Analyzing Bucs CB Tavierre Thomas caught On Tape doing…..
The Bucs have continued to focus on secondary depth with another external signing in cornerback Tavierre Thomas. Thomas specifically will give 2023 rookie Christian Izien a run for the starting nickel job in 2024.
The former undrafted free agent has stuck around the NFL for going on seven years now. And to stay in the league this long after being that unheralded means there is something to Thomas’ game.
Josh Queipo joined the Pewter Report team in 2022, specializing in salary cap analysis and film study. In addition to his official role with the website and podcast, he has an unofficial role as the Pewter Report team’s beaming light of positivity and jokes. A staunch proponent of the forward pass, he is a father to two amazing children and loves sushi, brisket, steak and bacon, though the order changes depending on the day. He graduated from the University of South Florida in 2008 with a degree in finance.
Most notably in that testing was Thomas’ lack of agility as evidenced by poor times in the 3-cone and the short shuttle. It’s curious as he has spent 90% of his time in his career in the slot. Typically slot corners need to be able to change direction quickly because the receivers they match up against have easy two-way go’s available to them by virtue of alignment.
Many offenses build choice routes in for their slot receivers where they can read the leverage of the nickel defender and choose to release either outside or inside. Because of this, nickel defenders have to be able to break in either direction (and sometimes in multiple directions in succession) to keep up. We will return to this a bit later.
Thomas spent the majority of his first three seasons in the league playing special teams with Cleveland. In 2020, he was first given some extended playing time with less-than ideal results. But since latching on with Houston in 2021, Thomas has provided solid to very good play over 1,400 defensive snaps.
I reviewed three games from Thomas last year. Week 1 against the Ravens where he recorded his highest Pro Football Focus grade of the season (90.5), Week 9 against the Bucs (82.5), and his worst game of the season, a Week 12 matchup against the Jaguars (44.8).
What Tavierre Thomas Does Best
What immediately jumps out is that Tavierre Thomas uses his compact frame well as a tackler and is very physical near the line of scrimmage. This is backed up by several measurable factors.
Clear Coverage Scheme Preference
Bucs CB Tavierre Thomas – Photo by: USA Today
When dropping into hook zones or defending flats, Tavierre Thomas showed himself to be a good coverage player that seemed to prefer zone assignments. It allowed him to keep his eyes in the backfield and react to the quarterback.
Thomas passed receivers off well and generally was where he was supposed to be when he was supposed to be there. This is important, as getting to the proper landmarks in zone coverage on time was an issue at times for nickelback Christian Izien during his rookie season.
PFF backs this up by giving him an 83.3 coverage grade in zone while crediting him with being targeted just 20 times in 126 zone coverage reps (15.9% target rate) and allowing just 1.13 yards per coverage rep. Considering how much zone Bucs head coach and defensive play-caller Todd Bowles likes to run with his Cover 3 and Cover 1 defenses, Thomas is a good scheme fit.
