The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been trying a lot of different things in their secondary this offseason. One of them is moving outside cornerback Zyon McCollum into the slot more often. Scott Reynolds of Pewter Report noted that he saw this occur during OTAs and got a confirmation on it from head coach Todd Bowles.
“Zyon (McCollum) has been playing inside too,” said Scott Reynolds. “Zyon will move inside, let’s say against Drake London, a bigger receiver who the Falcons will move inside to the slot. If you want to kind of match size on size.”
McCollum is entering his fifth NFL season. So far, he has 2,445 snaps as an outside cornerback and 202 snaps in the slot. Most of the snaps were due to motions or formations that moved him inside rather than the team’s intentions.
Still, they signed him to a notable extension last offseason, which means putting more on his plate. He is now the player with the longest tenure on the team, and is going to lead by example by playing both outside and in the slot.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers Plan to Shake Up Their Secondary
GettyTampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Zyon McCollum.
This came out at a similar time that it was reported that Jacob Parrish will get more work on the outside. Parrish noted that he is more familiar with the slot after his rookie year, so the plan is to get more accustomed to the outside this offseason. However, it is clear that the Bucs have plans to mix-and-match their secondary members based on the opponents.
With Parrish, the thought is that he would play outside with McCollum and then shift into the slot on nickel snaps. This would allow Benjamin Morrison to get onto the field. Because of his injury issues, this is a compromise to get Morrison snaps, but not overwork him. It also brings out the best in Parrish.
The team can also play Parrish and McCollum on the outside, then bring in Keionte Scott as more of a big nickel compared to the undersized Parrish.
However, they are getting a similar impact by shoving McCollum into the slot. In nickel situations, they could play Parrish and Morrison on the outside with McCollum inside. This would make life easier on Scott, who is just a rookie. It would also allow Parrish to stay within size matchups that he can win against.
Pressure Mounts on Todd Bowles in Make-or-Break Season
On paper, it sounds great to have so many moving pieces, but in practice, it takes a lot of work, and you will need to make the right decision at the right time. Bowles is putting a lot on his own plate, but it makes sense considering how hot his seat is.
It appears Bowles knows that if the defense lets the team down this year, his job will be on the line, so he is going to pull out all the stops to get the most of this defense. Whether it will be too much or the right amount of chaos will define his tenure with the Bucs.
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