TAMPA, FLORIDA - JANUARY 01: Flags are run in the end zone to celebrate a Tampa Bay Buccaneers touchdown during the fourth quarter against the Carolina Panthers at Raymond James Stadium on January 01, 2023 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
Joe floated a thought during yesterday’s game on X. “Is Zyon McCollum now the Bucs’ best cornerback?
It’s sort of a radical take, but it’s no longer the kind of question that would have fans questioning Joe’s sanity.
McCollum, a 2022 fifth-round pick, has developed and developed and developed, slowly and steadily to the point where yesterday he looked like a big-time starter performing well in a must-win game against a talented Panthers receiving corps.
McCollum led the Bucs with nine combined tackles (six solo) in Atlanta, and he led the team with two official passes defensed plus a forced fumble. And those were special plays.
At 6-2, 200 pounds, McCollum is legitimately an elite athlete and an extra-long corner who is starting to remind Joe of a slightly quicker and more versatile version of starting cornerback Jamel Dean — back when Dean was a second-year player on the rise in 2020.
Dean was a mid-third-round pick and had the first-round athleticism and willingness to tackle that Joe sees in McCollum.
One difference, however, is that Dean played big time college ball at Auburn. McCollum walked into the Bucs’ veteran secondary with a bigger learning curve out of Sam Houston Statea. He had to earn all his stripes, some of them painful.
Joe talked to two people in the know after yesterday’s thrilling win in Atlanta about McCollum. Each agreed that McCollum is probably a shade better than Dean was at the same point in their careers.
Player development has been a staple of the Todd Bowles defense and the Jason Licht regime. And it seems McCollum is another example. He’s good on special teams, too.
