The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had clear motives this offseason when constructing their roster — get younger, get faster and build depth.
They feel like they've accomplished that in several areas on the roster, but one area specifically has been in the secondary. The Bucs brought back Jordan Whitehead, drafted Tykee Smith in the third round and added veterans Bryce Hall and Tavierre Thomas.
The nickel spot went from having undrafted free agent Christian Izien manning the spot last season with no true depth behind him to a competition for the job between Izien, Thomas, and Smith. While all have stood out so far, it has been the veteran Thomas that has been making the big plays in camp.
Throughout the first five days of training camp, Thomas has come down with two interceptions and several pass breakups as he vies for the starting job at nickel corner. He's still learning the defense and as he does, he's starting to play more freely without having to think about what he's supposed to do and where he's supposed to be.
"I just want to just continue to get better each and every day," Thomas said "Learning from the guys... most of the guys are younger than me, but I'm still learning the defense, learning from them. And once I learn the defense, I can just play fast and play confident and the ball's coming to my hands."
While Thomas acknowledges the competition he's in, like most competitions on the roster the goal is the same. This team is full of selfless players who aren't keeping advice and things they've experienced to themselves they are helping each other in what Thomas calls a friendly competition.
"It's a friendly competition," Thomas said. "Izzy [Izien], he played really well last year. Tykee is coming in. He's played in a similar defense before, so it is a friendly competition, but all the guys are making each other better. We're all helping each other out. If I see something Izzy's doing, I'll tell him something that I probably didn't see more. And then if he sees something I haven't seen, he tells me.
"And then with Tykee, he's like a veteran. He knows it all. He came in knowing everything. He knows the nickel, he knows safety. So I'm learning safety from him, teaching him a little nickel, me and Izzy going back and forth. So it's a friendly competition, but the guys are real, real cool."
As Thomas alluded to, he's not just learning the defense through the nickel position, but he's also being cross-trained at both safety spots. Adding to the learning curve is the complexity of head coach Todd Bowles' defense. Throughout his six years in the league with the Browns and Texans, the defensive calls were much less than he's had to learn with his previous teams.
"So when I first came in, I was used to 10 calls," Thomas said. "I was in Cleveland for three years, 10 calls, Houston for three years, eight, 10 calls. And then I came here, 58 calls, so I'm getting used to that. The first two weeks it was pretty hard. Coming in nickel wasn't so hard. I've played nickel in two defensive before, but safety, that was pretty hard or whatever. So it took me two, or three weeks and I'm still learning."
As things start to click and Thomas gets the playbook down like the back of his hand, there are sure to be more opportunities for him to showcase his playmaking ability. So far in his career, that includes six forced fumbles, six tackles for loss, a sack and two interceptions, including one for a touchdown.
As for what his role will be in the defense, one could expect Bowles to use combinations of multiple players on the back end. Bowles acknowledged Thomas' versatility as he figures out the best way to deploy the veteran defensive back.
“We’re still working that over," Bowles said. "He’s playing nickel, he’s playing strong [safety], he’s playing free [safety]. As the [training] camp weeks go on, we’ll see how that pans out, but it’s good that he has a lot of versatility.”
