Bucs' Star-Studded Offense Forcing Secondary to Grow Up Fast
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have one of the youngest defensive backfields in the entire NFL, and after getting thrown into the fire last season, the group is getting tested early and often heading into the 2020 campaign.
That's because the Bucs have one of the league's most explosive and talented offenses, particular through the air.
The offseason additions of Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski have made a talented group even more dangerous, adding legendary talent and championship experience to a group that already includes a pair of Pro Bowl wide receivers in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, as well as one of the league's better tight end tandems in Cameron Brate and O.J. Howard.
Heading into his second NFL season after making huge strides as a rookie, Bucs cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting says his unit is made all the better by being challenged by such a star-studded offense every day in practice.
“It definitely helps us a lot, especially with disguises and stuff like that," Murphy-Bunting said via video conference call Sunday. "Brady’s able to distinguish what we’re in really easily sometimes, and that just helps us and lets us know that we need to do a better job disguising that coverage and what we’re doing. As far as going against Chris and Mike, it always helps with that. They’re the two best receivers in the league, in my opinion, and going against them should make going against everybody else a lot easier. We just need to go 100 percent on those and hopefully it pays off.”
Facing Brady, in particular, is giving the Tampa Bay secondary a new level of confidence when they're able to make plays and succeed during training camp.
“It builds confidence," Murphy-Bunting said of going up against arguably the best quarterback in NFL history every day. "We have to play with high confidence, especially as a secondary, because confidence is everything, really. If you don’t have any confidence, you aren’t going to make a lot of the plays you think you’re going to make. You have to have that swagger and that confidence to be the defensive back that you want to be and to stay on top and be consistent. Obviously making plays on him, everybody is hyped up and everybody is happy about it and excited about it because it’s the G.O.A.T. that you’re going against. It’s not just a regular person or a regular quarterback, it’s a guy that’s won six championships. It brings confidence, it brings intensity and it lets you know that you can make that play against anybody if you can make it against him.”
None of Tampa Bay's top six defensive backs are older than 24, and they'll be tested right off the bat in Week 1 against another future first-ballot Hall of Famer in Drew Brees.
After facing this "Brady Bunch" all through training camp, they'll be as prepared as they possibly could be.
