One year ago, the biggest defensive position battle headed into training camp for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was at cornerback.
While many thing on the defense will have changed in 2025, the competition at cornerback has somehow become even more fierce.
Bleacher Report’s Matt Holder thinks second year cornerback Tykee Smith could thrive in that environment, singling him out as the “Best Kept Secret” on Tampa Bay’s roster in 2025.
“Smith showed a lot of promise during his rookie season in Tampa Bay,” Holder wrote on May 19. “The 2024 third-round pick hauled in a couple of interceptions and seven passes defended to earn a solid 69.0 PFF run defense grade during the regular season, and he was even better against the run with an 88.1 mark and four TFL. The Georgia product has the makings of becoming a Pro Bowl-caliber nickel for the Bucs.”
Smith ended up being a part time starter for the Buccaneers as a rookie, playing in 13 games with 6 starts and putting up big numbers when he was on the field with 54 tackles, 2 interceptions, 3 forced fumbles, 7 pass deflections and 4 TFL.
One thing that held Smith back as a rookie with injuries — he missed a total of 4 games due to a knee injury and a concussion.
Smith Won Pair of CFP National Championships
The Buccaneers got a tried-and-true winner with Smith in the 3rd round (No. 89 overall) of the 2024 NFL draft out of Georgia.
Smith was one of the nation’s best safeties at West Virginia for the first two seasons of his college career, earning Freshman All-American honors in 2019 then All-Big 12 and All-American honors in 2020.
Smith transferred to Georgia for his final 3 seasons, winning back-to-back College Football Playoff national championships in 2021 and 2022 before earning All-SEC honors in 2023 with 70 tackles, 4 interceptions and 2.0 sacks.
“He played nickel at a really high level at Georgia,” Tampa Bay assistant general manager John Spytek told Buccaneers.com’s Scott Smith after the draft. “He also played safety at a really high level at West Virginia, so we love the versatility of it. Obviously, with Antoine here and Jordan here, we’ll probably see how he does at nickel first, but where he goes from there … is he a long-term safety? Maybe. He had a lot of picks at West Virginia. We love the versatility of him.”
Bucs Signaled Shift in CB Approach in 2025 Draft
After Tampa Bay’s cornerbacks underperformed in 2024, Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles and general manager Jason Licht sent a clear message by using their first 2 picks on Day 2 on cornerbacks with Notre Dame’s Benjamin Morrison in the second round (No. 53 overall) and Kansas State’s Jacob Parrish in the third round (No. 84 overall).
Parrish is being brought in to directly challenge Smith for reps at nickelback, and ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler praised the Buccaneers for the pick.
“Third-round corner Jacob Parrish can be considered a winning pick for Tampa,” Fowler wrote on May 7. “I talked to a few teams predraft that listed him as a sleeper for the end of the first or early second, though some obviously thought that was too rich … Head coach Todd Bowles wanted better depth (at cornerback) coming out of last year.”
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