Josh Freeman and the skill position players have been working out and practicing together for a while now. The defensive linemen are going to get together later this month as well. And now, we also know that James Lee, Davin Joseph, Adam Hayward and Corey Lynch have been working out together for the past months as well. There has been some public attention for a number of teams working out together, like the Jets, the Giants and the Saints. The Bucs, however, appear to be working out in isolated groups. It seems as that would put the Bucs at a significant disadvantage, right?
Well, not really. The only player-run workouts to actually draw a significant number of players were the Saints' and Redskins', with 40 and 30 players respectively according to the NY Daily News. The Broncos and Jets had just 15 players show up at their camps, which would account for the skill position players and a few DBs. And for the Giants only a dozen players showed up. Freeman reportedly managed to round up all the skill position players for his drills, which would mean up to 17 players showed up there, aside from any of the quarterbacks. And there's little reason to assume that the teams that we haven't heard about have done any better.
There are a number of reasons why gathering all the players for workouts is not only difficult, but somewhat pointless as well. Every player has his own offseason routine, and many have private trainers they use to keep in shape. Which is why Gerald McCoy is working out in San Diego, while Donald Penn is in California and Davin Joseph in Florida. The lack of coaches also doesn't help: there's no one to correct technique or plays, as the players have to figure it out themselves. And, of course, these workouts won't be full-contact, which makes them largely useless for linemen on both sides of the ball. In fact, there probably isn't going to be any contact at all at these workouts, because players can't risk injury now. If players get injured the team won't be there to guide them through the process, and there's a chance they won't even get their jobs back if they injure themselves.
Overall, practicing and improving during the offseason is a lot harder for players with the lockout. And that isn't good for a young team like the Bucs.