Bucs head coach Todd Bowles revealed some of his plans for the secondary while speaking at Bucs rookie mini-camp. In particular, he was talking about the nickel position that may move players at other positions into different spots.

When Tampa Bay drafted Miami defensive back Keionte Scott in the fourth round, it opened the door for a realm of possibilities. The Bucs had great play from last year’s rookie Jacob Parrish in the slot last season, but he can also played outside cornerback. With the struggles of Zyon McCollum and Benjamin Morrison, Bowles may opt to play Parrish more on the outside.

Bucs Have Options In The Secondary

Having Keionte Scott’s versatility gives some choices for Bowles to make. And with how Todd Bowles was talking about Scott, it sounds like they’re going to put him in a lot of packages, maybe even moving to dime packages on third downs. That takes a linebacker off the field and adds in another defensive back, but with Scott’s size, they essentially have another ‘backer on the field. Between Scott’s style of play and Parrish’s ability to cover outside, it allows Tampa Bay to movie pieces across the board in different ways depending on the opponent.

Bucs DB Keionte Scott – Photo by: Sophie Pallman – The University 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 said. “He’s one of the few guys that runs a 4.3 [40-yard dash], talking about Keionte, that plays a 4.3. You can really see it in his play and his explosion. He’s very instinctive, and Parrish was All-Rookie and he’s still going to play in there as well, but we’re going to get him some more outside 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 – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Bowles was asked a follow up questions about Scott potentially playing outside cornerback, to which he confirmed they’re going to try him out at it.

“Yeah, we’re going to look at him,” Bowles said. “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 Gives Bucs More Flexibility

Tampa Bay will also be getting former undrafted free agent JJ Roberts back this season, who may also play in the slot. Roberts had a good training camp, but tore his ACL in a joint camp practice against the Steelers and was done for the season. There was a lot of optimism over the contributions that Roberts can provide for the team. So he’s another name to add into the mix of a bunch of versatile defensive backs. 

Bucs DB J.J. Roberts – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Parrish, Roberts and Scott can all play the nickel. Roberts and Scott can also back up at safety while Parrish can play outside and Scott will get a shot at some reps at outside cornerback, too. Plus with the Bucs already having set players with Antoine Winfield Jr. and Tykee Smith at safety and Zyon McCollum and Benjamin Morrison at cornerback, if one of these three players can be a hit, it makes the Bucs defense that much more daunting heading into the season.

The Bucs need to prove they can get through a training camp first without any injury issues. But on paper, they’re in a better spot than they were once before.