BSPN: Keionte Scott Is A “Chaos Creator”
May 11th, 2026
Blitz, baby.
Former NFL safety and current Chicagoland high school coach Matt Bowen believed first-round draft pick edge rusher Rueben Bain was made to play in KitKat-eating Bucs coach Todd Bowles’ defense.
But per Bowen’s words, it seems he is even more excited about the Bucs getting nickel corner Keionte Scott from Miami. Bowen noted in an BSPN article how devastating Scott is as a blitzer. Put him on a Bowles team that likes to blitz, and it’s a marriage made on the pirate ship.
Why he fits: I went into Day 3 to write about Scott because he is a chaos creator who can thrive in Bowles’ defense as a slot/overhang defender. Tampa Bay had a defensive back blitz rate of 17.8% last season, the highest in the league. Scott had five sacks for Miami in 2025, so he could easily be used as a blitzer in 2026. Plus, he has the tackling range and short-area speed to close on the ball. He’s a high-energy defender who found a really good landing spot in Tampa.
Something in that excerpt jump out at you? Last year the Bucs’ ranked 27th in passing yards allowed per game yet the Bucs blitzed their defensive more than any team in the NFL.
Mmmaaayyy-bee the Bucs should have dialed back on the blitzes? Just a thought.
Anyway, Joe is fully stoked about Scott. This defense was so lethargic — no energy, little spirit, little heart — the Bucs sorely need a dynamic personality, defender and in-your-face player like Scott.
May 11th, 2026 at 6:41 am
Bowles “blitz” rate will go down substantially if/when the front 4/5 are consistently getting pressure, hits and sacks on the QB…..
I would rather see Todd trying to be aggressive while not succeeding than watch the Bucs sit back and play passive, mushy soft zone all the time (ala Lovie and Mike Smith) while not succeeding…..
The defensive front 7 has been majorly fortified heading into 2026. Bucs will have top 10 rankings on both offense and defense this year I bet… which means double digit wins on the season and a legit chance to make some noise in the playoffs.
May 11th, 2026 at 6:43 am
Scott should definitely be a nice “chess piece” for Todd to work with!
May 11th, 2026 at 6:50 am
For some reason, the Bucs drafting Keionte Scott has me more excited than us drafting Reuben Bain. I really believe that Scott could be REALLY SPECIAL, but it’ll take some time because he’s still raw. Gut feel is that he’ll ultimately end up replacing Winfield as one of our Safeties.
This youngster has truly elite speed. He ran a 4.25 sec 40 back at his Pro Day on 23 March of this year, plus had a 44″ vertical. WOW! It’ll be interesting to see how the Bucs use him this year, beyond just Nickel of course.
May 11th, 2026 at 6:57 am
Could see him play nickle backer with anzalone as well
May 11th, 2026 at 6:58 am
It’s going to be fun to see how this kid is utilized in the defense. It’s time for Winfield to play equal to his paycheck. He and McCullom seemed to have gotten quite lazy and comfortable after getting big fat paychecks. I’m equally interested in how those 2 players perform this year.
May 11th, 2026 at 7:54 am
Bain and Keionte have that connection when playing on Miami Hurricanes. They work well together. The Bucs were fortunate that that Keiont was still available in the fourth round of the draft.
This was a great draft for the Bucs. The Bucs fell off the cliff last year due to injuries and players not performing/quitting on the team. The quitters need to be put on notice – play well or walk the Plank. The Bucs need to drop them from the team and let the league know why they were dropped. Another team may sign them, but their quitters attitude will hurt them in the wallet. Either leave it all on the field or walk the plank to your NFL carreer.
May 11th, 2026 at 8:09 am
By the 5th game he will see that his efforts are futile in Bowles’ defense and he will be listless too
May 11th, 2026 at 8:13 am
It will take time for rookies to fully adapt to the speed of the NFL
They won’t come in day one and dominating
This league is far superior to college football
I’m not expecting a whole lot from Rueben Bain and Keionte Scott
These NFL offensive coordinators are far too advanced, so are the players
5-10 year veterans struggle in the NFL
It’s insane to think rookies will come in and take over
May 11th, 2026 at 8:17 am
Lots of hype for the rookies Joe. I’m optimistic we have some good players, but Joe is publishing a bunch of stories from desperately bored media. Hopefully, the players will get back to practice and Joe can give us his excellent reports of actual play – even if it’s underwear football.
The rookie I want to hear more about is Billy Schrauth. The more I read about this guy the more he seems like another great Licht OL pick. Too bad that real hitting is long way off to see Billy work.
NFL Draft Buzz says:
Exceptional pass protector who allowed zero sacks and just two hurries across 213 pass blocking snaps in 2025, keeping the pocket remarkably clean on the interior.
Gets out of his stance with smooth lateral quickness and shows real fluidity in his feet for a 305-pound guard who ran a 5.25 forty at his size.
Anchors with a vengeance against bull rushers by throwing his hips back and rooting into the ground, rarely giving up his chest or getting walked into the quarterback’s lap.
Takes smart, efficient angles when climbing to the second level, arriving with enough force to make linebackers feel it and sustaining through the whistle.
Wore the captain’s “C” for a reason. Pre-snap communication, stunt recognition, and assignment reliability were all on full display throughout his time as a starter in South Bend.
Positional versatility adds real value. He logged over 1,000 snaps at left guard and 370 at right guard across his career, and scouting reports mention tackle experience as well.
The big negative about Billy is the knee injury he had. I hope Joe can ask Billy how he’s feeling.
May 11th, 2026 at 8:22 am
Photo looks like Warrick Dunn in 8th grade
May 11th, 2026 at 8:23 am
We have drafted 3 very good Dbacks……Tykee, Parish & Scott….I expect great things from them
May 11th, 2026 at 8:32 am
TBBF … ‘We have drafted 3 very good Dbacks……Tykee, Parrish & Scott….I expect great things from them’.
Me too TBBF. Tykee has turned into an excellent Safety, and Parrish has already shown that he’s a quality Nickel with talent to play outside (IF that’s what we need; would prefer to see him stay at Nickel). I’m not 100% sure where Scott will fit best, but I’m still guessing that it’ll be either Nickel or Safety (probably both actually). If this restructured defense gels early enough, no reason IMO why we can’t end up in the Top-10.
May 11th, 2026 at 8:42 am
Gut feel is that he’ll ultimately end up replacing Winfield as one of our Safeties.
BINGO!!!!!
HUGE year for Winfield!!!
GO BUCS!!!!
May 11th, 2026 at 8:59 am
The emperor has no clothes, but at least it seems he’s more of an idiot than we thought.
May 11th, 2026 at 9:00 am
Hoping for a podcast today!
May 11th, 2026 at 9:01 am
I wonder if Winfield saw lackluster play from some of his fellow players and said EFF-IT. If those guys have been launched and with this influx of heart and talent maybe he regains his fire, he had it even after he got paid but didn’t really show it last year. I have my eye’s on Morrison who will enter camp healthy and if he plays like he did at ND then we could have a real defense brewing. These additions on D where just what we needed. I don’t think anyone should complain about what JL & TB saw as weaknesses and then addressed them this off season and we’re not done yet. I hope it pans out sooner rather than later.
May 11th, 2026 at 9:02 am
You won’t read much about Schrauth until at least August. Here’s why:
It’s underwear football season. Impossible to tell if a rookie offensive lineman doing anything if he can’t hit.
Also, Joe can tell already he wants nothing to do with sportswriters, which is slightly unusual for an offensive lineman. Kinda hard to tell a story if a guy doesn’t want to cooperate.
If Schrauth is on the field practicing, Joe’s very confident he will say his knee is fine. If it wasn’t, Bucs aren’t going to have the guy practicing in May.
Schrauth is a guard. If he’s playing tackle, there’s a crisis like last year. Not saying he cannot play tackle but Justin Skule is the first backup at tackle.
Joe is happy the Bucs drafted him. Joe wrote about him possibly being a Bucs target back in March. Sadly if you are looking for intel on an offensive lineman, May isn’t the time, especially from a guy who appears he’d rather slam his thumb with a hammer than talk to a sportswriter. 🙂
May 11th, 2026 at 9:55 am
Joe, yeah I noticed Billy wasn’t too talkative in his interview but he also seemed unconfortable. Maybe he will open up a little more with time.
May 11th, 2026 at 10:00 am
“Mmmaaayyy-bee the Bucs should have dialed back on the blitzes? Just a thought.”
Certainly a distinct possibility. Or…perhaps, we need to focus on improving the percentage of times we ‘get home’ and actually sack the QB!?
May 11th, 2026 at 10:27 am
Like any coach Todd needs players which is hard to do with the gm he has
May 11th, 2026 at 11:37 am
I love how slowly we’re all getting excited for these damn prospects and yet deep down we know the core root is still not fixed, so it’s all just false hope.
May 11th, 2026 at 1:29 pm
Scott, Bain and Trotter all do one thing very well. They play in the offensive backfield. Lot of Tackles for loss this season by these 3 Rookies.
May 11th, 2026 at 5:33 pm
1st Line
Yaya
Kancey
Vea
Robinson
Bain
2nd Line
Mohammed
Nacho
Capehart
Elijah
Nelson
Not bad.
May 11th, 2026 at 6:02 pm
The loss of Kancy really hurt the Bucs more than any other. No one stepped up to fill his void except for Nelly in one game against the Saints and for whatever reason he practically disappeared after that. Signing the over the hill OLB was a joke by Licht and I said so in preseason. He just reminded me of Swaggy Baker.