that up and kind of took care of it."

NFL teams are not allowed to have contact during OTA practices, per the league's collective bargaining agreement. Other teams have been punished recently for violating the same rule.

The Detroit Lions lost a practice in 2024 for having too much contact. In 2022, then-Washington Commanders coach Ron Rivera was fined $100,000 and the team had to forfeit two OTA practices as well. The same year, then-Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy was fined and the team lost an OTA practice the following year for violating the no-contact policy. The Chicago Bears also lost an OTA in 2023 for the same reason.

Bowles was not fined for the Bucs' violation. The NFL decides whether to levy fines on head coaches on a case-by-case basis.

The Bucs returned for their scheduled practice on Thursday, and everything appeared to be back to normal. The contact was kept in check throughout the entire practice.

"We cleaned it up after that. We understand. We're not trying to get nobody hurt," Bowles said.

Running back Kenneth Gainwell commented on the matter as well. The Bucs' new free agent talked about the players having to walk a fine line between playing with intensity and avoiding contact.

"I mean I think we've got to stay above the ground, but it's a mentality," Gainwell said. "We want to have that mentality going into the season. We understand we've got to stay off the ground, but we've got to have that fire."

With all the new additions the Bucs have made this offseason, losing any practice time certainly is a bit of a road bump. The team is trying to build continuity and get familiar with one another before training camp and the preseason begin.

Right now, the roster is full of players trying to make an impression as they hope to compete for a spot on the 53-man roster going into the season. A lost practice is a lost opportunity for a player to show what he can do.

At least the Bucs have gotten this out of the way early. By the looks of things Thursday, the team is back on the field and is moving forward. There is plenty of time before the season starts for the team to gel.

Hitting will be allowed soon enough.

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