The Five Actualities For Installing Non-Traditional Tampa

By Mike Kuchar
Co-Founder & Senior Researcher
X&O Labs
@MikekKuchar

This veteran Power 4 DC (I won’t reveal his identity) has been playing some form of Tampa Two since the early 90’s. Much respect! For this coach, it was an answer for wishbone offense so that corners can play the pitch and the middle safety can run the alley as an extra QB player. While he learned it as an option coverage,  most of the coaches I spoke with putting together this report have adapted it as an all-down coverage. So, when I finished putting together our study on Non-Traditional Tampa, I figured he would have some input. Boy, did he. After first telling me that “Tampa is the easiest sh** there is to install,” he went about highlight what he felt were the five vitals in installing the coverage. Enjoy his perspective. But before you do that…some important pieces of clarification.

Why it’s Not Traditional Tampa:

Before getting into what makes this coverage so adaptable, let’s clarify what it is not:

• It is not a pure three-safety defense (at least pre-snap), although it will transform into one post-snap.
• An inside linebacker is not used as the middle runner

“Non-Traditional” Tampa: The Definition:

The difference in “Non-Traditional” Tampa is that the middle runner cannot be an inside linebacker, it must be a third-level defender (Boundary Safety, Free Safety or Nickel). I’ll explain why that’s important later. As you’ll notice in this study, this coverage is used in both static four-down fronts and simulated pressures with the purpose to show one-high looks as much as possible.

Inside the full report a Power 4 DC who's been running Tampa for more than 20 years will walk you through exactly where the “bodies are buried” when you install this coverage, where the pain points are, and how to protect against them. Log in to get his full breakdown, including:

• The single biggest myth about NTT he flatly dispelled — and the run-fit math behind why two of our sources are playing it on more than 50% of downs next season, regardless of distance.
• Why this veteran breaks from the crowd and refuses to hard-call the coverage — and the split-based rule he hands his players instead.
• The teaching philosophy he uses in place of landmark drops entirely — and why he's convinced it clouds the QB's vision better than anything else.
• The two route concepts that give NTT the most trouble — and the precise middle-runner and corner techniques he teaches to take them away.
• The depth and read progression he coaches for the middle runner so a defender can diagnose run/pass without over-running his landmark.
• The one pre-snap presentation you MUST pair with NTT — even if you're not a man team — and how he disguises it snap to snap.