The Tampa Bay Buccaneers knew that if they were going to have a successful season, they would need cornerback Zyon McCollum to have a bounce-back season. 

The Bucs showed unwavering faith in McCollum to rebound from a disappointing 2025 season, which came immediately after the team rewarded him with a huge contract extension.  

McCollum had shown the ability to be a top CB before signing the extension, but his play fell off drastically in 2025. 

However, the Bucs believed in the 27-year-old as he entered his fifth season with the club, as evidenced by the team’s decisions leading up to the start of the season. 

In March, Tampa allowed their best CB, Jamel Dean, to leave in free agency. Letting Dean walk was surprising enough, but the three-year, $36 million deal he signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers was a huge bargain for a CB of his caliber. 

The Bucs didn’t sign any cornerbacks in free agency, then waited until the fourth round of the draft to address the position by drafting Keionte Scott, who is primarily a slot corner, not an outside CB like McCollum or Dean. 

When Tampa made its initial 53-man roster, it included only five CBs, a very low number in today’s NFL. To put even more pressure on McCollum, he was the only CB on the roster with more than one year of experience. The other four were Scott, undrafted rookie Ayden Garnes, and second-year players Jacob Parrish and the oft-injured Benjamin Morrison, who has continued his early-career trend of struggling to stay healthy. 

As the veteran leader of the group, the Bucs needed McCollum to step up this season. 

He has not disappointed. 

As highlighted by Bucs reporter Brianna Dix, McCollum has been everything the team hoped for and then some. 

It took the Bucs five games to earn their first win of the season, but McCollum has been a rare bright spot this season. 

It started in Week 1, when McCollum and the Bucs secondary held Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins to a combined five catches for 71 yards in Tampa’s loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. 

McCollum’s impressive play continued, but he really enjoyed a statement game in the Bucs’ 24-16 upset of the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday Night Football. 

Dallas boasts its own star-studded WR duo in CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens, who are arguably the next best tandem in the league after Chase and Higgins. 

As noted by Dix, McCollum completely shut the pair down all night. 

"On Thursday Night Football in prime time, Buccaneers' cornerback Zyon McCollum dominated in coverage against one of the NFL's most heralded wideouts in CeeDee Lamb, who led the league in receiving entering the matchup. In Week Five against Dallas, McCollum allowed zero receptions in 42 coverage snaps for a 39.6 passer rating when targeted. He had 11 matchups with Lamb and of those clashes, Lamb was targeted once, and McCollum did not surrender a single reception to the Cowboys' No. 1 wideout. On five matchups with George Pickens, McCollum allowed no receptions and Pickens was only targeted once, while the Bucs' corner also recorded a pass defensed. McCollum set the tone on the back end at AT&T Stadium, forcing Dak Prescott to look elsewhere in his progression."

McCollum's standout performance against the Cowboys was just the latest of his terrific season.

Dix explains just how good McCollum has been this year.

"Among defenders with 150-plus coverage snaps, McCollum's 68.8 passer rating when targeted is the third-best mark in the NFL and the second-best among cornerbacks."

McCollum has made the Bucs look like geniuses for their confidence in him.

Head coach Todd Bowles gave his own thoughts on McCollum's season.

"Zyon is playing like an All-Pro cornerback right now. He is really watching a lot more film, and he has really been trying to do it physically the last couple of years, not mentally from that standpoint. He is recognizing formations and is understanding what guys are trying to do to him and looking at splits more and seeing down and distance, and that has really helped him play the game a lot easier and looser and a lot smarter, and I think he has really capitalized on that."

Tampa has stumbled out of the gates this season, but McCollum has done everything he can to anchor the Bucs' secondary.

If McCollum continues to play at a Pro Bowl level, the Bucs will have a decent chance to get back into the race for the NFC South.

It may have taken a year, but McCollum is earning every penny of his big contract and has developed into a true shutdown CB this season.