“He’s An Unbelievable Football Player”
July 19th, 2024
Todd Bowles is not shy when it comes to his new starting cornerback.
The Zyon McCollum love was flowing from the head coach. Bowles went about as over-the-top for an unproven player as Joe has ever heard.
“He’s a very good technician,” Bowles told The Sick Podcast — Pirate Parlay this week. “He’s very quick-twitch. His understanding of the game has grown expansively. He’s an unbelievable football player, and I think a lot of people are going to get to see that this year.”
McCollum started nine games last season because of injuries to now-departed Carlton Davis and Jamel Dean. McCollum flashed his skills but was inconsistent and didn’t find an interception.
The 2022 fifth-round pick was given the starting job in March after the Davis trade.
Joe loves how Bowles is all-in on McCollum. Corners need to be confident and Joe suspects Bowles will continue to gas up McCollum whenever he has the chance.
Now McCollum must prove he’s at least in the class of Davis — to improve a pass defense that allowed the fourth-most yards in the NFL last season.
July 19th, 2024 at 11:55 am
The potential is there, the experience is being gained, and this kid has all the opportunity coming into this season to be as good as he put his mind to being.
I’m expecting solid play for Zyon, but hoping for a 2024 “I am Him” type season, especially in this defense, bring the 0 blitz back coach!!!
July 19th, 2024 at 11:57 am
Will McCollum be better than the 36th ranked CB Davis? Yes I’m sure he will.
July 19th, 2024 at 12:03 pm
Didn’t we give up a 4th the following year for Zion? So, yes he was a 5th but not a standard pick.
Regardless, I think he is a tremendous signing and even though he will have a learning curve this year, he will develop into a great player…
July 19th, 2024 at 12:07 pm
Cannot wait to see how McCollum does this season. Bowles really said a lot of positive things about him, sounds promising.
July 19th, 2024 at 12:22 pm
He’s at least as good as CD3 for 10% of the cap hit
July 19th, 2024 at 12:46 pm
His athleticism is off the charts.
Now we’re going to see whether he has the game knowledge and instincts to match. He was caught out of position quite a bit last season.
July 19th, 2024 at 1:26 pm
Last year he had a big leap from rookie year o was calling him out last year though he stepped up I think this year he gonna prove some people wrong
July 19th, 2024 at 1:49 pm
Back End is going to need all the help they can get.
Bucs have games against teams with passing ranks in 2023 of 2,3,4,6,10, 11(2), 13, 14, two teams ranked worse (Chiefs/Ravens) and 2 games against a team that could be top 5 in passing with a better QB in 2024.
With 10 games against teams that were ranked in Rushing from 1st to 14th it
could be that much harder on the secondary if they have to use resources from the secondary to stop the run.
July 19th, 2024 at 1:51 pm
I’ve heard it said that it takes 3 years for most players to learn Todd’s defense
Plus he has one of the best indicators for success in professional sports, he has a father who played a sport at the highest level (his dad played for the Chicago bulls).
Add that together and I expect a breakout season.
July 19th, 2024 at 2:15 pm
Best ability is availability. I suspect Davis will not be missed.
July 19th, 2024 at 2:53 pm
He’s got a perfect 10 RAS score.
He was picked very much as a project player, and had a rough rookie year when he was asked to play early, when he clearly wasn’t ready. However last year he made some big leaps and improved quite a bit. But man is it risky to make him a full on starter with no real depth behind him.
Unlike Britt – who has a high football IQ but very limited physical abilities, Zyon has all the physical potential in the world.
July 19th, 2024 at 3:09 pm
@Rod Munch – Disagree that we have ‘no real depth’. Picking up Bryce Hall was a sneaky good pick, and that guy will pay dividends. He was stuck behind Sauce Gardner and DJ Reed on the Jets, but a lot of Jets fans were very high on him as a 3rd WR and were sorry to see him go. I wouldn’t be surprised if he actually pressures Zyon for the starting spot, particularly if Zyon doesn’t start as fast as we hope he does. Tavierre Thomas is also pretty solid veteran depth.
July 19th, 2024 at 3:12 pm
Guys, it’s the 90 man roster until the end of August, we’ve got depth everywhere for the time being lol
July 19th, 2024 at 3:29 pm
Bowles is just stoking his ego. A great track star but is he a football player? Playing opposite of Dean, he will be targeted. Potential to be realized if his tackling improves a little and exceeds CD3 with over two picks.
July 19th, 2024 at 3:53 pm
-sigh-
Zyon McCollum rookie year:
22 Targets, 16 catches allowed, 1 TD allowed, & 72% completion pct allowed
Zyon McCollum last season:
92 targets, 52 catches allowed, 3 TD allowed, 9 PBUs, 2 FF & 59% completions pct allowed.
92 career combined tackles playing defense and being a gunner on punt team. Zyons’ future is pretty bright and if you get the chance to listen to him talk he’s bright and oozes a lot of confidence. I’ll take that from a 5th rounder going into year 3
July 19th, 2024 at 3:54 pm
He is in his third year and started last year. Hardly unproven!
July 19th, 2024 at 4:03 pm
Sleeping on Bryce Hall.
He’s likely to start .
July 19th, 2024 at 5:27 pm
CallTheSaltTruck Says:
July 19th, 2024 at 3:09 pm
@Rod Munch – Disagree that we have ‘no real depth’. Picking up Bryce Hall was a sneaky good pick, and that guy will pay dividends.
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I hope so, but last year we heard all the same things about Ryan Neal – and he was flat out awful. Teams tend to not give up good talent that is dirt cheap. But hey, every once in a while you get a Shaq Barrett, so we shall see. Again, certainly not rooting against him, I just am very skeptical of guys who aren’t old, and take vet min deals with no known signing bonus. They can certainly help your team – but counting on them to start is extremely risky. Hopefully it works out.
July 19th, 2024 at 5:33 pm
Dude Says:
Zyons’ future is pretty bright and if you get the chance to listen to him talk he’s bright and oozes a lot of confidence. I’ll take that from a 5th rounder going into year 3
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Certainly! His physical abilities are off the chart. Had he went to a bigger school and played well, he’d have been a 1st rounder with those athletic traits. Always a gamble to bet on these guys, they rarely work out, but if you take your time and don’t throw them into the fire immediately – that’s the best way to get good results and I think the Bucs did a good job with that. With that said I loved him as a #3 corner who is still developing, but replacing the #1 corner, however, is just so risky. Then again, the cap is what it is, and frankly I think Bowles is going to run a very soft boring mostly zone defense, which puts a lot less risk on your corners.
July 19th, 2024 at 5:57 pm
it all starts with Yaya and VEA and Kancey etc…
A consistent pass rush can make this defensive backfield one of the top in the NFL
July 19th, 2024 at 6:09 pm
Would you believe that we know have depth in the secondary!When was the last Bucs team that could say that?
July 19th, 2024 at 6:54 pm
I think Hayes will contribute this year, as well.
July 19th, 2024 at 7:42 pm
@Rod Munch- Neal is a fair callout, though the weird thing is he WAS pretty good for the Seahawks in 22, and had been decent for them up until that point in 21 and 20. I honestly wonder if the problem with Neal was scheme fit, or possibly some kind of injury he tried to play through. It’s hard to say.
Like you say, sometimes you get Shaq, sometimes you get Neal. The good news is that we can play the odds that at least one of Zyon or Hall will be able to hold it down opposite Dean, which we didn’t have the luxury of last year with Neal.
July 19th, 2024 at 7:49 pm
Larrd Says:
July 19th, 2024 at 6:54 pm
I think Hayes will contribute this year, as well.
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Agreed, but I think he’s going to mostly be inside, while Zyon is going to almost exclusively be outside. I could be wrong, but based on their size, length and how teams guys, that would seem to be the scenario.
July 19th, 2024 at 7:57 pm
CallTheSaltTruck Says:
July 19th, 2024 at 7:42 pm
@Rod Munch- Neal is a fair callout, though the weird thing is he WAS pretty good for the Seahawks in 22, and had been decent for them up until that point in 21 and 20. I honestly wonder if the problem with Neal was scheme fit, or possibly some kind of injury he tried to play through. It’s hard to say.
Like you say, sometimes you get Shaq, sometimes you get Neal.
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I didn’t watch Neal in ’22, but the Seahawks knew what they had behind the scenes, and that’s clearly why they let him walk when all they had to do was give him a min offer. With the Bucs, Neal’s biggest problem, in my opinion, was the incredibly awful he was at angles he took. He single handedly lost that first Lions game, and had a bunch of blown coverages that cost the team a bunch of points. Truly awful – seemed to have no idea what he was doing.
But to be clear, I said occasionally you’ll have a Shaq, but 99% you don’t have a Shaq. Doesn’t mean Hall will be bad or anything, he might be a good backup or special teams player that helps fill out the offer. The issue is when you start expecting someone to step and start. Also with Shaq, he still got like a $5m deal or something, I believe, it wasn’t like he signed a vet min with no signing bonus like Hall did. However, I hope Hall turns out to be awesome, that would be quite the find for the team.
July 19th, 2024 at 8:01 pm
He won’t have to play out there with a liability at safety this year ( Neal ) . I like the starting corners and safeties
July 19th, 2024 at 8:05 pm
Best case scenario for the Bucs…
Go back to 2002… the Bucs, seemingly out of the blue, release Donnie Abraham, who is still just 28, is coming off a very good season, and everyone thought, what in the hell are they doing, you don’t just dump a very good corner.
Well the Bucs had Brian Kelly, who is a vastly underrated player by even Bucs fans. Him and Ronde locked down the outside, and that 2002 Bucs defense is THE best passing defense in the history of the NFL.
So obviously this Bucs defense couldn’t even sniff the jock of that 2002 GOAT defense, but still, that scenario might be playing out if the Bucs know, behind the scenes, that Zyon is absolutely ready to start.
The issue with him, to me, is more about depth. See the 2003 Bucs team – it was Kelly getting hurt in that MNF vs the Colts that lead to the downfall of that team because they had zero depth at corner (the young guys weren’t ready yet). While that 2003 defense was still great, they were no longer elite because there was now a chink in the armor. But, then again, this isn’t a SB-caliber team, and you can only do what you can do with the cap, so we’ll see how it goes.
July 20th, 2024 at 12:45 pm
Rod, excellent reference to 2002 then 2003 and the injury to Kelly dooming the Bucs. Not to mention, Alstott and Jurevicius took each other out on the same play by a friendly fire collision. Bucs also let Dexter Jackson walk after 2002 SB and had nothing at safety opposite Lynch.
Like the injury bug and AB going crazy and Todd going brain dead in the Rams game all contributes to not repeating in 21.
Makes what the Chiefs have done so impressive. It helps to have the best player in football.