Skip to main content
Advertising

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Pick Plans: Zyon McCollum Chasing Six Interceptions in 2024

Third-year corner Zyon McCollum, who is moving into the starting lineup in 2024, has set the bar high for what he wants to accomplish in his expanded role

Zyon

During a training camp practice on Thursday morning that appeared to be dominated by the offense – to the untrained eye, at least – Zyon McCollum landed a few blows for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' defense. In particular, a pair of pass breakups in the red zone while in coverage of star receiver Mike Evans stood out as McCollum continued to prepare for his first season as a Day One starter.

Those plays helped the defense get off the field, something it sometimes struggled to do last season, and McCollum was pleased to be in position to make them. But he wasn't completely pleased. The ideal outcome would have been to end the play with the football in his hands.

"That's been my main focus this offseason, converting a lot of those pass deflections into interceptions," said the third-year cornerback. "So it's good that I'm making plays on the ball; now I've just to figure out a way to bring them in."

Many players decline to set any specific statistical goals, or at least to share them publicly, but McCollum has been repeating his numerical mantra since early in the offseason.

"I'm trying to be a big-time playmaker," he said. "I want to make my name heard all across the league. I want to put my hands on balls. I've been telling my wife all offseason, I'm trying to get six interceptions. I just keep repeating that over and over and over and over again. If I don't get I'm going to be disappointed, because that's what I've been working on over and over and over again. I'm not going to sell myself short, I'm going to keep shooting for the stars."

View photos of Tampa Bay Buccaneers players and fans at the first practice of 2024 Training Camp on Wednesday, July 24th, 2024 at AdventHealth Training Center.

It's a lofty goal. Only three players recorded six or more interceptions last season, and only one of those three (the Cowboys' Daron Bland) is a cornerback. The last Buccaneer to achieve that feat was Aqib Talib in 2010. Antoine Winfield Jr. led the Buccaneers in 2023 with three interceptions, and he was a first-team Associated Press All-Pro.

But it's a worthwhile goal, and something the Bucs' secondary as a whole has been harping on all offseason. McCollum isn't afraid to set his sights high.

"Every mountain I climb, I'm looking for the next highest one," he said. "It's been ups and downs throughout my entire career, but my focus and my intent to try to climb the next mountain is what keeps me positive and what keeps me focused."

McCollum is moving into the starting lineup because the Buccaneers traded cornerback Carlton Davis to the Detroit Lions in March. The former fifth-round pick out of Sam Houston State actually did start nine games last season during times that Davis or Jamel Dean were out with injuries, and he also got on the field occasionally as a safety or a slot corner. He says that positional versatility helped him learn the defense but he's glad to be focusing on outside corner now.

"It took me a little over a season to actually understand all the plays," said McCollum. "When I was able to be versatile and move around in the defense, I started knowing where my help is and that helped me gain another level of understanding of this defense. It's complex and it changes week to week, but once you have that understanding, now I know exactly [what to do]. I can focus all my attention on the offense – what routes are they running, how are they trying to get open. I know exactly where my linebackers are, I know exactly where my safeties are. And it helps, these training camp days and OTAs, learning how Antoine plays, how Jordan [Whitehead] plays, how me and [Jamel] Dean can work together. It helps me really just put it all together."

Head Coach Todd Bowles is one of McCollum's biggest backers and he is more than comfortable with the talented young defender stepping into a much bigger role.

"He's a heck of a player," said Bowles. "He's probably one of our top three athletes. He's got vertical [moment], he's got lateral movement, he's got speed, he's got awareness and he understands the game now. He's playing with a lot of confidence."

McCollum appreciates that the Bowles and the Bucs' brass trusted him enough to pull the trigger on the Davis trade, which netted them the third-round pick they used on wide receiver Jalen McMillan, coincidentally another standout in practice on Thursday.

"It lets me know that they trust me," said McMillan. "I trust myself and I hope I gain the respect of my teammates and my coaching staff and the upper office. When they give me a nod like that, it lets me know that I'm doing something right – just keep my head down and prove them right.

If McCollum manages to reach his stated interception goal, or even get close, he will certainly have proved the Bucs right.

Related Content

Latest Headlines

Advertising