You’ve been waiting for it for three months now. The first preseason game has special meaning for many football fans. It marks the first opportunity for you to confirm your prior evaluations when it comes to rookies who were drafted back in April. Now that the Bucs have their first preseason game in the books against Miami let’s take a look at two of their draft picks on the defensive side of the ball.

CB Zyon McCollum

Despite being taken in the fifth round, no draft pick may have as much hype right now as Bucs cornerback Zyon McCollum. There are several possible reasons for this. Perhaps it is due to his rare blend of athletic traits. It could be because most reports coming out of training camp have been glowing of him. Hell, it could be that many Bucs fans have terrible flashbacks of Sean Murphy-Bunting falling down in the Rams playoff game from last year. Regardless of the reason, the buzz was palpable heading into Saturday night.

And outside of one play, I would say McCollum delivered the goods. But before we get to “the goods” let’s get the one play out of the way.

Double moves are tough. Don’t believe me? Jamel Dean had a solid season last year in his third season in the league and was still having trouble with double moves. But the facts are McCollum got worked on a double move by Lynn Bowden, Jr.

Bowden sold the fake perfectly with a full head turn to the quarterback. That got McCollum looking in the backfield where he found Miami quarterback Skylar Thompson on the pump fake. McCollum bit hard and Bowden was as open as a screen door 10 seconds after my 11-year-old blew past it.

McCollum will need to clean that up and learn to look in the backfield less when he’s playing a deep third with no help over top from a safety. That should come with time. But that wasn’t the only play of the game.

Tight Coverage

Outside of that one play McCollum put a lot of good tape out there. He displayed sticky coverage when matched in man. Here is a great example of him up against Trent Sherfield.

McCollum is lined up in press at the top of the screen. While he allows a clean inside release, he also stays in-phase with Sherfield all the way to the top of the stem. And when Sherfield tries to break down for the curl? The Bucs rookie gets low into his hips to adjust back without allowing any separation.

Using His Hands More

McCollum recently spoke exclusively with Pewter Report’s JC Allen about what he needs to improve on as he transitions from college to the NFL. The first thing he spoke about was using his hands more: “Definitely getting my hands active at the line of scrimmage.” And in the Miami game McCollum put that on display a few times.

In the first clip McCollum doesn’t get the best push at the line. The receiver sees the jam coming and tries to avoid it by initially stepping back and laterally to the inside. His hope is that McCollum gives a big, off-balance punch that he can avoid and leave McCollum scrambling off balance. But McCollum attacks with a wide base and outside leverage, effectively forcing the receiver inside where he wants him. Then McCollum re-engages his hands through the top of the stem. This allows him to physically maintain his outside leverage, keep his eyes in the backfield and force the receiver towards his safety help. It looks to me that Thompson’s first read was McCollum’s assignment, but he quickly came off of it because the coverage was so tight.

In the second clip you can see McCollum with a less stable jam. His footwork looks like he wants to establish outside leverage, but his hand placement was to the receivers inside shoulder. This disconnection between his upper and lower half allowed Miami’s Preston Williams to easily fight off the punch and get a good release on the fade route. McCollum in adjusting to route stumbles a bit out of the gate. But this is where McCollum allows his physical gifts to take over. It only takes him one step to regain his footing and even-so, he never falls out of phase with Williams.

Closing Speed

On this clip McCollum is in off man coverage at the top of the screen. This ends up posing a slight problem as his receiver runs a very shallow cross, forcing McCollum to sift through traffic in the form of the slot receiver running a seam route. But McCollum not only avoids the collision but breaks down on his man so quickly he shuts down the route as a check down. Had Thompson opted to throw to the crossing route, McCollum’s closing speed would have had him making contact with the receiver as he made the catch.

Final Thoughts

McCollum was only targeted once all game. Unfortunately for him, that lone target led to a wide-open touchdown. And that was enough to land McCollum on Pewter Report’s “Most Disappointing” list. But I also want you to remember that Scott Reynolds wanted McCollum to play aggressively in his most recent SR’s Fab 5 column. That’s exactly what McCollum displayed on the double move. He broke on the route quickly with authority while keeping his eyes in the backfield. And he learned a lesson for it. There was far more good than bad in Saturday’s game for McCollum against solid NFL receivers. I firmly believe the arrow is pointing up for this young defensive back.

DT Logan Hall

Hall, the Bucs’ first pick in this past NFL Draft had a solid if unspectacular game. PFF credited him with a 57.1 overall grade for the game. By their scoring metrics it was slightly below average. This included a similar pass rush grade of 56.6. Admittedly, I do not know how they grade players, but I would say from what I saw on his tape the grade seems fair. With Hall I noticed three things that flashed in his tape.

Play Recognition

I’ll start with the negative. Hall is going to have to dramatically improve his play recognition if he is going to see significant snaps this season. Twice in the Miami game the Bucs rookie was caught chasing the wrong end of a misdirection play.

You can see in this play Hall loses track of the ball and ends up on the opposite side of the field from the play. He gets so wrapped up in staying with the offensive tackle he fails to keep his eyes in the backfield to notice the naked boot. Compare that to outside linebacker Anthony Nelson (98) who watches the quarterback while working off of his block. Nelson is able to read the play action and work his way back from the left side of the field to provide pursuit on Thompson on the right side of the field.

Penetration In The Run Game

One area I came away pleased with was Hall’s ability to maintain the standard the Bucs defensive line has created in stopping the run. Hall has been talking throughout the offseason about working on maintaining his pad level. At six-foot-six-inches it can be a challenge. But you can see he is starting to create the muscle memory in a rep like this.

Immediately after the snap Hall is engaged by the center working on a zone block as the Dolphins try to work to the left side. But Hall uses a quick launch and a low pad level to meet the center at the point of attack and get below his center of gravity. At this point Hall uses a good feel for the play to adjust his attack angle and work through the gap to both create penetration and seal off the cutback lane. This, combined with the blitzing defensive back on the edge created no lanes for the running back to explore. Add in outside linebacker Cam Gill’s penetration and the play was completely blown up from all angles.

Setting Up Stunts/Twists

One area I think Todd Bowles will utilize more this year is stunts and twists with his interior rushers. Hall and Akiem Hicks represent an infusion of athleticism the team did not have last season. That athleticism theoretically should allow the interior defenders the ability to increase pressure through two-dimensional attacks. Rather than just pushing up field towards the quarterback, the Bucs can gain an advantage by using one of their linemen to cut across the offensive line while moving up field occupying not only his offensive linemen, but an additional one as well. As he does that another rusher loops behind him into the vacated space. This will allow him to either a) slip through the vacated hole with a straight line to the passer, or b) engage with the offensive linemen in that space with built up speed/power and a favorable angle on the blocker.

Okay that was a lot of words. How about I just show you?

Hall sets up the play by stunting to his right. He shoots off the line and occupies the center and the left guard. This gives Patrick O’Connor plenty of space to loop behind Hall and attack Hall’s original gap. You’ll notice Miami’s right guard comes out of his set looking right. This is because he notices Hall attacking towards the center. So, he starts to look to the edge to see if the right tackle needs help. But he keeps his left hand out trying to feel for Hall in case Hall might adjust his pass rush back towards him.

Because he does not feel Hall he doesn’t look back inside and never sees O’Connor trucking down the tracks like a freight train. The results are predictable. O’Connor drives the guard straight back into Thompson’s grill. None of this could have happened without Hall’s initial cut across the center’s face creating the room for O’Connor to work.

Here’s another one where Hall works to the outside.

With Hall lined up in the three-technique, he uses his length to spring off the line and immediately attack the left tackle. What I really liked about this rep is while he is moving outside, he keeps his eyes inside towards the left guard. With his attention pointed inside he forces the guard to remain aware of him. This is to protect against a possible inside move from the Bucs rookie. In doing this Hall not only occupies the tackle, but he forces the guard to drift wide. All of this leaves a huge lane in the A-gap for Cam Gill to shoot through. But that’s not the end of the positives for Hall.

While his priority on this rep was creating the opportunity for Gill to get through the pocket, he still finishes the rep in a position to pressure the quarterback as well. As the guard peels off to try and catch up with Gill, Hall leverages back to the inside and starts making his way to Thompson. Another half-second and he would have been there.

Hall has the length, power, and speed to create stunts as well as be the twisting looper. This should unlock a new element to Bowles’ pressure packages and Hall looks to be executing them well already.

Developing A Larger Pass Rush Arsenal

When profiling Hall post-draft I noted in one of his clips a spin move he used as a counter if his initial pass rush plan did not work. You can see him use it again against Miami here.

This time Hall tries to use the spin after unsuccessfully attempting a swim on the right guard. The swim was ineffective because Hall did not first swipe the guard’s punch. In landing the punch he was able to keep space between him and Hall. That caused the swim-move to die quickly. But what you should like to see is Hall trying to adapt mid-rep. He knows the swim failed so he tries to counter. It doesn’t work. But it’s preseason and he’s trying to figure stuff out. It’s good to see him experiment and learn.

Final Thoughts

Hall showed flashes of the talent that allowed him to be a high draft pick. Namely his power and quickness that should allow him to get penetration in both run and pass situations. He also showed an adeptness at running the Bucs stunts. That should allow him to become an immediate contributor this year. He isn’t without opportunities. He will need to improve on his play awareness and develop a more consistent pass rush arsenal. But the foundation is there.

Conclusion

Two physically gifted, but raw rookies. Both showed glimpses of what they can be at their best on Saturday night. Both made mistakes that led to big plays. But that should be par for the course with these two. The positive takeaways are that they showed they are trying to apply things they have stated they are working on. They are both showing that their athleticism can play functionally at this level. And they both showed that their abilities can fit in this scheme. It wasn’t perfect. But if I’m Todd Bowles and this Bucs coaching staff, I am liking what I saw out of these two young men in their debut.