Defensive Backs

Due to a plethora of chores and other items I've been taking care of this week, I haven't had the time to get around to putting up the last two position reviews; Defensive Backs and Special Teams. With the Jags game set to start in a little bit, I'll go ahead and look at the DB's. This group has the usual players of Barber, Kelly, Phillips, and Allen. The nickel seems destined to be Bolden's job, while Cox seems to be stepping up to be the back-up corner spot. At safety, Pearson seems to be entrenching himself as the third safety while Nicholson and Adams battle it out for the final spot.

Barber is...well...Barber, and I expect to see him continue to be one of the best corners in the league playing in this defense. Kelly should continue to play strong at the other corner spot, making it tough to consistently beat this secondary unless they are letting you throw underneath. Bolden, however, seems to have improve noticeably over last year where he regularly got beat deep, or for long 3rd down conversions. He appears to be a step faster, and seems less prone to allowing receivers to get by him deep. While he can still be beat, his improvement will go a long way towards helping the defense get off the field in 3rd and long situations, something that they struggled at times with. Cox has also been a bit of a surprise. It seems as though the light finally came on for him, and he has been having a preseason after a strong camp. He should allow the Bucs to maintain a strong nickel if Kelly or Barber go down, and will help the dime package out.

At Safety Phillips continues to be a strong run supporter and a solid, but not great, pass defender. I'm hoping to see his pass defense take another step this year, but we'll see. We should get a better performance than last year and he was solid then. He also needs to stay healthy. Allen will also need to stay healthy and he's already off to a rough start with the thumb injury. However, he's mostly being held out as a precaution, and could probably play. He's strong against the pass and average against the run. If he and Phillips can improve, the safety positions will be solid. Backing them up is Kalvin Pearson who seems to be coming on pretty strong. He's playing much better than last preseason, when he was regularly torched. He adds depth to a position that seemed lacking a month or so ago. Then there is Nicholson and Adams battling it out for the final Safety spot, and Adams seems to be winning, especially since he's good on special teams and can also play corner. Overall the safety spot is still a little thin, but maybe not in as bad a position as it seemed to be.

Going into this season, the DB's should be improved overall and it should help the defense stop those painful third and long conversions that killed them in some games like the game in Atlanta. As long as this group continues to improve, overall, the Bucs defense will continue to be at or near the top of the league.