The Bucs may start their 5th nickel corner in as many years when the 2025 season begins. 2021 was the final year of Sean Murphy-Bunting manning the slot defender role. In 2022 Todd Bowles moved star free safety Antoine Winfield Jr. down to the line of scrimmage. While Winfield was effective in the role, allowing just 0.65 yards per coverage snap, Bowles determined his greatest impact was as a top-down safety. Winfield moved back to safety in 2023 and delivered one of the most impactful safety seasons in the league in the last 10 seasons.
Two years ago, Bowles turned to undrafted free agent Christian Izien as the nickel. He ranked 16th in QB rating allowed while in the slot, 16th among qualifying defenders. Izien was ultra-competitive and made plays early in the season. But there were limitations to his game that led to a 20% missed tackle rate. Despite the promise he showed, the team fell in love with Tykee Smith in the 2024 pre-draft process and selected him in the third round.
Smith won the nickel spot from Izien in training camp and proceeded to build an impressive rookie season himself, intercepting two passes, breaking up another seven and forcing three fumbles. But similar to Winfield Jr. two years prior, Bowles and the team feel Smith can be more impactful paired with Winfield up top.
Bucs FS Antoine Winfield Jr. and DB Tykee Smith – Photo by: USA Today
It’s an interesting gamble as the nickel has become an integral part of most defenses in the modern NFL. Jalen Pitre, Cooper DeJean and Josh Metellus all logged significant snaps in the slot for three of the top five defenses in the NFL last year.
Bucs Have Options
I asked Bucs general manager Jason Licht how the position has evolved and how that evolution has impacted the way he and his team have scouted the position. His answer leaned heavily into how optionality has made it one of the team’s strengths.
“We’ve had a lot of discussions – myself, my staff, [Head Coach] Todd [Bowles], his staff – on what we are ideally looking for there. What I’m excited about right now is that we have a lot of options there. There have been years where we didn’t have any options there. Now we have a lot of options there and we like what we see so far.”
Depth plagued the team in the secondary last year. Licht and his team attempted to address those issues through the draft and free agency. And now the team has multiple options with extensive experience as slot defenders. In addition to Winfield and Smith, who can all move in and out of the position as part of rotations, Izien is fighting with rookie Jacob Parrish for the starting role once again.
When you include college, here is the experience the team now has at this critical position.
Tykee Smith – 1,822
Christian Izien – 1,612
Antoine Winfield – 1,354
Ironically, the player that has been taking the majority of the snaps in camp with the 1’s has the least experience. While Jacob Parrish’s size and athleticism profile well in the slot, he spent most of his career on the outside to the tune of an almost 7:1 ratio. But his speed and explosiveness give him a shot to be a special coverage player who can effectively defend three-way go’s against some of the best receivers in the NFL.
Bucs CB Jacob Parrish – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
Questions Are Still Present
With run games on the rise in the NFL, especially out of 11 personnel, there is more to the nickel position than just defending the pass. Fitting the run is incredibly important as well. Parrish’s talents in that area are still an open question mark. It’s that area of the game that made both Winfield and Smith effective nickels. Mid Zone/Wide Zone/Outside Zone are still significant parts of run games across the league. Many of those concepts are designed to attack nickel defenders.
Add in perimeter screens, which are up 38% since 2019, and it is now more important than ever for nickels to be able to aggressively work through blocks and be sound tacklers. It remains to be seen whether he can fit that archetype well enough.
But if he can’t Licht and Bowles feel more confident than ever that they can change course if need be because they have more than one option.