Bucs open preseason with 24-16 win at Jets, Ayden Garnes scores on 47-yard interception return

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers began their 2026 preseason with a 24-16 win over the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium, a first-week step that gave the coaching staff early looks at depth and game-readiness in a real-game setting rather than practice tempo. For a visiting unit trying to identify its next contributors, the clearest standout came from the secondary, where a rookie made an immediate impact.

The play that swung the mood of the night came from rookie cornerback Ayden Garnes. In what was his first NFL action, Garnes intercepted a pass and returned it 47 yards for Tampa Bay’s first touchdown of the preseason. The Buccaneers also framed the return as their longest interception return since TruMedia preseason data became available in 2017, underlining how quickly the moment reached “highlight” status.

A long interception return in the preseason can do more than add points. It compresses a rookie’s learning curve by showing how he handles live reads, transition speed, and finishing decisions against an opposing offense that is also installing concepts for the opening week. It also gives the defense momentum in the specific phase coaches care about most early in camp, turning takeaways into points before late-game rotations dilute the continuity.

Preseason Week 1 also matters because it shapes who gets the next opportunities. A touchdown off a turnover tends to keep a player in a productive rhythm with the staff and in the defensive rotation, particularly when the return suggests both play recognition and enough field presence to score. Garnes’ performance, described by the team as his first NFL action, provides a clear baseline for how Tampa Bay plans to evaluate its cornerback depth as the slate moves forward.

The Buccaneers’ win itself sets a practical tone for what comes next. At 24-16, Tampa Bay showed it could control enough of the game to finish ahead after early-in-the-season experimentation. Preseason results are not standings, but they do reveal which units are executing the fundamentals that translate most reliably to the regular season, especially on defense.

Tampa Bay’s official “five notes” framing indicates there were additional themes from the game beyond Garnes’ touchdown, including other developmental and execution-focused takeaways for players and coaches. Without those details reproduced here, the most verifiable storyline from the team’s report remains the interception return that opened the scoring and delivered a rare length of return for the franchise in the available TruMedia preseason timeframe.

As the preseason progresses, keep an eye on whether Garnes is used consistently in Tampa Bay’s defensive packages and whether he builds on that first game as quarterbacks and offenses adjust. The early challenge for a rookie who makes a big play is follow-up consistency: can he keep doing the smaller things that earn repeat snaps after the first standout moment?

Notes from the matchup also underscore a key preseason reality, different players and different numbers of starters can change the feel of each drive. Even so, when a rookie produces a takeoff-to-touchdown moment immediately, it becomes a reference point for how the Buccaneers want their secondary to play.