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Make Enough Plays, Make The Team September 5th, 2026This past summer wasn’t so bad. In past summers, it was terrible. It got to the point Joe thought about shelving his daily training camp practice notes — too many commenters whining and kvetching about players Joe didn’t mention. Joe would always answer these attacks with, “If [insert player’s name] did something, Joe would mention him. If he doesn’t do anything, Joe cannot dream up a play just so someone can read the guy’s name.” In other words, make a play. And if a guy goes for long stretches without making a play, that’s usually a tip that he’s having an underwhelming training camp. Well, one guy on defense who showed up day after day this summer was undrafted free agent corner Ayden Garnes. Joe’s not suggesting the guy is Rondé Barber II, but every practice he’d have a breakup or a nice tackle or maybe a pick. And if a guy makes enough plays, he gets the attention of the right people. For Garnes, one of those people was Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht. And like Joe, Licht said this week he began noticing Garnes each practice. “Every day he was making a play on the ball – an interception – or multiple plays on the ball,” Licht said. And now look at the guy. He’s on an NFL team’s 53-man roster. “He’s got excellent instincts,” Licht said. “He’s tough. What I liked about him, and I was talking with some of our players about this … he just had a very confident air to him, and he knows he’s good, and he kind of carried that with him. “At [cornerback], you have to have a lot of confidence, so he’s got that going for him too. He’s also a rookie, so he’s still got ways to go here, but we were very excited about him as well.” Who knows what the ceiling is for Garnes? The way the Bucs corners are so banged up and thin, Joe wouldn’t put it past the guy if he made a couple of plays in Cincinnati and ended up starting a game or two — or more — this season. Make plays and get attention; anything can happen, drafted or not.