After a slow start to the season, Tykee Smith is beginning to emerge as the player many fans thought he could be once he was drafted in the third round out of Georgia. After Sunday’s performance against the Saints, he’s beginning to show that his development is firmly on track.
Smith finished the game with a forced fumble that resulted in a touchdown, an interception, a quarterback pressure, five tackles, and two passes defensed - and that doesn’t include the other forced fumble that was ruled an incomplete pass or the sack he should have had had he not been held. It was as if the moment Jamel Dean left the game with an injury, Smith put on his Superman cape and elevated his game to a level we haven’t seen from him before.
While his teammate, Zyon McCollum, is rated the third best corner in the league according to PFF’s grading metrics, Smith has climbed up to sixteenth in the league - ahead of guys like Jaire Alexander, Jalen Ramsey, and Devon Witherspoon - and that’s after he had grades in the low 50’s the first two weeks of the season.
Smith has shown flashes throughout the season - reminiscent of McCollum as a rookie - where you can see the ability and the potential there but that the adjustment to the NFL game was going to take a little while. As his snap counts have increased - averaging over 79% of snaps the last three weeks compared to 65% the first three weeks - he’s gotten more comfortable in Bowles’ system. That’s the biggest key when it comes to these players in the secondary is how difficult Bowles’ system is to grasp and all the responsibilities they carry.
Smith is now coming off of, by far, his best performance from a coverage standpoint. He was targeted six times on Sunday, allowing only two receptions for 19 yards with no yards after catch allowed. That’s the first game this season he not only didn’t allow and yards after catch but that his reception percentage was below 50%. It was also the second time this season he didn’t miss any tackles which is another big improvement over the last few weeks.
Smith is still a rookie and is still going to make mistakes. There will be times in this defense that he goes to the wrong spot or blows an assignment - but you can look at his growth in the system within six weeks, watch him play, and realize he’s going to be special. It took until the third season of McCollum’s career to get that opportunity to be a starter and he’s performing like one of the best outside corners in the league through the first six games. If Smith continues on this trajectory, the Bucs could be looking at a lethal corner duo for the foreseeable future.
After a slow start to the season, Tykee Smith is beginning to emerge as the player many fans thought he could be once he was drafted in the third round out of Georgia. After Sunday’s performance against the Saints, he’s beginning to show that his development is firmly on track.
Smith finished the game with a forced fumble that resulted in a touchdown, an interception, a quarterback pressure, five tackles, and two passes defensed - and that doesn’t include the other forced fumble that was ruled an incomplete pass or the sack he should have had had he not been held. It was as if the moment Jamel Dean left the game with an injury, Smith put on his Superman cape and elevated his game to a level we haven’t seen from him before.
While his teammate, Zyon McCollum, is rated the third best corner in the league according to PFF’s grading metrics, Smith has climbed up to sixteenth in the league - ahead of guys like Jaire Alexander, Jalen Ramsey, and Devon Witherspoon - and that’s after he had grades in the low 50’s the first two weeks of the season.
Smith has shown flashes throughout the season - reminiscent of McCollum as a rookie - where you can see the ability and the potential there but that the adjustment to the NFL game was going to take a little while. As his snap counts have increased - averaging over 79% of snaps the last three weeks compared to 65% the first three weeks - he’s gotten more comfortable in Bowles’ system. That’s the biggest key when it comes to these players in the secondary is how difficult Bowles’ system is to grasp and all the responsibilities they carry.
Smith is now coming off of, by far, his best performance from a coverage standpoint. He was targeted six times on Sunday, allowing only two receptions for 19 yards with no yards after catch allowed. That’s the first game this season he not only didn’t allow and yards after catch but that his reception percentage was below 50%. It was also the second time this season he didn’t miss any tackles which is another big improvement over the last few weeks.
Smith is still a rookie and is still going to make mistakes. There will be times in this defense that he goes to the wrong spot or blows an assignment - but you can look at his growth in the system within six weeks, watch him play, and realize he’s going to be special. It took until the third season of McCollum’s career to get that opportunity to be a starter and he’s performing like one of the best outside corners in the league through the first six games. If Smith continues on this trajectory, the Bucs could be looking at a lethal corner duo for the foreseeable future.
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