Cover 3 is a weekly feature column written by PewterReport.com’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat writer Trevor Sikkema published every Tuesday. The column, as its name suggests, comes in three phases: a statistical observation, an in-depth film breakdown, and a “this or that” segment where the writer asks the reader to chose between two options.

SIKKEMA’S STAT OF THE WEEK

There’s a song by the band Saint Motel that goes,

Take a look around the room,
Love comes wearing disguises.
How to go about and choose.
Break it down by shapes and sizes.
I’m a man who’s got very specific taste.

You’re, You’re, You’re just my type.

Today we’re going to be keeping some of the lyrics of that song in mind when talking about the cornerback position, and more specifically get down to the bottom of things and figure out if there really is such thing as a “Buccaneer corner.”

Certain general managers in the NFL have thresholds for the players they acquire, and more importantly acquire through the draft. For example, Green Bay’s general manager, Ted Thompson, is notable for having players that follow a certain guideline of height and weight for his defense (he’s never going to take small corners or small defensive linemen). There are certain threshold numbers that exists for those positions that, if a player of that position doesn’t hit, they odds of them getting drafted by Green Bay are very small, perhaps even impossible no matter how good they are.

Ex-Bucs CB Ronde Barber – Photo by: Getty Images

The thought process behind that isn’t one of ignorance, but instead, one of schematic nuances. Green Bay likes to play a man coverage Cover 3. Such as scheme involves a single-high safety first and foremost on the back end, a strong safety who can come up and help at the second level with the linebackers, and finally, cornerbacks who have the size to lock down a receiver one-on-one. Since Green Bay’s defensive strategy involves a lot more one-on-one than it does receiving help from other players, you could see why the Packers would try to find a certain type of player to guard receivers on an island. Even if they gave up some speed and quickness, they for sure want their corners to at least have the length to defend passes against tall, prototypical receivers.

The Buccaneers seem to be the opposite. For a while now, the Bucs have been known for having those small, quick, intelligent cornerbacks who made their money off keeping things in front of them, playing damage control, then being able to outsmart a quarterback into making plays rather than being physically imposing on their wide receivers. Not that those things never happen, but picking your battles is a real thing for defensive back work.

But is that reality, or are we just letting ourselves think that they only draft small corners since Vernon Hargreaves III was their featured guy last year and smaller guys like Brian Kelly and Ronde Barber are the feature players at cornerback from the glory days? Let’s look at their draft history.

Probably not as “small” as you thought. In picks outside of the Top 50, the Buccaneers have stayed on par with the league’s average for a cornerback, which is about 5-foot-10 and right around 190 pounds. However, when using premium picks on cornerbacks, they actually have gone for the bigger players. Aqib Talib, Johnthan Banks and Vernon Hargreaves are the three early cornerbacks selected, and the first two are over 6-feet tall. In fact, if you also count the Darrelle Revis acquistion, you’d remember that this team hasn’t been afraid to add or tryout more lockdown cornerbacks.

However, we also have to take into account the longevity of those players. Talib, Banks and Revis are no longer on the team. Talib had his own set of problems that ran him out of town, so he’s a bit of an exception. But Banks and Revis, who were more of that lockdown style, had short careers in Tampa Bay.

But, long history isn’t the best indicator of what the Buccaneers’ identity at the position is now since they’ve been through three general managers and six head coaches over that period of time in the table above. Instead, let’s look at the here and now. Let’s see if Bucs general manager Jason Licht has a preference in defensive backs.

When working for the Eagles, Licht’s five draft classes in Philadelphia included five defensive backs. All but one was actually over 6-foot, and none of which were picked in the first two rounds. In 2008, when Licht was the personnel executive of the Arizona Cardinals, the team selected Dominque Rodgers-Cromartie in the first round, he was 6-2, 193 pounds.

But, when Licht was with the Patriots as the director of player personnel from 2009-2011, we saw a change. Licht had a hand in drafting five defensive backs during his time there, all but one were under 6-foot and the one that who was, Ras-I Dowling, was only on the team for one season. This seemed to be a philosophical turning point.

The following two years he returned to the Cardinals, and in 2013 drafted a player named Tyrann Mathieu, the first player under 5-10 he has ever had a hand in drafting.

Bucs GM Jason Licht & CB Vernon Hargreaves III – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Since his time in New England, Licht has not drafted a cornerback over 6-0, something he did regularly early on with the staffs he was a part of. But, it’s not just the general manager’s preference that determines these picks. They also have to marry it with the head coach or defensive coordinator to make it work. Since Dirk Koetter is more of the offensive guy, Licht probably turns to defensive coordinator, Mike Smith, to get his take on what kind of players he want playing cornerback in his system.

So, what about Mike Smith’s draft history?

During Smith’s time as the defensive coordinator in Jacksonville from 2003-2007, there wasn’t much consistency in terms of height and weight with the cornerbacks he drafts. In fact, there was actually more consistency in the fact that the two starting defensive backs he drafted both had dreadlocks (Rashaen Mathis and Reggie Nelson).

However, when he became the head coach of the Falcons in 2008, things started to shift in a certain direction. In his early drafts, there wasn’t much emphasis on cornerbacks, but the picks I believe revealed and solidified a trend in his defensive preferences was when he selected Desmond Trufant and Robert Alford in 2012 and Ricardo Allen in 2013. Trufant was 6-0 where the others were under, but all three of those players molded their game around two traits: recognition and recovery – traits that often shine in shorter, quicker players.

Trufant, Alford and Allen are all still starters for the Falcons four years later on a defensive that is still similar schematically to what Smith established in Atlanta. I think the reason for that is because he got his hands on two corners (and a nickel corner/safety combo in Allen) who could run his system well playing Cover 2 man or Cover 4 (Quarters) – the scheme he still runs as a base in Tampa. In both of those schemes, it’s not about locking down a receiver and mirroring his every move. Most of the time it’s about reading a quarterback’s eyes and having good instincts and recovery speed, not physicality in blanketing coverage. It’s about choosing your battles as a cornerback, not getting into one every snap.

This, to me, is what we should mean when we talk about a “Buccaneer corner”.

Bucs DC Mike Smith – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

So, is there a threshold to be had when drafting corners to this Buccaneers team? I wouldn’t say a threshold. But, there certainly is a preference – or a type, if you will. More often than not, the Buccaneers are going to play their cornerbacks in some form of off coverage while banking on intelligence, chemistry as a unit, good communication, play recognition, backpedaling ability and recovery speed while reading and reacting.

If you’ll notice, turnovers for this Bucs secondary unit rarely come in the form of them out muscling a receiver down the line, or besting them in man coverage. Instead, if you’ll remember, Brent Grimes’ pick-six in the final game of the season, Chris Conte’s pick-six in the Chicago game, Keith Tandy’s interception against San Diego and even Hargreaves’ first interception off the tip form Kwon Alexander all came from being at the right place and reading the eyes rather than being bigger and stronger.

The Bucs have their type, and with not a single cornerback on the roster that’s over 5-11, don’t expect them to break that trend this draft season, especially with the success they had last year when it all started to click.