Sterling Moore moves to nickel and more from Buccaneers training camp

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers continued their practices today after Saturday's game against the Minnesota Vikings. Here are the main things we learned today.

Injuries strike

The Bucs had a lot of players sitting out with players. In addition to safety Chris Conte, who has practiced only once in training camp, tackle Kevin Pamphile, defensive ends Jacquies Smith and T.J. Fatinikun, linebacker Orie Lemon, and center Josh Allen were all out as well. All of that per Greg Auman. Lovie Smith said that Smith and Pamphile's injuries are not serious: a sore shoulder and triceps respectively.

On a more positive note, receiver Rannell Hall was practicing after missing Saturday's game, and Fatinikun expects he'll be back on the field tomorrow, according to Greg Auman.

Sterling Moore moves to nickel

When the Bucs signed Sterling Moore, we expected him to be a slot cornerback -- after all, that's where he made his mark in Dallas. But Moore practiced with the outside cornerbacks throughout the offseason, and played there in the first preseason game as well, leaving Leonard Johnson as the team's main slot cornerback. Not anymore: Moore is now with the nickel cornerbacks after a poor outing on the outside on Saturday, according to Greg Auman. Isaiah Frey is moving outside, while Johnson will have to compete with and probably lose to Moore in the slot.

Donovan Smith and Ali Marpet with the first team

The Bucs are quickly moving the rookies into their expected starting roles, as both Donovan Smith and Ali Marpet were practicing with the first-team offensive line, according to Rick Brown. Neither started on Saturday, but both got some playing time with the first team in their first preseason game. Reid Fragel and Patrick Omameh were rotating at right tackle, according to Roy Cummings, but the newly-signed Gosder Cherilus will obviously take that role going forward.

Kwon Alexander is your new middle linebacker

This was so surprising that we turned it into its own newspost, but rookie Kwon Alexander has taken over Bruce Carter's job as the starting middle linebacker. We'd heard rumblings that this was a possibility for weeks now, and Alexander looked very good on Saturday, but this is still much faster than I expected. We'll have to see if this continues to be the case for the rest of the preseason, though. It's notable that Lovie Smith says they're "trying out different combinations" according to Scott Smith.

Bucs are treating Keith Tandy right

Keith Tandy missed Saturday's game because of a tragic death in the family, and he'll have to be away from the team on Saturday to go to the funeral on Saturday as well according to Greg Auman -- the Bucs play on Monday, so that won't cause him to miss another game. More importantly, though, he didn't even have to ask the Bucs for permission:

After a good 1st game, rookie LB Kwon Alexander got to run w/the ones today. Lovie says Bucs are trying out different combinations.

— Scott Smith (@ScottSBucs) August 17, 2015

Now that's how you treat your players.