T.J. Tampa begins NFL career with ‘chip on my shoulder’ after his fall to fourth round

T.J. Tampa had heard the NFL draft is “unpredictable.”

The former Iowa State standout then experienced that firsthand.

Tampa was widely projected to be a second-round pick or, at worst, a third-round selection. But Friday’s second day of the draft came and went without Tampa hearing his name called.

Even as Saturday’s third and final day of the draft began, it took another 29 picks before Tampa received the call from the Baltimore Ravens telling him he was their selection with the No. 130 overall pick.

“Of course, I would have liked to have gone earlier,” Tampa told Baltimore reporters over the weekend.

Tampa was among the prospects Baltimore general manager Eric DeCosta “didn’t necessarily expect they would be there” when the Ravens were be on the clock at pick No. 130.

“T.J. is a guy that quite honestly we would have taken on the second day of the draft,” DeCosta said. “A press corner, long, just a guy that we think really fits what we do very, very well.”

Asked about sliding to the fourth round, Tampa is “going to use that as fuel every day.”

“It’s definitely a chip on my shoulder from here on out for all the teams that skipped me and all the corners that went before me,” Tampa said.

NFL teams selected 15 cornerbacks ahead of Tampa — three in the first round, seven in the second round, three in the third round and two in the fourth round before Baltimore’s pick No. 130.

Tampa was Baltimore’s second cornerback drafted, following the first-round selection of former Clemson cornerback Nate Wiggins.

Tampa and Wiggins coincidentally were roommates at the NFL Combine. Indianapolis rooming arrangements aside, it did not help Tampa’s draft value in Baltimore.

“Honestly we would have taken him a lot higher, had we not taken Nate,” DeCosta said.

Tampa’s 40-yard dash time at the Big 12 pro day — he did not run at the NFL Combine — “might have hurt him a little bit” too, DeCosta said while also noting he can’t speak for other teams.

“But for us, you’re looking at him, we see the length,” DeCosta said. “We see the size. We see the leaping ability, his ability to play the football. He’s a tough guy. He tackles well.”

Standing 6-foot-1 with a 78 5/8-inch wingspan, Tampa is physically one of the bigger cornerbacks in this year’s draft class.

“Any time you have a size corner, you’re always intrigued,” said David Blackburn, the Ravens’ director of college scouting. “But I think he’s got the necessary movement skills at that size along with his length to give us something as a coverage player and then also be able to support the run.”

Tampa will give Baltimore much-needed depth at cornerback, with incumbents Marlon Humphrey and Brandon Stephens and the first-rounder Wiggins likely ahead of him. Blackburn also anticipates Tampa being a “special teams guy for us.”

“I’ve been at the bottom of the depth chart before, and I’m willing to work my way up again,” Tampa said.

Tampa’s new team seems to appreciate his mindset as he begins his NFL career, too.

“We think he’s going to have a chip on his shoulder and play well,” DeCosta said.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com