As far as safeties in the league go, the Bucs have a premiere talent in Antoine Winfield Jr. But after Winfield, a Super Bowl LV champion and 2021 Pro Bowler, and free agent signing Ryan Neal, the depth at safety is questionable at best – and incredibly young.

After the aforementioned safeties, the five other players that the Bucs have on their roster at that position are all undrafted free agents with the exception of this year’s sixth-round pick, Josh Hayes. Four out of the five are rookies.

Nolan Turner is the only second-year player and technically the second longest tenured Buccaneer at safety after Winfield. The other safeties are Hayes, who is spending most of his time at nickelback, Kaevon Merriweather out of Iowa, Christian Izien from Rutgers and Delaware product Kedrick Whitehead.

Antoine Winfield Jr. Sees Potential In Bucs’ Safety

Could any of these players end up having an important role for the Bucs’ defense this year? Someone needs to step up just for the Bucs to have depth at the position and Antoine Winfield Jr. already has his eye on one of the plays. Because he has a similar build, Winfield has been a fan of what Izien has brought to practice each day.

“He reminds me of myself,” the 5-foot-9, 203-pound Winfield said. “We’re kind of similar stature. He’s put into the same roles that I was in so it’s good seeing him out there. He’s learning, he’s a smart player, but he’s learning.”

The 5-foot-8, 197-pound Izien is known for his great athleticism with some highlight-reel interceptions. Even for a smaller player, he is quite physical and packs a punch. Getting compared to a Super Bowl champion and a Pro Bowl player isn’t a bad thing either.

Todd Bowles Discusses Bucs’ Young Safety Group

Bucs S Chris Izien – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles doesn’t mind having smaller players at that position. Bowles likes his corners to have size and length, as starters Carlton Davis III and Jamel Dean are both 6-foot-1, and backup Zyon McCollum is 6-foot-2. But Tampa Bay’s defensive mastermind prefers his safeties to be more agile, and doesn’t mind sacrificing some height. Aside from Antoine Winfield Jr., Bowles has deployed a pair of smaller safeties in Jordan Whitehead and Mike Edwards – both 5-foot-10 – before.

Despite being young and inexperienced the Bucs’ collection of rookie safeties is full of talent. The Bucs might keep as many as three rookies behind Winfield and Ryan Neal. Bowles spoke recently about Chris Izien and Kaevon Merriweather specifically, going into details about what he likes about them and where they’ve been practicing so far during OTAs.

“On film what we liked about them is they’re both physical players,” Bowles said. “They’re very good open field tacklers, we like that about them. The mental part they’re getting down. Obviously both guys are learning two different positions. Izien is learning strong and nickel, Merriweather learning both safety spots, so it’s a little bit much, but I like their study habits, I like the way they communicate on the field. I think they’re getting it.”

For further discussion of the young safeties and other position groups where there’s a lot of youth, check out Wednesday’s Pewter Report Podcast episode.