Analyzing Bucs CB Tavierre Thomas On Tape

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.

And there is.

Tavierre Thomas’ Background

Coming out of Ferris State in 2018 Thomas tested as a solid athlete, but not an incredible one.

Tavierre Thomas went undrafted in the 2018 draft class.

He posted a good #RAS with good size, great speed, poor explosiveness, poor agility at the CB position.#Browns pic.twitter.com/PBqspVXpdp

— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) May 23, 2019

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.

Pro Football Focus has him with a career missed tackle rate of 10.5%. That’s two full points below Christian Izien’s 12.5% mark last year, and over four points lower than recently traded former Bucs Carlton Davis III’s 14.6% career rate. Thomas never graded below a 60 in run defense during his time in Houston and posted grades above 80 in 2021 and 2023.

No fear. No let up. Does all the dirty work. pic.twitter.com/XbX4sd2VMK

— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) March 21, 2024

Boom. pic.twitter.com/J04wVvwEdV

— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) March 21, 2024

Blows up the bubble screen all by his lonesome pic.twitter.com/XcmCXO5HRA

— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) March 21, 2024

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.

Great reaction to the slant cut and undercuts the route for the PBU. pic.twitter.com/7fp04HBeze

— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) March 21, 2024

But when Thomas was asked to man up receivers, he struggled to a 34.8 coverage grade while getting targeted on 25% of his coverage reps and allowing over 3.4 yards per coverage snap. And that’s where we see some of that lack of agility factor into his struggles. Here are two clips, one from the Bucs game and one from the Jaguars where the receiver Thomas was covering is able to create separation by getting him turned around with leans to one side at the top of the stem before breaking in the opposite direction.

Palmer gets him with the initial move to the slot fade and just keeps rotating it to the dig. Really good route that put Thomas into a full twist. pic.twitter.com/Ci8C9EgI2R

— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) March 21, 2024

So a bit of a trend. pic.twitter.com/A3sbEJUO9u

— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) March 21, 2024

Athleticism Limits His Effectiveness

Tavierre Thomas can struggle against twitchy athletes who can change direction and accelerate/decelerate quickly. You can see it on this rep against Jaguars receiver Christian Kirk.

Can get a little behind against technicians like Kirk. pic.twitter.com/PPl8aE8id8

— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) March 21, 2024

And even though he ran a 4.38 40-yard dash coming out of college you can see him struggle to keep up with Kirk on a deeper developing route here.

JAX liked the Kirk-Thomas matchup and tried to exploit it. pic.twitter.com/SoMlP9AI34

— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) March 21, 2024

Tavierre Thomas Improves Depth And Creates Competition

Bucs CB Tavierre Thomas – Photo by: USA Today

Ultimately, despite his limitations, new Bucs slot cornerback Tavierre Thomas provides a veteran presence with a high floor. He will come in to compete with Christian Izien for the starting nickel job and either help Izien ascend as a starter or push him to the bench to be Thomas’ backup.

Whomever loses that competition will provide value on Tampa Bay’s special teams coverage units, and a solid option should the starter go down with an injury. The Bucs didn’t have a reliable backup for Izien last year outside of veteran Dee Delaney, who was not an ideal nickelback, so I am a big fan of this move to continue to raise the floor of the secondary, the defense and the team as a whole.

Tavierre Thomas makes the Bucs better and was definitely worth an inexpensive, one-year contract.