T.J. Tampa scouting report: Exploring the Iowa State CB's strengths and weaknesses

A three-star recruit in 2020, T.J. Tampa sparingly appeared on special teams and as a reserve DB as a true freshman, before starting five of 13 the following season. In 2022, he became a full-time starter and first-team All-Big 12 selection, which he repeated the year after. Across those two seasons, he recorded 84 tackles (eight for loss), three interceptions and 16 pass breakups.

Details: 6-foot-1, 195 pounds; SR.

Breaking down T.J. Tampa's scouting report

Andrel Anthony #5 of the Oklahoma Sooners loses control of a long pass as he is hit by defensive back T.J. Tampa #2 of the Iowa State Cyclones

Strengths

Man-coverage

• T.J. Tampa is a long-limbed and explosive athlete, who is very comfortable playing bump-and-run coverage.
• Packs a ton of force in his hands, to put some receivers on the ground every once in a while, plus then he’ll bait opponents by faking the jam.
• His acceleration when he has to flip and run with guys, to not allow them to detach vertically, really stands out.
• Yet, when he doesn’t put hands on receivers, he displays calm feet as he almost shuffles with the outside release before crossing over with the inside foot to get up to full gear as they put their head down on fades.
• Had a couple of awesome reps sticking with Oklahoma speedster Marvin Mims during their 2022 matchup.
• Does well to sort out releases out of bunch sets and stay patient with his man to emerge, to be square as they ultimately make their break.
• Showcases impressive coordination, to not trip himself up or waste a whole lot of time when receivers seemingly catch him off guard on double-releases or breaking across his face after flipping the other way originally.
• Does not allow receivers to separate on secondary routes typically, particularly as they try to take off down the field.

Zone-coverage

• While ISU played a lot of man, particularly with their boundary corner, when they did rotate into cover-three for example, T.J. Tampa still showed man with square shoulders and then quickly gained ground getting into a quarter-turn.
• Continues to maintain his outside leverage in deep zone assignments as he counters stems towards the middle of the field.
• Understands where the sticks are and is ready to stop completions in front of him short of converting.
• With the force in his hands, Tampa effectively funnels receivers to his safeties without really having to void his landmarks.
• Looks totally comfortable playing look-and-lean when receivers try to take off on him or just tracking the ball extensively as it is in the air on post routes.
• With his length and ball skills, you love what he shows attacking the ball at its apex.
• Had a massive 20.7% forced incompletion rate in 2023, holding opposing passers to 25-of-49 for 240 yards and one touchdown vs. two interceptions.

Run defense & tackling

• Consistently stays ready to come off blocks and secure tackles when the ball is coming his way.
• You just don’t ever see guys be able to get all the way to the sideline against him, before getting chopped down.
• Will actively reduce the space against tight ends when there’s nobody outside of them, and close down the C-/D-gap.
• Has the suddenness to get around blockers and trip up ball-carriers when there’s bigger bodies working out to the corner.
• The Cyclones blitzed him off the short side quite a bit, where he didn’t tip it off at all but instantly was able to access that burst to get near the ball.
• While the technique can be questioned, if Tampa is able to get a wrap on ball carriers from the side, he’s usually able to twist them to the ground.

Weaknesses

• T.J. Tampa tends to give excess cushion in off-man or when he’s basically isolated on the backside in cover-four.
• Pretty high and rather choppy in his back-pedal, while his height makes it challenging against twitchy route-runners (pivot for TD by Texas’ Xavier Worthy in 2022).
• In press, when he misses the jam or the receiver or defeats his hands he’ll sort of gamble on an early break and allow guys to detach down the field.
• There’s room to improve his management of space as a flat-defender and discourage quarterbacks from throwing passes over his head (corner routes/honey-hole shots) or curling up inside of him.
• Very much an ankle-biter or diver as a tackler, whose miss numbers will rise against more powerful, balanced NFL players – already failed on ten of 59 attempts last season (16.9%).

T.J. Tampa's 2024 NFL Draft projection

T.J. Tampa #2 of the Iowa State Cyclones blocks a touchdown pass as wide receiver Langston Anderson #88 of the Oklahoma State Cowboys

If you’re looking for a physical press-man corner in this class, T.J. Tampa’s ability to dictate terms to receivers early in the route and out-battle them with the ball in the air is about as good anybody in this class.

So if you’re running a more single-high-centric defense, where you give him those opportunities along with using the press-bail technique in cover three, I think you may value this guy as someone worthy of going late in the first round. However, I don’t really want him to spend any excessive time playing off, since he doesn’t nearly manage that space between him and receivers as well.

So for other teams, they may look at him being more of a mid-day two prospect simply because he’s not a great scheme fit and/or they value tackle at a high level. Either way, he’ll need to clean up that area of his game, which I don’t believe there’s any lack of affinity for contact. Personally, I value him as an early second-round pick, with very similar grades to the guy just ahead and after him.

T.J. Tampa Grade: Early second round