Motivation can be an exceptional factor in football and in all facets of life. The Bucs might be seeing that firsthand heading into the 2025 season with their situation in the secondary, particularly at cornerback.

Sometimes players need to refocus and recalibrate, or find a sense of urgency to get the best outcome for the group. This year, the Bucs have some very different personnel situations at cornerback that will determine the present and the future of this team.

Each Bucs Cornerback Has His Own Saga

Jamel Dean, who is the longest-tenured cornerback of the Bucs, was selected in the third round of the 2019 draft, and has been a starter for the past five years. He’s entering a season where it seems like his Bucs career is in the balance. While he excels in several facets of the game, notably tight coverage, Dean has been called out for missing time over the past couple of seasons due to injury and for his lacking ability to take the ball away. He has missed nine games in the past two seasons, and only has just one interception over that span.

Some projected Dean to be traded or let go by Tampa Bay this offseason to save some cap room. Although he still has two seasons under contract, plus another void year, the dead cap hit is less and less over the next two years. That makes it more of a possibility the team could move on from Dean, but without much experience at the cornerback position in Tampa Bay, the team will likely keep him for the 2025 campaign.

Bucs HC Todd Bowles and CB Jamel Dean – Photo by: USA Today

The Bucs also has an interesting scenario with cornerback Zyon McCollum. He’s been a player that has gotten better and better each year since he was taken in the fifth round by the Bucs in the 2022 draft. An argument can be made that McCollum is the best cornerback on the team. He’s also in contention as the fastest player on the Tampa Bay roster.

McCollum will be entering the last year of his rookie deal, and depending on his season goes, he could be in line for a big pay day. Should the Bucs try to sign him to an extension beforehand? There are many factors involved in that thought process.

Although he was a ballhawking defensive back at Sam Houston with 13 interceptions, he didn’t record his first NFL interception until last season in his third year and had two overall on the season. With another year as a starter that number could jump. But he’s also dropped some, and Tampa Bay has  a lot of money allocated elsewhere, so it might have to be a wait-and-see approach with McCollum and a possible contract extension.

Bucs CB Zyon McCollum and head coach Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“It adds so much to it,” McCollum said about entering a contract year. “I love the Bucs and I want to make plays for the Bucs and myself and my family and knowing the opportunity that I have in front of me. It’s really really exciting. It puts a new chip on my shoulder. I feel kind of like I was a rookie coming in here, I have to prove it all over again and continue to rise my game to the next level.”

Will Vets Or Rookies Prevail For Bucs?

Aside from Zyon McCollum and Jamel Dean, the Bucs have some fresh faces that are coming in to compete at cornerback. The Bucs certainly prepared themselves for the potential departure of Dean and perhaps even McCollum. They selected cornerbacks in back-to-back rounds in the 2025 draft with Benjamin Morrison in the second round and Jacob Parrish in the third round.

Morrison has first-round talent that slid to round two because of a hip surgery. But the fact that he’s already fully participating with the team in OTAs is a great sign. Parrish has arguably been the most impressive rookie during these practices having recorded a pair of interceptions at Bucs rookie mini-camp and performed well in the OTAs.

So the question becomes, can either of these rookie unseat Dean and/or McCollum, giving the Bucs a different decision to make and a far inexpensive answer at cornerback in the coming years? Intercepting the ball has been a problem for the entire secondary, which is why Todd Bowles declared that the unit needed more ballhawks this offseason. Parrish and Morrison have certainly upped the level of competition, which is exactly what Bowles had in mind.

Bucs CB Benjamin Morrison – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“Off the bat, it’s new energy,” McCollum said of the new additions. “In the room you can just kind of feel it – the intensity is just starting to rise up and it’s good. To embrace it as a room and to come together, I mean, everybody is fighting to be that next level and get to that next level. We’re trying to catch these young guys up as quickly as possible.

“Going into training camp, we want to be able to go into the season at our best and when they’re playing at their best, it allows us to rise our game to an even higher level. They’ve just been getting in shape, getting to know the playbook, and it’s good to have new energy in the room, for sure.”

Bucs’ Defense Needs To Regain It’s Form

There was a time a couple of seasons ago where Tampa Bay’s defense was the unit most responsible for winning games, and at times, outperforming the offense. That completely flipped last year, but Zyon McCollum believes the defensive players still has it in them to be formidable once again.

“Definitely,” McCollum said. We know the offense is a top-tier offense and they put up a lot of points. Us as a defense are being really really hard on ourselves. We were like, ‘If we can stop the offense from scoring, seven, 14 more points, we win a Super Bowl.’ That’s just the attitude that we have, that we have to come in together and step up to really make this team one solid unit that could really be a force for years to come, not just this year.”