Bucs head coach Todd Bowles revealed a few of his plans for the secondary whereas talking at Bucs rookie mini-camp. Specifically, he was speaking concerning the nickel place which will transfer gamers at different positions into completely different spots.
When Tampa Bay drafted Miami defensive again Keionte Scott within the fourth spherical, it opened the door for a realm of potentialities. The Bucs had nice play from final 12 months’s rookie Jacob Parrish within the slot final season, however he can even performed exterior cornerback. With the struggles of Zyon McCollum and Benjamin Morrison, Bowles could choose to play Parrish extra on the skin.
Bucs Have Choices In The Secondary
Having Keionte Scott’s versatility provides some decisions for Bowles to make. And with how Todd Bowles was speaking about Scott, it appears like they’re going to place him in lots of packages, perhaps even transferring to dime packages on third downs. That takes a linebacker off the sector and provides in one other defensive again, however with Scott’s dimension, they basically have one other ‘backer on the field. Between Scott’s type of play and Parrish’s capability to cowl exterior, it permits Tampa Bay to film items throughout the board in numerous methods relying on the opponent.
Bucs DB Keionte Scott – Picture by: Sophie Pallman – The College of Miami
“He, probably – even with his size – he plays more like a linebacker, and Parrish plays a great nickel. And Parrish is a cover guy, and Parrish is tough and he can tackle,” Bowles mentioned. “He’s one of many few guys that runs a 4.3 [40-yard dash], speaking about Keionte, that performs a 4.3. You possibly can actually see it in his play and his explosion. He’s very instinctive, and Parrish was All-Rookie and he’s nonetheless going to play in there as effectively, however we’re going to get him some extra exterior reps.
“We’re going to start Keionte out as nickel and we’ll see if he evolves to where that becomes a safety or a corner from that standpoint and go from there. He’s really a guy that can play all over the place. He allows us to play with six defensive backs some, and keep him and [Jacob] Parrish inside, so he gives us a lot of options.”
Bucs NCB Jacob Parrish and CB Zyon McCollum – Picture by: Cliff Welch/PR
Bowles was requested a observe up questions on Scott probably taking part in exterior cornerback, to which he confirmed they’re going to strive him out at it.
“Yeah, we’re going to look at him,” Bowles mentioned. “We’ve got to move our guys around, because when you make cuts, you don’t have that many. We’ve got to be able to have some versatile pieces.”
Return Of JJ Roberts Offers Bucs Extra Flexibility
Tampa Bay will even be getting former undrafted free agent JJ Roberts again this season, who might also play within the slot. Roberts had an excellent coaching camp, however tore his ACL in a joint camp follow towards the Steelers and was completed for the season. There was lots of optimism over the contributions that Roberts can present for the staff. So he’s one other identify so as to add into the combo of a bunch of versatile defensive backs.
Bucs DB J.J. Roberts – Picture by: Cliff Welch/PR
Parrish, Roberts and Scott can all play the nickel. Roberts and Scott can even again up at security whereas Parrish can play exterior and Scott will get a shot at some reps at exterior cornerback, too. Plus with the Bucs already having set gamers with Antoine Winfield Jr. and Tykee Smith at security and Zyon McCollum and Benjamin Morrison at cornerback, if one in every of these three gamers is usually a hit, it makes the Bucs protection that rather more daunting heading into the season.
The Bucs must show they will get by means of a coaching camp first with none harm points. However on paper, they’re in a greater spot than they have been as soon as earlier than.
