Every Wednesday morning I’ll cowl 4 areas as they apply to Tampa Bay: 1. a brief movie breakdown, 2. a finance angle, 3. a glance ahead at what’s to return, and 4. a little bit of enjoyable.
Movie: Bucs Secondary Depth Bolstered By 2025 UDFA
Final week I profiled second-year nook Benjamin Morrison’s rookie season and the place he can develop in 2026. Morrison is considered one of a number of younger defensive backs who determine to have a task this yr. Many surprise if Tampa Bay has sufficient depth within the secondary to carry up over the lengthy grind of an 18-week season.
On the skin they’ve three succesful corners in Zyon McCollum, Jacob Parrish and Morrison, giving the staff some depth in case of harm. Within the slot the depth chart is genuinely spectacular with Parrish, rookie Keionte Scott, and safeties Tykee Smith and Antoine Winfield Jr. all exhibiting to various levels they’ll man the place effectively.
However security is the place a lot of the priority lies. The one-deep at security is spectacular with Winfield and Smith. However past these the Bucs don’t have any confirmed expertise. However that doesn’t imply there shouldn’t be cause for optimism.
The staff was very excessive on 2025 undrafted free agent JJ Roberts out of Marshall. Roberts had a powerful summer season in rookie minicamp and OTAs. He constructed on that with a implausible first preseason recreation the place he primarily manned the slot in opposition to the Titans. His last line from that recreation in accordance with Professional Soccer Focus was 27 protection reps, 7 targets, 1 catch allowed for 13 yards, 2 cross breakups and a 39.6 passer ranking allowed. And the tape backed up these stats.
I get the issues round BMo and McCollum and the joy for Parrish and Scott.
However man, we must always discuss extra about JJ Roberts coming again this yr. pic.twitter.com/r6tI5oXDdu
What’s attention-grabbing is that nearly as good as Roberts checked out nickel in that one recreation, earlier than injuring his knee the next week in observe and occurring injured reserve for the season, the staff has determined to maneuver him to security in 2026. Assistant normal supervisor Rob McCartney stated as a lot throughout his draft weekend press convention.
Roberts performed security his last two seasons in school, so this isn’t a overseas place transfer for him. However given how good he regarded final yr in a pattern measurement it bears questioning whether or not that is the perfect spot for him. I went again to his preseason tape, plus watched two of his 2024 video games (Ohio State and Coastal Carolina) to see which traits match each spots, and the place the gaps emerge.
JJ Roberts’ Finest Traits
Roberts has the velocity and fluid physique mechanics to work effectively in each the slot in addition to a top-down security as both the put up security in single-high or working half-field reads when the protection stays in two-high. He ran a 4.41-second 40-yard sprint at his Professional Day and paired it with a 40.5-inch vertical to indicate he has an explosive spool as much as get to his spectacular high velocity.
The preseason slot reps confirmed a fast pedal and an excellent faster transition out of it. With unfastened hips and fast ft, he can keep in his pedal longer, retaining his eyes within the backfield and forcing receivers to declare their stems earlier than he has to interrupt on routes. And since he can spool up so simply, he doesn’t have to fret about turning early on verticals.
All of those traits translate effectively at deep security. Being the perfect athlete on the sector within the Solar Belt Convention, he may wait till the final second for route mixtures to develop earlier than breaking on the ball to make a play. That helped him to 14 cross breakups in his last yr of school ball.
Roberts’ play in opposition to Coastal Carolina confirmed the pure fruits of these athletic traits paired with a powerful understanding of route ideas and a fearless nature in attacking the ball.
J.J. Roberts vs Coastal Carolina was a masterclass of arriving to the ball on the catchpoint. PFF charted him as being focused 6 instances, permitting 3 catches and 13 yards with 3 cross breakups throughout 44 protection reps. 0.30 yds/cov rep. pic.twitter.com/ebN7rfU5HC
Essentially the most spectacular of these clips was him defending the Flood idea by exhibiting a double on the vertical route early to push the quarterback to the intermediate, solely to search out Roberts had pushed down on that route forcing him to maneuver to the third learn – the checkdown.
Marshall, primarily utilizing a two-high shell, constantly had Roberts shaded to the sector or idea facet of the formation, asking him to match in opposition to the heavy facet of the route idea. That’s the place groups need their greatest cowl safeties – serving to to kind, course of and defend the advanced facet of the passing offense. And his processing is as much as the problem.
Roberts’ full bundle as a protection security is a strong processor, with plus athleticism who can match in opposition to probably the most athletic receivers in man, and who’s keen to make performs on the ball in zone protection. That’s a really perfect free security in a basic NFL protection.
The issue although, is that there are only a few, if any, defenses enjoying a basic model of security lately.
Bucs DB J.J. Roberts – Photograph by: Cliff Welch/PR
Most NFL defenses, the Bucs included, want safeties to be interchangeable in roles and tasks. The fashionable deep defensive again must be equal components field enforcer and centerfielder. Offenses use motions and shifts a lot that defenses are consistently rotating, each reactively and proactively, to maintain up. And due to that, there may be little or no want lately for simply the basic put up security and not using a complementary skillset.
And that’s the place Roberts’ analysis turns into troublesome. The Ohio State tape is the largest sign as to why he went undrafted. It’s additionally why he could also be strong depth, however a priority as a fill-in starter.
JJ Roberts’ Weaknesses
Ohio State was the hardest competitors Roberts confronted in his collegiate profession. Not the perfect athlete on the sector by a rustic mile, the pursuit angles Roberts may take in opposition to Georgia Southern and Coastal Carolina have been not as much as snuff in opposition to a a lot increased caliber of athlete. And Roberts couldn’t work out the right way to regulate. Play after play he would strive a direct line to the ballcarrier solely to search out he had horribly misjudged the place he wanted to be. This led to a number of explosive performs for the Buckeyes.
JJ Roberts vs Ohio State, the perfect competitors he confronted in ’24, was comfortably his worst recreation of the season. Higher athletes uncovered his pursuit angles rep after rep. Missed tackles and large performs adopted. pic.twitter.com/yr5Q5D8Ida
The clearest instance got here within the second quarter. Roberts was the deep half security over a journeys formation. On the snap, his first step got here down towards the slot, anticipating play-action. The handoff went the opposite manner, and his angle was already improper. He chased the again to the sideline, made contact on the 5-yard line, couldn’t wrap, and watched an 86-yard landing go within the books.
These pursuit angle points contributed to a poor tackling efficiency too. Professional Soccer Focus marked him for 3 missed tackles on 9 makes an attempt. I might say they have been beneficiant with that line.
Along with the angle situation, Roberts has a penchant for making an attempt to sort out excessive and he struggles to remain wrapped up. It results in extra yards after contact and catch than coaches are going to be comfy with. His 10.0% profession missed sort out price would let you know I’m both nitpicking or simply flat out improper.
However once you look extra carefully at his hardest matchups over the past two years (2024 Ohio State and Virginia Tech, and 2023 Virginia Tech and NC State) that missed sort out price balloons to 22.6%. And a few of these issues did present up in my watch of the Titans preseason recreation from final yr.
Bucs S JJ Roberts – Photograph by: USA At this time
Finally, my largest issues lie in his skill to suit the run. He lacks pop in most of his hits, struggles to wrap up and takes these questionable angles. None of that improves in opposition to NFL-level competitors. It goes the opposite manner. And a security who has to remain deep and might’t defend the run is a security who will wrestle to get on the sector and might be a legal responsibility offenses will attempt to exploit when he’s on the sector.
The Bucs aren’t asking Roberts to begin. Behind Winfield and Smith, they want a 3rd security who can maintain up in spot responsibility with out the underside falling out. Roberts has the trait profile to suit that function particularly. The athletic instruments and processing chops let him work as a deep half or single-high security in passing conditions.
The slot tape from the Titans recreation suggests he can fill in there too if the scenario requires it. And on a UDFA contract getting back from harm, that’s actual roster development worth for a staff carrying premium cash in all places else.
What he in all probability can’t be is the third security requested to play significant base protection snaps in opposition to high quality offenses. The tackling profile in opposition to elite competitors is the cap, and it’s the type of cap that doesn’t disappear and not using a elementary change in his run protection strategy. Can that occur? Sure. Will it occur? We’ll see.
The Bucs secondary depth concern isn’t an empty one. However the room isn’t as naked because the names you’ve heard would possibly recommend. There’s a participant getting back from harm who matches a selected function on this protection, and his return is likely one of the quietest causes for optimism in regards to the depth chart heading into 2026 – if he can enhance his tackling this summer season in coaching camp.
Finance: Select Your Personal Fighter – DL Version
Final week I dove into the offensive line and the choice Jason Licht and Mike Greenberg are barreling towards with Cody Mauch and Graham Barton. This week I’m going to do the identical factor on the opposite facet of the ball. As a result of the Bucs have the same drawback on the line of defense, and the timing is even tighter.
Nostril sort out Vita Vea is coming into the ultimate yr of his contract. And out of doors linebacker Yaya Diaby, Tampa Bay’s most constant edge presence, can be coming into the ultimate yr of his rookie deal. Two expiring contracts, and like with Mauch and Barton, Jason Licht and Mike Greenberg in all probability can’t pay them each on the high of their respective markets. They must select.
The Vita Vea Math
Vea will flip 32 subsequent February. He’s coming off a powerful, two-year run with 11 sacks and 101 pressures (as charted by PFF), working because the lone fixed on a line of defense that has been something however lately. The case for paying him is simple. He is likely one of the two greatest nose-tackle-sized A-gap cross rushers in soccer, and the Bucs don’t have an apparent substitute for what he does.
Bucs DT Vita Vea – Photograph by: USA At this time
The case in opposition to paying him can be easy. He might be 32. He’s constructed like a participant whose physique must be the asset, and growing old curves at his place are unforgiving. The contracts that go previous age 33 at defensive sort out are sometimes the contracts groups remorse. The Calais Campbells of the NFL are few and much between.
My contract projection modeling requires a two-year, $42 million extension if the 2 sides have been to succeed in an settlement this offseason. In the event that they wait till 2027, Vea seemingly pushes for 3 years. The market has lately borne that out for over-30 defensive tackles on their third contract.
The Yaya Diaby Math
Diaby simply turned 26. He produced 127 pressures and 15 sacks throughout 2024 and 2025, with a 14.1% stress price that places him in the identical statistical neighborhood as Jaelan Phillips and Travon Walker, each of whom signed nine-figure extensions within the final 12 months. He’s coming into the ultimate yr of his rookie deal on a 2026 cap hit of $3.7 million. He’s, in each sense the contract market measures, an ascending edge rusher about to receives a commission. One of the best projection I’ve for him is near what Odafe Oweh simply signed for: 4 years and $96 million.
Bucs OLB Yaya Diaby – Photograph by: Cliff Welch/PR
The Actuality
The 2 gamers ought to command comparable paydays, and the Bucs might want to select which participant is most necessary to the staff. The veteran unicorn, or the good-could-be-great up-and-comer.
My wager is that they go together with Diaby.
Licht has signaled discovering cross rush is his major objective to show across the protection. Diaby creates extra constant cross rush than Vea – and he ought to be counted on to take action going ahead extra usually. Vea is coming into the twilight of his profession. Diaby is coming into his prime.
The Bucs have taken small steps to arrange for a post-Vea life. They haven’t restructured his deal in a number of years, making a break extra palatable from a cap standpoint. They’ve stockpiled younger run stoppers in Jayson Jones, Elijah Simmons and DeMonte Capehart. Capehart brings a possible cross rush unlock that would change a few of what Vea delivers as a pocket pusher as effectively.
Sure, the Bucs drafted Reuben Bain Jr. this yr. But when they let Diaby go within the following yr, they’re again to sq. one within the cross rush pursuit. And whereas Diaby could be on his huge contract extension for the subsequent 4 years, the Bucs would have Bain on his rookie deal for the subsequent three previous to his fifth-year choice yr during which his wage would balloon. That’s an reasonably priced combine at edge rusher for Tampa Bay by 2029.
Licht and Greenberg have one other crossroads forward. Vita Vea Boulevard or Yaya Diaby Drive? My wager is on the Drive.
Forecast: Danny Smith Is The “Special” In Bucs Particular Groups
The Bucs particular groups unit has been something however for greater than half a decade now. If not for kicker Chase McLaughlin these previous three seasons it will have been a full-on travesty. Head coach Todd Bowles is now on his third particular groups coordinator in 5 years with Danny Smith. And he lastly has the person as much as the duty of turning across the moribund unit.
Smith spent the previous 13 years with the Pittsburgh Steelers. His items are well-known for his or her prowess at blocking kicks with 21 such occurrences since 2013. 17 of these have come since 2017, rating his unit tops within the NFL over that point interval. He has developed high quality return males and kickers alike over his time operating the sport’s third section for former Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin.
And most excitedly, his 2025 unit held opponents to the fifth-worst beginning discipline place following a kickoff within the league. That’s an necessary be aware for a Bucs squad that was so inept at protecting kicks they gave up making an attempt by the tip of the yr, opting to only kick the ball out of the tip zone and permit the opposition to begin at their very own 30-yard line.
Bucs ST coordinator Danny Smith – Photograph by: Cliff Welch/PR
Smith ought to convey self-discipline, approach and accountability to the particular groups unit. His affect can already be seen in roster development. It’s no coincidence his particular groups ace for the previous 5 seasons, Miles Killebrew, is now in Tampa Bay with Smith.
Beforehand the Bucs have been reluctant to roster a particular groups ace in any respect. In 2024, Tavierre Thomas was near that, however Tampa Bay noticed him as an actual a part of the defensive depth chart. Killebrew will not be a parallel to Thomas. The final time the Bucs actually had a core particular groups ace was Ryan Smith who was with the staff from 2016-2020 earlier than getting one other cup of espresso with them in 2022.
With Killebrew in tow Smith is poised to convey the Bucs’ third unit again to respectability. Calling my shot right here. They end high 20 in beginning discipline place allowed following a kickoff. They end high 15 in internet punt common. They usually end high 18 in PFF’s particular groups grade. The Bucs have been thirtieth in 2025 and have by no means completed higher than nineteenth within the Todd Bowles period.
Fourth Down Enjoyable
Please put within the topic line of your e-mail: “Cover 4 Jeopardy Answers.” Now with none additional ado…
Draft Day Selections – $100
This defensive sort out was the fifth defensive sort out taken in his draft class, and the second taken by the Bucs that yr.
Canton – $200
From 1993 to 1997 the Bucs drafted this many gamers who would ultimately go on to be enshrined within the NFL Corridor of Fame.
Jersey Numbers – $300
Solely two gamers have had their jerseys formally retired by the Buccaneers, and these are their two numbers.
Don’t Do That – $400
Raiders head coach Invoice Callahan opted for simplicity over technique when he made this grave mistake in Tremendous Bowl XXXVII. Bucs head coach Jon Gruden took full benefit.
Bowles Says – $500
Within the midst of his fourth midseason swoon in as many seasons, Bucs head coach Todd Bowles violated George Carlin’s 1972 standup routine by uttering two of the “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” this many instances throughout a postgame media availability.
Good luck!
