Tight end Kellen Winslow, Jr., said he had some 'family issues,' that prevented him from attending the first two weeks of Organized Team Activities.

But Winslow, who arrived at One Buc Place Tuesday and participated in all the meetings and team work, said he plans to make all the remaining voluntary workouts.

"I'm excited to be out there with the guys, practicing, and getting my wind under me,'' Winslow said. "I just had some family issues I needed to deal with, some personal issues, so the team understood. I talked to coach (Raheem) Morris and the GM (Mark Dominik), so I was excused and I thanked them for that and just had some stuff to deal with.''

Winslow said he took as many notes as he could about the Bucs' new offense under Jeff Jagodzinski at the minicamp last April but still has some catching up. "We've made some adjustments, so I'm trying to catch myself up,'' Winslow said. "But it won't take long.''

Shortly after being traded from Cleveland to the Bucs, Winslow agreed to a $42-million contract that included $20-million in guarantees. So his absence from the first week of OTAs raised eyebrows and drew criticism from former Bucs and Raiders defensive tackle Warren Sapp, who observed the first workout.

On May 12, Sapp told reporters, "When your team fires up OTAs and you're not here, I guess you're being misunderstood again, right?'' Your past doesn't equal your future, but it will damn sure give me some reflection of what you might do. I'll leave it at that.''

Winslow said he spoke to Sapp to make sure he understood his absence from OTAs was excused.

"It's not that (OTAs) aren't important. They're very important,'' Winslow said. "They are voluntary, but they're really not voluntary. You do need to be here and I wish I could've been here. I just couldn't.

"That's one of the main reasons I wanted to be here, to get the playbook down and just be here with the guys. What Warren said, Warren and I worked that out. I called him right after that but I guess he didn't know I had an excuse. They're very important and I wanted to be here, I just couldn't.''

Winslow said the new contract "was good financially, just to be set. I don't really worry about that, I let my agent handle that. I just want to be on the field, that's the biggest thing.''

In fact, Winslow said he and his wife still haven't completed to the move from San Diego to Tampa.

"Not yet, I've just been moving boxes,'' Winslow said. "The wife and I are doing that now, but we're just starting.''