Tykee Smith's move from nickel to safety has widely been reported this offseason. But it still remains to be seen whether that change will be a positive for a) the Bucs and b) for Smith. He was an excellent nickel last year. His combination of smarts, explosiveness, and tenacity proved to be a fantastic blend to play a role that's importance has increased in recent years.

Just to bring everyone up to speed on how good he was last year:

Best play of the day for Tykee IMO. Bucs running QQH (Quarters-Quarters-Half or C-4 to the concept and C-2 to the field).

Still in awe of how well Smith, as a rookie, can feel out the structure of the play and break to areas of the field he shouldn't be in to meet the ball. https://t.co/xljZc7uM9T pic.twitter.com/jj04XKyID8

— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) September 16, 2024

Tykee Smith coming off his man to leverage the shallow cross, shutting down the Commanders opening drive pic.twitter.com/OgV2tF3l4V

— Theo Ash (@TheoAshNFL) January 13, 2025

Smith was a playmaker last year. He ranked sixth among all defensive backs in stop rate last year at 6.7%. He added four tackles for loss, three forced fumbles, two interceptions, four pass breakups and five forced incompletions.

And Smith's average depth of tackle was an astounding 0.6 yards because he was constantly pressing through perimeter blocks to blow up screens in the backfield. A lot of this production came between Smith was able to play close to the ball.

Bucs Bet Big On A Big Move

The Bucs have been searching for a quality safety to pair with Antoine Winfield Jr. for going on four years now. Smith's transition up top follows in the footsteps of two other high-profile nickel-to-top-down-safety moves in the last 12 months. The Lions moved their star defensive back Brian Branch to a true star defender, increasing his safety snaps almost 10-fold. And after the Ravens defense struggled for the first half of last season, they moved their nickel, Kyle Hamilton, up top.

The change was transformative. Baltimore was 27th in the NFL in Expected Points Added (EPA) per play through Week 10. But from Week 11 on with Hamilton manning center field they ascended to first place, and it wasn't particularly close.

Bucs DB Tykee Smith and CB Tyrek Funderburk – Photo by: USA Today

Smith hasn't played much safety in his career. He was credited with just four snaps up top last year. And over 1,900 snaps in college he played safety just 46 times. That he will be a good deep safety is far from a slam dunk. And we don't have much tape to evaluate to come to any hard, conclusive determinations. But we do have some tape.

Smith played nine defensive snaps against the Steelers in Week 2 of the preseason. Can those nine snaps tell us anything? Probably not much. But it might be able to point to where he can excel and where he might struggle.

Tykee Smith In The Box

Working as the box safety, Tykee Smith showed off the skillset that made him an effective slot last year. He was aggressive and physical with jams at the line of scrimmage to disrupt receiver timing as he passed off routes behind him. He worked downhill quickly and with an explosive first step, finding gaps in the line to get into the backfield, nearly bringing down Steelers running back Kenneth Gainwell for a loss.

Bucs NCB Tykee Smith and Chiefs TE Travis Kelce – Photo by: USA Today

Deep Concerns

Tykee Smith didn't have many snaps where he aligned deep. But in those couple of snaps there were some concerns that popped up. As a center field safety he allowed Scott Miller – he of Bucs legend under the first name Scotty – to get behind him on a deep vertical because he was late to flip his hips and cap the route.

Later in the first quarter he bit hard on an inside dig from Miller instead of providing inside capped leverage on a Roman Wilson vertical on the outside. Jamel Dean was credited live with allowing Wilson to hit for a 42-yard explosive, but on the re-watch it was clear he expected Smith to help. I believe Smith played the rep wrong, but even if he didn't, there was a clear miscommunication between he and Dean which does not bode well for the two as the regular season approaches.

In general, the aggressive explosiveness that Smith plays the game near the line of scrimmage is absent from his game the further he gets from the ball. Some of that can be understood as he doesn't have the experience to play as instinctively as I am sure he would like.

Ultimately, two snaps does not a career make. But it's enough to say it will be something I am going to be paying attention to closely come week one in Atlanta.

I am not worried about Smith in the box. But offenses can motion to shift him to the top enough to take advantage if he can't improve his processing. And if that happens, it will cause both short- and long-term roster jams for the Bucs. There will be more film to evaluate in a week. But until then, caution is warranted.