There are so many players on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who need to be challenged by the organization - from the coaching staff to the front office to their teammates - to improve in the 2026 NFL regular season after last year's horrendous collapse which handed the rival Carolina Panthers an undeserving playoff spot.
No unit is under more pressure than the Buccaneers defense, especially incumbent starters from the 2025 season who are finding themselves fighting for their jobs after the Bucs landed some big fish in the 2026 NFL Draft class like Josiah Trotter at inside linebacker and former Miami Hurricanes beasts Rueben Bain Jr. off the edge and Keionte Scott in the secondary.
Perhaps no single player is under more pressure to perform than talented young cornerback Zyon McCollum, who did not exactly show that talent in the 2025 NFL season while getting toasted and regularly picked on by opposing quarterbacks. And with No. 1 cornerback Jamel Dean abandoning ship to the Pittsburgh Steelers, McCollum is only going to be an even bigger focus as an every down starting outside cornerback in 2026.
Legendary corner Ronde Barber is the best playmaker and shutdown CB in the history of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with all due respect to the incredible Darrelle Revis (whose best days were with other ball clubs), and he knows a thing or two about the position.
So when Barber sends Zyon McCollum a challenge that he needs to step it up, then you had better believe that the young cornerback and everyone else in the Buccaneers organization is paying close attention to those words.
Barber laid down the gauntlet for McCollum in an appearances on WDAE Radio, via Joe Bucs Fan, “This has got to be his year, and that’s not pressure. He doesn’t need to put any pressure on himself, but just looking at just the reality of his evolution, like this has got to be the year. At some point you need to start proving that you are who you are. And for him, he needs to study himself. He needs to find a way to evaluate himself day in and day out. Go into work every day with the attitude that, ‘I’m getting better. I might get incrementally better in one practice.’ But that’s got to be his attitude the whole team."
Everything Ronde Barber said here about McCollum is 100 percent fair, and fans will both back the Hall of Fame cornerback and the overall sentiment. McCollum needs to put it all together in 2026, otherwise the Bucs defense will struggle - and they will just go ahead and find someone else for him, including potentially in the trade deadline if Jason Licht really needs to buck his usual trend.
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