Getting Creative With The Bucs’ Defense

That leaves Morrison and Parrish battling for the nickel corner role. Parrish profiles as a more logical choice in terms of stature and athletic profile. Morrison lacks the fluidity that is typically a calling card for players who thrive in that position. But that would mean a player the Bucs selected just outside of the top 50 is struggling to find playing time after a strong camp. I struggle to make that track.

Bowles has gone so far as to say he has not ruled out rotating his corners as a way to create opportunities for everyone. When asked if Morrison, specifically, could rotate in Bowles responded, “[Yes] and it’s not just Morrison, it’s [Jacob] Parrish as well. It’s something we’re looking at and [there are] things we’re toying with, with moving people around going forward. Depending on games and matchups, if we have that ability, to see what matches up with what, we have that ability to do that. Not that we are, but there’s a chance that we could.”

But I think I may have a different solution. A 3rd down package that plays off of a trend that is in the midst of burgeoning throughout the NFL currently.

Three Safety Looks

The college game has long been more creative than the NFL. Because of this, the NFL has also long stolen creative designs and schemes from the college ranks after they have proven to be successful. One of the most recent examples of this is the three-safety nickel/dime personnel groupings. Iowa State has been running these since at least 2017. And the NFL has started to take notice and emulate. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery after all.

These groupings have initially been used on long and late downs to give extra security to the top of the defense and prevent offenses from finding success downfield. But last year the Arizona Cardinals started experimenting with them on early downs to help fit the run from a creative and unusual look. They found considerable success doing this as detailed by Cody Alexander on his Match Quarters platform. A defensive look that discourages deep shots while also allowing for aggressive fitting of the run matches Todd Bowles’ philosophical principles to a ‘T’.

But The Bucs Are Short On Safeties!

A common argument I have heard espoused is that while the team has added considerable depth to their corner room – in addition to Morrison and Parrish they re-signed Bryce Hall, a quality depth piece, and signed Kindle Vildor who contributed to the Lions’ playoff team last year – they are missing key depth at safety. My initial response is that Christian Izien is being severely underrated and that almost no team in the league has a 4th safety they feel comfortable running out.

But even if you buy into this theory a three-safety look doesn’t have to be a traditional three safety look and you feel Tampa Bay is short on safeties while also believing they need to find opportunities for their young corners, there may be a needle that can be threaded here.

Imagine, if you will, the Bucs running a dime front. With six defensive backs on the field, they line up Morrison and Jamel Dean on the perimeter, put Parrish in the slot and stick Antoine Winfield Jr. as the middle safety, flanked by Tykee Smith and Zyon McCollum as the hash safeties. From this look they could run Tampa-2 with Winfield as the pole runner and McCollum and Smith dropping into deep halves. They could get to 1-Robber with Winfield dropping as the post safety and either Smith or McCollum acting as the Robber. Both players showed last year that they can read and break on in-breakers in the middle of the field at a high level.

Another Variation

Let’s say the Bucs want to get Morrison on the field in but there are concerns about him operating in the slot in traditional nickel looks. His football IQ and active eyes could lend him to playing the role of a “3rd safety” in early down nickel alignments. Operating as a hash safety could mitigate some of the concerns about how well he would hold up against three-way goes at the line of scrimmage in the slot while leveraging some of the best parts of his game.

This alignment would also provide Bowles with a whole host of rotations that he could deploy to change the post-snap picture for opposing quarterbacks. Just a few of the variations I can think of:

• Push Morrison to the flat and blitz Zyon/Dean from the perimeter.
• Use Zyon/Dean as underneath defenders as all three safeties become deep defenders in a Cover-3
• Roll linebackers to the flats and press down all three safeties to the pole and seams as the corners drop to deep halves as a part of a rotated/disguised Cover-2
• Get to Cover-6 quickly

The goal for Bowles and the Bucs should be to get their best players on the field. Despite the team’s faith in their linebacker room, it is far from a proven commodity and there is plenty of reason for skepticism. With the influx of talent in the secondary, and a league that is still pass heavy, getting more of his talented defensive backs on the field should be a creative solution Bowles should try to deploy. The fact that it dovetails with a developing trend in the league is all the better.