When the Buccaneers unveiled their first depth chart of the season, Cameron Brate was ahead of Austin Seferian-Jenkins at tight end.
That development came after Seferian-Jenkins was kicked out of an OTA practice by coach Dirk Koetter for not knowing what he was doing and was a bad development for a player who missed 16 games in his first two seasons after being drafted in the second round. Coach Dirk Koetter explained the move by saying that the best players were going to play and Seferian-Jenkins would have to “play better” if he hoped to move up the depth chart.
It seems Seferian-Jenkins has done that. Koetter said Sunday, via Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times, that Seferian-Jenkins is now splitting reps with Brate when the first-team offense is on the field.
Seferian-Jenkins, who called getting kicked out of practice “a wake-up call,” had five catches for 46 yards in two preseason outings and has earned good reviews for his blocking. More of the same over the rest of the preseason will likely lead to more than a half-share of the work come the regular season.