(Note: The Salty Dogs is a long-running podcast produced by Buccaneer staffers Jeff Ryan and Scott Smith on a weekly basis during the regular season, frequently featuring Tampa Bay players as guests. The following is excerpted from this week’s interview on the podcast with rookie versatile defensive back Christian Izien.)
Christian Izien impressively won the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' nickel corner job last season after arriving as an undrafted free agent out of Rutgers. However, the Buccaneers subsequently spent a third-round pick in the 2024 draft on Georgia's Tykee Smith and, after testing several options during the offseason and training camp, elected to start this season with Smith in the slot.
However, so far that has not minimized Izien's role in the defense. Through the first two weeks of the season, he has been one of the most impactful players on a defense that has helped the Buccaneers to a 2-0 start. In the season opener, he was pressed into service in the second half as an outside corner, a position he hadn't played since high school. When All-Pro safety Antoine Winfield Jr. suffered a foot injury late in that contest, Izien was shifted to free safety against Detroit. After saving an injury-riddled defense with his work at an unfamiliar position against Washington, he came up big as the Bucs held onto a 20-16 win against the Lions, notching an interception and a fourth-down stop inside Tampa Bay's 10-yard line in the fourth quarter.
Complicating matters this past week was the flu that laid up Smith for most of the team's preparation time and made him a question mark on game day. Izien had to prepare to play both safety and slot corner depending upon Smith's availability.
"It's a challenge all week to prepare for each position, not knowing what you're going to play until the week is over the last couple weeks," said Izien. "I have had an opportunity to play multiple positions now and get a feel for it in a game, especially, which is always different than practice. It's just being ready for any opportunity that comes my way throughout the week.
"Not knowing last week what the situation may have been with all the people that may have been out, just watching the film multiple different ways and different facets, making different calls to play different positions. Sometimes I would call this call if I'm playing nickel and see how we play it here, then do the same thing with me at safety and play around with down-and-distances, each call. I just plan out the game in my head while I'm watching film."
So now that he's sunk into just about every possible role in the Bucs' secondary, which position does Izien prefer to play? That's simple. "Playing on the field is my favorite position."
That said, the four seasons he spent playing safety at Rutgers before he switched to the slot as a senior made his transition to the back end of the defense a lot easier in Week Two.
"Really comfortable," he said. "I feel like that's my true position that I've played and I know like the back of my hand. Just being back there this week with someone like Jordan Whitehead, a great safety, just having so much fun back there with him. Playing against that good offense like we did, I feel like we did a great job."
Izien's ability to credibly patch up the defense at multiple spots obviously increases his value to the roster exponentially. Getting all that varied work has also made him a better player at any spot he occupies.
"Learning everybody's position and having a feel for who's doing what on what play helps me a lot," he said. "Having a feel for who I'm out there with and what he likes to do, what they're comfortable doing, playing off them, it's a real good feeling."
