The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have one of the NFL's elite safeties and an all around monster who is not even getting a quarter of the credit he deserves for being one of the most dominant players in the league so far this season. And no, that safety is not Antoine Winfield Jr., who has been good this season but has been nowhere near his emerging partner, Tykee Smith, who actually already deserved the Pro Bowl honors over him last season.
Now, Smith is balling out to an even greater degree, and after more heroics last weekend in a brutal loss to the Chicago Bears (thanks, Baker Mayfield), Smith is building a serious Defensive Player of the Year sleeper case for him as arguably the best strong safety in the NFL.
Smith has no weaknesses to his game and is pacing the Bucs defense in some areas you woulsn't expect. Despite being a safety, Smith actually leads the Bucs defense in quarterback knockdowns, showing an ability to get after the quarterback that puts some of his edge rushing teammates to shame.
Tykee Smith is blossoming into an elite safety for the Buccaneers
Meanwhile, Smith is second on the team behind only rookie inside linebacker maven Josiah Trotter in tackles with exactly 50, which is highly impressive. Four of those tackles have been for loss, as he and fellow Buccaneers defensive back Jacob Parrish lead the team in tackles for loss not from sacks.
But while Smith is doing a great job of getting after the quarterback and sweeping up big tackles in the running game, the Bucs pay him for his pass defense and coverage as a safety, even a strong safety. And in that regard, Smith has also been elite.
He is allowing a QB Rating of just 42.5 into his coverage this season, which is just insane. Even on a Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense with two All-Pro corners breaking out in Jacob Parrish and Zyon McCollum, Smith has by far the best QB Rating allowed of any qualifying player.
Smith is doing that by allowing a crazy low completion percentage of 43.2 into his vicinity with more interceptions caught than touchdowns allowed. He almost never gets burned, too, as opposing quarterbacks can barely complete passes in his direction, and when they do, they only go for an average of less than nine yards per catch. To have a safety who can dominate in several areas like this is extremely rare, and Smith is therefore Todd Bowles' biggest defensive weapon.
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