Keionte Scott Is The Bucs’ Good Chess Piece

When Jason Licht and the Bucs went again to “The U” for the second time in three days and pulled defensive again Keionte Scott off the board at choose No. 116 within the 2026 NFL Draft, that they had a imaginative and prescient and a plan. Miami edge rusher Reuben Bain Jr. fell to No. 15. After which Scott fell to Tampa Bay within the fourth spherical. Two Hurricanes who spent 2025 terrorizing school soccer offenses collectively at the moment are set to do it once more on Sundays – in the identical uniform, on the identical protection.

I went again via three of Scott’s video games on the All-22. The Nationwide Championship loss to Indiana, the Florida State win in Week 6, and the Week 8 loss to Louisville. What jumps off the display screen shouldn’t be the 4.33 velocity or the manufacturing. It’s how Scott isn’t the standard slot defender.

He’s extra of a linebacker trapped in a defensive again’s physique. And that’s okay, as a result of the fashionable day NFL has loads of properties for simply such a participant. And a type of properties is in Todd Bowles’ protection. Bowles already stated on the Wealthy Eisen Present that Scott can play “anywhere from nickel to corner to safety to linebacker.”

Bucs DB Keionte Scott – Photograph by IMAGN Photos – Jerome Miron

Now, a few of that’s hyperbole. However not fully.

In reality, he’ll primarily play nickelback. However he can bang within the field if the Bucs need to keep in nickel in opposition to 12 personnel. He can kick extensive when offenses take non-receivers and put them on the perimeter. And he has the velocity to rotate up high from time-to-time to get Antoine Winfield Jr. and Tykee Smith nearer to the road of scrimmage on some unique post-snap shifts. So Bowles isn’t technically unsuitable.

Let’s get into it.

Keionte Scott’s Superpower Lives Close to The Line of Scrimmage

If you wish to perceive why Keionte Scott matches the Bucs so cleanly, you must begin on the line of scrimmage. He’s a quasi-linebacker with the restoration velocity of a real nook. That distinction issues as a result of Bowles’ protection leans laborious on overhang versatility, and Scott provides the employees a chess piece who may be deployed in opposition to tight ends, within the field, on the sting, or hanging within the slot – typically on consecutive performs.

Within the run sport, he units a tough edge in opposition to tight ends with out giving floor. He absorbs pullers with out flinching. And he has an actual knack for forcing offenses to commit two blockers to him on perimeter runs.

That final level is gold. When a nickel calls for two blockers, you’ve successfully modified the field math for the remainder of your entrance. Vita Vea, Calijah Kancey, and Yaya Diaby are going to really feel that. Josiah Trotter and Rueben Bain Jr. are going to really feel that as properly.

Watch as he drives via not one, however two tight ends. Bain will get the deal with for loss on a play that’s suspect in design. However Scott’s play is plain all the identical.

The set off here’s what each Todd Bowles defender has to have. He sees the run key and doesn’t hesitate. Simply to maintain the construction of the play alive and second blocker has to decide to him.

The NFL is getting greater on offense with 12 and 13 personnel gaining popularity with further tight ends on the sector. However it’s to not run the ball higher. No, that development has led to extra explosive passing assaults as a result of defenses must personnel match with extra linebackers who’re weaker in protection.

The Seahawks received the Tremendous Bowl final yr on the again of their dominant protection as a result of they may keep in nickel the place different defenses couldn’t. Their nickel defender, Nick Emmanwori, may act as a de facto linebacker to suit the run whereas giving an actual benefit in opposition to the go. Keionte Scott may present the Bucs and Todd Bowles that very same versatility.

A Weapon Ready To Be Unleashed Upon Quarterbacks

Right here is the stat that ought to perk up each Bucs fan studying this: all 5 of Keionte Scott’s sacks at Miami final season got here when he was aligned to the identical facet of the formation as Reuben Bain Jr.

5 for 5.

The Bucs didn’t simply draft a nickel, they drafted Bain’s tag-team accomplice.

Scott had 5 sacks and 20 pressures on simply 87 go dashing reps in 2025.

That may be a 23 p.c strain price – from a defensive again.

Bowles goes to have a good time designing strain packages round this, as a result of Scott doesn’t simply blitz quick, he blitzes with savvy.

Scott brings to the desk all the pieces you could possibly need from a defensive again as a go rusher. He shows elite processing that exhibits up in how he occasions the snap and reads the safety. Scott’s set off and burst thrust him via the road and makes him tough to account for. Scott makes strain designs work as a result of he has an innate really feel for bringing warmth. He can assault from a wider slot alignment, from depth or assault the B hole when Scott is aligned within the field if the offense motions the power of the formation away from him.

Scott can slide round blockers with out shedding acceleration, and that’s what separates the corner-blitz position gamers from the corner-blitz weapons. Most slot blitzers get rerouted by a chip or a pulling guard. Scott absorbs the contact, redirects, and nonetheless hits residence.

Bowles likes to deliver bottom strain off the slot when the quarterback’s eyes are working frontside. Scott’s burst permits him to get there earlier than the safety can rotate. That is going to be a staple name in opposition to any Bucs opponent who tries to decelerate the go rush with play motion.

The ending shouldn’t be a bonus, it’s a part of the worth. Scott doesn’t simply shut – he punishes. And he punches the ball out. In a Bowles system that emphasizes takeaways in any respect three ranges, that’s the trait that turns a great fourth-round choose right into a starter.

His 4.33 40-time made the headlines, however on tape what exhibits up is the practical closing velocity in house. There’s a actual distinction between a cornerback who runs quick in a 40 and a cornerback who diagnoses, breaks, and finishes in the identical beat. Scott is the latter.

That is the rep that screams Bowles match. Scott reads the display screen, breaks on the play and blows it as much as the purpose that the quarterback abandons the play altogether and tries to seize a few yards together with his toes.

Over 1,000 phrases and I haven’t gotten to a defensive again’s protection. Scott tends to guess in man and may get caught leaning on the stem. These can result in some low lights. However when he guesses proper, he’ll make performs on the ball.

In zone, he has a robust set off. Bowles performs a heavy dose of Cowl 3 and Cowl 6 with rotational match ideas on third down, and that’s the place Scott’s instincts ought to work properly.

The Areas To Watch For With Keionte Scott

I’m not going to promote anybody on Keionte Scott as a lockdown man nook, as a result of he’s not. The hips stiffen up on the high of the route, and when Scott will get arms on an influence slot on the line, he tends to lean into the contact, which makes for laborious transitions when the receiver works again throughout his face or via him. Energy slots, the Cooper Kupp archetypes, gave him issues at Miami. He can get bullied on the high of the stem.

He additionally tends to peek into the backfield in zone and drift extensive on hook drops, which may depart the middle-of-field dig open behind him. That may be a teaching level, not a deadly flaw.

Bucs DB Keionte Scott – Photograph by IMAGN Photos – Jerome Miron

The Bucs misplaced Jamel Dean in free company, Zyon McCollum had the worst yr of his profession, and Benjamin Morrison didn’t present the consistency the employees hoped for in his rookie season. With Jacob Parrish’s inside out versatility, Scott offers choices for the employees to search out the very best association within the defensive backfield.

If Scott does make the beginning lineup the Bucs can have not one, not two, however three defensive backs who do a few of their greatest work at and behind the road of scrimmage. That ought to allow Todd Bowles to throw out all kinds of pre- and post-snap rotations that can have defenders attacking from each doable angle whereas wreaking havoc.

Pair that with Rueben Bain Jr. coming off the sting on the identical facet that Scott was consuming quarterbacks alive on at Miami, and you’ve got the makings of a strain package deal that doesn’t have to be unique to be efficient – however nonetheless may be.