Antoine Winfield Jr. made the Pro Bowl last season on a terrible Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense, but while he is one of the bigger names at the safety position, most Bucs fans would not have even voted him into the Pro Bowl. Because in all honesty, breakout star Tykee Smith was the actual best safety on the roster, and that is a trend that is continuing in the 2026 NFL regular season.
Smith had another strong performance as the Buccaneers defense proved to be as nasty as Todd Bowles had hoped, dominating a previously on fire Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers offense en route to a statement making 43-13 road win for the Jolly Roger.
With seven tackles, a blocked extra point, and one of the Buccaneers two interceptions of Young on Sunday, Smith both set the edge and made plays for the Bucs defense. Young came into the game with the most passing yards per game in the NFL, yet he could not even crack the 170 mark against the Buccaneers defense.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are flying all over the place on defense
Likewise, Tykee Smith had plenty of help around him, and another defensive back worth highlighting for his ability to quickly wrap up ball carriers and come up and make big plays in run support is nickel corner Keionte Scott, who can play inside or outside - or even at the safety position itself. Scott supplemented Smith's seven tackles out of the defensive backfield with six tackles of his own, and he now has 38 on the season.
Already, Scott and Smith came into Week 7 in the top three for tackles on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, trailing only new team leader and superstar inside linebacker Josiah Trotter for the team lead. Having two defensive backs who can fly all over the field and take down the ball carrier is huge, and that matters a lot more to a Buccaneers defense that so often lost games because they could not do the most basic thing as a unit - wrap up the guy with the ball.
We've seen in the past how a lot of the best teams in the NFL had players like Kam Chancellor, TJ Ward, Bob Sanders, Ryan Clark, and Patrick Chung who set the tone in the middle of the field as safeties and defensive backs by making big hits, covering tight ends and running backs, and being sure tacklers. Not to say Scott is already there, but Smith is since he was doing it all last season - and now having two players like that gives the Bucs two players most teams don't even have one of.
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