Tykee Smith Wants To Be More Vocal
April 22nd, 2026
Hopes to fill leadership void left by Lavonte David’s retirement.
When the stream of NFL news, in the days before the draft and a couple of weeks before Bucs players hit the practice fields for the second phase of OTAs, you can tell the flow of NFL news is dwindling.
How so? Because cackling about leaders is a big talking point.
Just this past season, watching the Bucs defense fold and quit just reinforced even more for Joe that “leaders” is such empty rhetoric.
(That’s exactly what Jack Ham called chatter about leaders, “empty rhetoric.”)
But here we are. Bucs safety Tykee Smith is not just a good dude, but a strong player. He’s the kind of guy who is a backbone of the Bucs defense.
He didn’t quit last year. Smith, Joe was told, had such a messed-up shoulder that in the final weeks of the season, he couldn’t raise one of his arms above his shoulder he was so hurt.
Imagine playing safety when you can’t raise your arm above your shoulder? That’s gutting it out. Joe wishes more of his defensive teammates played with that sort of heart and desire.
So with the departure of Lavonte David, the chatter was this week at One Buc Palace who is going to step up and be a leader?
(This is also known as bad sports talk radio.)
Smith said that he needs to not just be seen, but also be heard more.
“Definitely looking to step up more with losing Lavonte,” Smith said. “Just going into my third year, trying to become more of a voice on the team.
“I think my leadership style would be more vocal than [Antoine Winfield. “I think we both have two different approaches how we say it.”
Smith said there is no doubt David will be missed. Smith noted how David sort of adopted Smith as a rookie and he learned so much from David.
“Since I got here, I think he played a big part in my success that I had early on,” Smith said. “I think the biggest thing I learned was how to be a pro [and] how to go about it day-to-day.
“Watching him and how he handled everything, how he prepared for the game. … I feel like there would be sometimes he knew what play was about to come before it happens.
“Him taking me under [his] wing was a real blessing my first two years.”
Bucs coach Todd Bowles loves Tykee Smith. Loves how he hustles, how smart he is, how he has the heart of a lion.
Smith is a player Joe doesn’t think anyone has to worry about.
April 22nd, 2026 at 1:45 am
Like Tykee as a Buc. Don’t trust him to last as a player. Most top safeties are in the 205+ range. The team has used smaller players with good results in the short term but neither Winfield nor Smith have proved to be durable.
The best ability is availability. We can admire the courage but have to question the durability of our undersized safeties.
April 22nd, 2026 at 1:56 am
I don’t worry about Smith being a valuable part of the Bucs’ defense but I am worried about Bowles’ use of his talents and ability to be realistic about his limitations. He was just a body out there at safety compared to all the great things he did from the slot in 2024.
I was too busy to join the chorus of ridicule at Ben Solak calling him and Winfield Jr. one of the best tandems in the NFL the other day. Smith after his DROY sparks of buzz garnering rookie campaign and AWJ the $21 million dollar man looked great on paper but anyone who watched them on the field saw they were a pair of pants-pooping, pooch-screwing busters along with the rest of their teammates. It’s not just the coverage busts. Smith’s elite run defense ability from the slot in 2024 did not translate to his play at safety. RBs and QBs gashed the Bucs for long run after long run regularly in a way we haven’t seen in a long, long time. I can’t not lay that at the feet of these safeties. The ILB play wasn’t solely responsible for the collapse. How much more does Winfield need to be paid to be a leader who is in position and gets loud when the others in front of him aren’t?
Bowles of course has his accountability for the despondent amoeba he deployed so disastrously but Tykee Smith will be louder with two arms so it’s going to be better? I’d love it if everyone who played defense for the Bucs in 2025 would shut the eff up until the Week 1 post game presser. Coaches and players are grievously misoverestimating their abilities and making too many excuses for themselves and one another. I want these busters who ran Mike Evans out of town to show me something on the field.
Get loud? How about get long? How about get fluid? How about get some range? How about a move back to the slot where he belongs?
April 22nd, 2026 at 2:45 am
Hopefully it’s somebody else being vocal on the field. I hope he’s not talking about becoming more vocal as in pooping or something.💩
April 22nd, 2026 at 2:47 am
They can always have Chris Braswell become the vocal leader of the D.🤦💩