Neal, who signed with the Buccaneers in April and is transitioning back to his original position of safety, has stood out to head coach Todd Bowles thus far in training camp, Brianna Dix of the team's official site reports. "Keanu is nothing but a pro since he's come in," Bowles said. "He's dropped his weight, going from linebacker in Dallas to coming in now [as a safety]. We know how he is in the run game. The great thing was he understands the passing game, he understands the angles and his drops have been very good."
Neal played linebacker almost exclusively with the Cowboys last season after toiling at safety for his first six seasons while with the Falcons. The 2016 first-round pick has generated three 100-tackle efforts during the trio of campaigns in which he's played double-digit games, and while Neal may not get enough snaps in Tampa Bay's deep secondary to accomplish that feat again, the expectation is that Neal's size and cover skills will frequently play an integral role in neutralizing running backs and receivers out in the flat when he's on the field.