The Bucs continued the process of signing their 2024 draft picks Wednesday afternoon, inking third-round pick Tykee Smith to his rookie contract.

Officially a Buccaneer ✍️ pic.twitter.com/kGTEblEiSV

— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) May 22, 2024

Smith, a defensive back out of Georgia, was Tampa Bay’s 89th overall pick last month. After two seasons as a free safety at West Virginia, Smith finished his collegiate career with the Bulldogs and primarily played nickel cornerback in Kirby Smart’s base defense.

Bucs DB Tykee Smith – Photo courtesy of Georgia

During his lone season in Athens, Smith totaled 70 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss and four interceptions on his way to Second Team All-SEC honors.

The first of the Bucs’ two third-round picks, Smith will get a chance to make an immediate impact as a rookie. Throughout the summer and into training camp, he’ll challenge for the nickel job in Todd Bowles’ defense. He’ll be looking to unseat last year’s starter Christian Izien, in addition to beating out free agent signee Tavierre Thomas for the job.

Smith is the fourth Bucs draft pick to sign his rookie contract, joining fourth-round running back Bucky Irving, sixth-round guard Elijah Klein and seventh-round tight end Devin Culp. Tampa Bay has three more draft picks to sign, including first-round center Graham Barton, second-round outside linebacker Chris Braswell and third-round wide receiver Jalen McMillan.

Tykee Smith Is A Bucs-Type DB Through-And-Through

Pewter Report identified Tykee Smith as a Bucs Best Bet ahead of the 2024 Draft, largely due to the fact that he fits the mold of what head coach Todd Bowles looks for in a defensive back. He’s versatile and tough, plus he showed a knack for making plays around the football in college.

On the night the Bucs made him their first third-round pick, Smith described his ability to be a blend of both playmaker and hard hitter.

Bucs DB Tykee Smith – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“[You] balance the two out by knowing when to make the right hit, keep my head out,” Smith said. “[I’m] not trying to get any targeting [calls] or hurt myself. The biggest thing is I play with a chip on my shoulder, so coming out and being a tone setter.”

The Philadelphia-born defensive back doesn’t seem to find any difficulty playing with a chip on his shoulder, and it’s something he said Bowles knows well given the head coach’s own background as a former Temple defensive back.

“Him having a background at Temple with him going to Temple, he knows where I come from and knowing the chip on my shoulder that I have,” Smith said of his new head coach back in April. “So [he knows] I’m going to come in and work every day and put my best foot forward every day.”

Bowles and Smith are plenty familiar with each other, as the latter was a teammate of Troy Bowles at Georgia. Tampa Bay’s head coach of course has been to see his son in Athens, and he got a firsthand look at Smith while there.

What also helps is that there are similarities between what Bowles and Kirby Smart run on defense, which can help ease Smith into life as a Tampa Bay defensive back.

“Yeah, I also think he does a real good job putting his players and using their skillset to the best of their ability, which Georgia also did a real good job at,” Smith said. “When we met, he said they run similar stuff to what Georgia ran, so it would be plug-and-play.”