TAMPA, Fla. — The Buccaneers officially kick off training camp Wednesday.

Veteran players reported on Tuesday, joining the rookies who arrived over the weekend.

The first practices take place on Wednesday.

Remember when Tampa Bay used to open training camp with pestering questions about how they were going to turn around a losing franchise?

These Bucs don’t. These Bucs open training camp as championship favorites for the third-straight year.

They’ve been putting in the work in the offseason. It’s been six weeks since they wrapped up minicamp. Now it gets real.

“We’re going to start where we left off at and we’re going to get better,” said head coach Todd Bowles, who took over the reigns this off-season after Bruce Arians stepped down.

If the Bucs need any extra motivation, they need to look no further than their NFC divisional round loss to the Los Angeles Rams, the team that ended the Bucs bid at a repeat.

“(It’s) huge motivation,” said Bucs linebacker Lavonte David. “I feel like we kind of got us back in that game and for us to end the game like that, that’s not what we want to be remembered as.”

That unfinished business is a big reason Tom Brady came out of retirement.

Seven Super Bowls isn’t enough for the GOAT. When the team finished their offseason training, Brady looked like a man on a mission.

“I’m happy I’m back, happy I’m back with my teammates,” Brady said. “And it’s going to be a great year, going to work really hard. You know we have high expectations for what we’re trying to accomplish.”

Still, a lot of questions will need to be answered during training camp.

Will Leonard Fournette be in shape? Who will step up to replace Gronk? How will the offensive line shake out with a new set of starters? And how will the change to Bowles impact the team? 

And, according to reports, the team added another veteran pass catcher Tuesday with the signing of seven-time Pro Bowl receiver Julio Jones. 

Bowles set a tone during the offseason workouts. And he left his team with a big message.

“Coming back to training camp, we’re going to hit the ground rolling,” he said. “We don’t have time to back pedal and go backwards. So, when we come back, we’re starting this thing full go. They better be ready to go.”