T.J. Tampa, CB Iowa State: 2024 NFL Draft Profile
Tampa was a three-star athlete/wide receiver recruit from Lakewood High School in St. Petersburg, Fla. in the class of 2020
Iowa State cornerback T.J. Tampa has some flashes of high-end play, but the senior projects as a Day 3 selection in the 2024 NFL Draft. Tampa earned Second Team All-Big 12 honors in 2022.
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T.J. Tampa, CB Iowa State: 2024 NFL Draft Profile
Classification: Senior outside cornerback from St. Petersburg, Fla.
Background: Tampa was a three-star athlete/wide receiver recruit from Lakewood High School in St. Petersburg, Fla. in the class of 2020. He was the No. 1,167 recruit according to 247Sports and No. 1,040 for On3.com. Tampa was an unranked three-star recruit for Rivals and an unranked three-star recruit for ESPN with a 74 grade out of 100. He played defensive back and wide receiver in high school. Tampa was the 2020 Pinellas County Athlete of the Year and earned All-County and All-Conference honors twice. As a senior, he amassed 30 receptions for 554 yards and nine touchdowns to reach the Class 4A state semifinals. As a junior, Tampa caught 37 passes for 769 yards and nine touchdowns while adding 32 tackles, nine tackles for loss, four sacks, a pick-six, two forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery returned for a touchdown. The Florida native also earned All-County honors in basketball twice. He averaged 10.5 points per game as a senior, leading Lakewood to the conference title. Tampa was born on March 13, 2002.
Injuries & Off-Field: N/A
Awards: 2022 Second Team All-Big 12
Pros: Special teams experience on the kick coverage, punt return, and field goal block units, only penalized twice in 2021 and 2022 combined, healthy exposure to a combination of press, off-man, and zone coverages, good but not elite arm length, quick but high backpedal, quick to close on short routes or crossers, plenty of reps against Kansas State (2022) erasing receivers by staying even and in-phase with inside leverage on vertical routes, some success carrying routes vertically, fluid transitions between assignments in zone, when in zone reads the QB’s eyes to jump routes, good job setting the edge against tight end blocks on outside runs
Cons: Sits high in his backpedal, hips show some tightness, foot speed, deep speed is tested by burners, lacks high-end burst and closing speed, lacks agility and speed for heavy doses of man coverage, bumped off his coverage by tight ends and physical receivers, struggles to mirror twitchy or dynamic releases, early opening his hips, allows wide receivers to enter his blind spot and turn him around in man coverage, late to halt momentum, get his hips around out of his half-turn, and drive when sitting on top of deep comeback or curl routes, sent sliding and stumbling on a whip route by Xavier Worthy (2022), struggles with block defeat, struggles to disengage from or play through blocks, doesn’t come to balance as a tackler, tackling technique relies on going low and throwing shoulders against larger players, completely ineffective as a pass rusher
Overview: Tampa primarily lined up as a boundary corner for Iowa State in 2022 but also spent time playing to the field side of the defense. He has special teams experience on the kick coverage, punt return, and field goal block units. He was only penalized twice combined in 2021 and 2022 despite playing close to 950 combined defensive snaps during that time. Iowa State exposes Tampa to a combination of press, off-man, and zone coverages, but he primarily plays in zone assignments for the Cyclones. Tampa has impressive arm length and good overall size. He's quick to close on short routes or crossers. Tampa doesn’t appear to have elite deep speed, but he looked at home erasing vertical routes by staying even and in-phase with inside leverage versus Kansas State (2022). The senior smoothly transition between assignments in zone coverage and reads the quarterback’s eyes to jump routes. He does a good job setting the edge against tight end blocks on outside runs. Unfortunately, Tampa struggles to disengage from or play through blocks and doesn’t come to balance as a tackler consistently. His tackling technique relies on going low and throwing shoulders. In coverage, the former three-star recruit sits high in his backpedal and displays some hip tightness. His foot speed and deep speed are areas of potential concern. Tampa lacks high-end burst and closing speed. He doesn’t have the agility, footwork, or speed for heavy doses of man coverage. The Florida native struggles to mirror twitchy or dynamic releases. He opens his hips early and allows wide receivers to enter his blind spot and turn him around in man coverage. Tampa is late to halt momentum, get his hips around out of his half-turn, and drive when sitting on top of deep comeback or curl routes. Players like Texas’ Xavier Worthy (2022) had little trouble creating separation against Tampa with sharp, sudden routes.
Overall, Tampa flashes instances of successfully carrying and eliminating vertical threats, but he lacks the high-end athleticism to be a scheme diverse shutdown corner. Tampa is a pure zone corner with some questionable athletic traits that could limit his projection to the next level.
Role & Scheme Fit: Outside corner in a zone-dominant scheme
Round Projection: Fifth Round
Size: 6'2", 185 lbs. (Unofficial)
Submitted: 05-27-23