Sportsnaut
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are just 48 hours away from opening up their 2025 season against the division-rival Atlanta Falcons. Ahead of that game, though, the team went ahead and took care of one of its best players from 2024.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Bucs and standout cornerback Zyon McCollum have agreed to a three-year extension worth $48 million with $35.4 million guaranteed. McCollum will now be under contract through the 2028 season.
McCollum broke out in 2024. The corner played and started in all 17 games and collected 82 tackles, one tackle for loss, 17 pass deflections, and two interceptions. Pro Football Focus gave the corner a respectable 69.5 overall grade, which ranked 54th out of 222 qualified corners.
While 2024 put McCollum at the map, he was far from a sure thing to begin his career. The corner was drafted in the fifth round of the 2022 NFL Draft out of Sam Houston State. As a rookie, McCollum played in 13 games but only got three starts and ended with 24 tackles and one pass deflection.
The 2023 season was better as McCollum got to start in 9 contests and had 68 tackles and nine pass deflections. Last offseason, the corner impressed and won the full-time starting corner spot opposite Jamel Dean and ended up having a career-year.
Now, in 2025, the Bucs will run back the starting corner duo of Dean and McCollum. Behind those two, the team plans to start rookie Jacob Parrish at the nickel and have Josh Hayes and Kindle Vildor as the primary backups.
With his new contract, McCollum will have the 18th-highest guaranteed salary amount among all corners in the league. If McCollum has another season in 2025 like he did in 2024, though, this will look like a bargain.
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