Buccaneers may try young cornerback in slot

The Buccaneers’ safeties have taken the majority of the team’s slot snaps over the past three years, but reports out of their spring practices indicate that head coach Todd Bowles could slide one of his outside cornerbacks into the nickel in 2025.

Tampa Bay is returning both of their starting cornerbacks from last season (Jamel Dean, Zyon McCollum) and also added two Day 2 cornerbacks in April’s draft (Benjamin Morrison, Jacob Parrish). All four have primarily played on the boundary in the last three years, so getting more than two on the field will require at least one to play in the slot.

Dean has been a consistent contributor on the outside for his entire six-year career when healthy, so he will likely remain in that role this year. Parrish, a third-round pick, took first-team reps at nickel during spring practices. He primarily played on the boundary in college, but multiple pre-draft projections pegged him for a switch to the slot. If he were to hold onto the starting role, Dean and McCollum would likely reprise their 2024 roles as full-time starters on the boundary.

Bowles also mentioned McCollum as a potential nickel convert, according to Dan Pompei of The Athletic. The fourth-year corner has played more than 80% of his NFL snaps on the outside, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). In his last six seasons – three in college and three in the pros – McCollum has only played 267 snaps in the slot, but he will have plenty of time to adjust during training camp. However, he may object to moving to a less-valuable position in a contract year.

McCollum playing in the slot would open up an opportunity for Parrish or Morrison to compete for a starting role on the boundary in nickel and dime sets. Morrison did not participate in spring practices as he recovers from last year’s hip injury and subsequent surgery, but he is expected to be ready for training camp.

It is still possible that the Buccaneers revert to their previous strategy of deploying safeties in the slot. Even if Antoine Winfield and Tykee Smith as more traditional safeties this year, Christian Izien has been one of the team’s most frequent slot defenders over the past two years. He earned Tampa Bay’s primary nickel job as an undrafted rookie in 2023, but struggled in 2024 as he ceded more slot snaps to Smith. A return to his 2023 form could keep him on the field in a contract year.