Maximizing The Cornerbacks Rotation

October 21st, 2025

“Jamel, you’ve got 3 picks in 5 1/2 games. Just think about all that money you’ll earn next year.”

All Bucs cornerbacks were healthy last night for a change, along with starting safeties Antoine Winfield and Tykee Smith, fulfilling the offseason dream of Todd Bowles and Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht.

That was the focus of March and April; make sure the Bucs never again have to use Josh Hayes  are stuck using low-talent quarterbacks.

The Bucs drafted two cornerbacks and signed veteran Kindle Vildor and added Bryce Hall to their practice squad. Hall was the No. 3 cornerback entering 2024 and trashed his ankle in Week 1.

Last night, Bowles seemed to find a nice rotation for Jamel Dean and rookie Benjamin Morrison (22 snaps), something that had started when both were healthy earlier in the season.

Joe hopes the Bucs would consider making Zyon McCollum earn more of his snaps. Competition seems to have done wonders for Dean. McCollum has underwhelmed after getting a fat new contract extension.

Bowles will need to find just the right touch going forward — getting Morrison experience while not overly exposing him. The rookie is talented and very active but learned a couple of hard lessons last night.

It’s easy to forget the Bucs secondary is still rather young. The unit should be significantly better in a couple of months if everyone can stay on the field.

27 Responses to “Maximizing The Cornerbacks Rotation”

  1. 813bucboi Says:

    agree joe!!!

    competition is the best motivation!!!

    Dean is stepping up and morrisson is developing nicely….we’ll still draft a CB early lol

    GO BUCS!!!!

  2. DS Says:

    The secondary is the strength of the defense

  3. LVMYBUCS Says:

    Stop overpaying with that guaranteed money and make them earn it each season would be a good start. JD could have easily been called for several fouls last night but refs where to busy checking their bank accounts to see if the Lion money had cleared yet.

  4. Vegasbuc Says:

    No excuse the Lions had all backups second and third string it was handling us easily

  5. Winny Testaverde Says:

    Licht may have taken the spoof of “LichtHouse” to heart and gotten a tad too far over his skis. The premature Goedeke/Zyon extensions are looking a little iffy so far. Forcing Deano to take a pay cut in exchange for free agency next year has certainly worked in the short term at least.

  6. HC Grover Says:

    We need to score points….30 a game. Simple as that. 9 points we lose.

  7. LVMYBUCS Says:

    How long does it take for Godwin to heal I mean damn he been on IR for ever it seams. I think one of the biggest problems with GM’s is they tend to want to keep “fan favorites” players instead of moving on.

  8. SlyPirate Says:

    I don’t mind this loss. We all predicted this L preseason.

    The next game matters!!!

  9. Jeff Says:

    From Clueless Todd’s perspective, Bucs comers played Great! The 15 yard cushions and soft zone defense worked to perfection.

  10. Defense Rules Says:

    DS … ‘The secondary is the strength of the defense’.

    I would’ve thought that at the beginning of the season DS, but not now. Seen far too many breakdowns in coverage thus far.

    Tykee Smith is beasting this season in case no one’s noticed. Jamel Dean is doing quite well also, as is Jacob Parrish. Antoine Winfield hasn’t turned out to be the defensive leader I was expecting him to be, and I’m not nearly as impressed with Benjamin Morrison as some are. Zion McCollum has got me befuddled right now. I was also really impressed with Christian Izien past couple of years, but not so much this year.

    Tykee Smith’s played in all 7 games (98% def snaps), and leads the team in tackles (58 combined with 35 solo). He’s also got 2 sacks, 2 QB Hits, 4 TFLs, 1 FR and 7 PDs (most on the team). He’s been targeted 21 times, but only allowed 12 completions (57.1%) and 0 TDs. THAT’S IMPRESSIVE.

    Jamel Dean’s missed 1 game (and a bunch of another), but he’s also having a great year. He leads the team with 3 INTs now, and he’s also got 1 sack, 1 FF, 6 PDs & 18 combined tackles (15 solo). He’s been targeted 20 times, but only allowed 9 completions (45.0%) and 0 TDs. THAT’S ALSO IMPRESSIVE.

    Antoine Winfield’s not having a bad year, but he just seems to disappear for long stretches of time. He’s played all 7 games (99% availability), and has decent stats: 1 sack, 3 QB Hits, 3 TFLs, 1 FF, 2 PDs and 35 combined tackles (22 solo). His pass coverage has been solid: 17 targets against 9 completions allowed (52.9%) with 1 TD allowed. It’s probably just my perception; I’ve seen him chasing too many plays instead of being out in front of them & dropping the hammer.

    Jacob Parrish is playing very well for a rookie IMO, and has generally similar stats to what Winfield has: 1 sack, 2 QB Hits, 3 TFLs, 3 PDs and 35 combined tackles (22 solo). His pass coverage has been OK but not spectacular: 30 targets against 21 completions allowed (70.0%) with 0 TDs allowed.

    The rest? Meh, and particularly McCollum. He’s not doing terrible in coverage (63.3% completions allowed), but he’s given up 4 TDs (same number already as he gave up all last year). That’s the part that’s most frustrating.

  11. Pelsbuc61 Says:

    Morrison missed an easy tackle that ended up being an 18 yard gain. Lots of missed tackles.

  12. jimmy Says:

    the lions ran the ball 30+ times, so not like this so called fabulous secondary was tested too much. the lions offense imposed their will and did what they wanted. winfield got whipped so bad. i’m sure he wants all tape burned. lions got over 200 yards of offense in the first half, so again, what is the problem with this defense?

    whats next, a half dozen posts of gaslighting declaring “bucs defense shut down lions” (in the second half in tiny print)??

  13. Tucker Says:

    Lions were averaging over 30 points a game the defense held them to 22 they did enough to win but the offense left too many plays out there.

  14. DS Says:

    Tykee has been our best player on defense

  15. FootBall1 Says:

    I don’t see taking Dean off the field at this point. He is by far the best player in the secondary!!. Morrison is coming along well, but he is a rookie and it showed last night. He got schooled a few times. I agree if you want to get Morrison in , take out McColumn. He is playing average and Morrison may actually out play him, but please , leave Dean on the field until he gets hurt.

  16. Gofortheface30 Says:

    Jimmy- If you think the Bucs were going to hold the lions to 14 points or something then you spend way too much time behind a dumper smoking crak cokane. The Bucs got timely stops, forced turnovers, got sacks. They gave the strength of the team (the offense) every opportunity to not only tie, but take control of the game. The lions rushed 30 times because A.) they were never behind, and B.) their running game actually produced

  17. Gofortheface30 Says:

    Defense rules – Parrish has gotten completely abused in embarassing fashion in 2 games this yr. Now, that is going to happen as a rookie and he deserves grace but you can’t apply some weird logic like “I’ve been impressed with Parrish but not Morrison.” For starters – one is a true OUTSIDE corner with much much higher upside, the other is a slot guy that who has had a number of errors (falling down, penalties, out of position.) A healthy Dean would never stand on the sidelines in ten thousand years for Parrish – but for Morrison they told a healthy Dean to go stand “over there” for about 25 snaps. One is a first team all American, the other isn’t. Parrish is a depth guy, a valuable depth guy – but Morrison will be the teams CB1 in the near future. You can bet on that

  18. orlbucfan Says:

    Excellent synopsis, DR. Thanks! Glad to hear Jacob Parrish is showing promise. I didn’t listen to the game. I turned on BR, heard the score 7-0 Lions, got that funny loss feeling, and turned it off. Bucs, Licht and Bowles will be drafting Defense next year, irregardless of what happens this year. Still plenty of football left, but man, do we need that Bye!

  19. 813bucboi Says:

    ORLBUC

    i agree with drafting defense next year..

    i’d say grab 2 OL, but the rest should be defense…

    luckily we’ll have d.walker and c.kancey back..

    GO BUCS!!!!

  20. Daryl Green Says:

    I think this is the worse tackling Bucs team I have ever seen.
    They play with no leverage, no bent knees. No gang tackling.
    By the way Michael Jordan was get ass had to him last night.
    I like RW but there is a definitely a difference when Bucky runs the rock.
    We just not ready period.

  21. gotbbucs Says:

    Dean got flagged for one of the most unathletic illegal defensive contact penalties I’ve ever seen, on a 3rd down the the Bucs stopped, the play before Gibbs went for 78 yards and a touchdown on the resulting 1st down.
    Let’s hold off on claiming he’s playing well. He caught the easiest INT that can be thrown to a guy and then had no idea what to do after he caught it.

  22. Aqualung Says:

    Zyon needs to be on the bench for a while and SirSucksalot Dennis needs to be a Tire specialist for Goodyear. Every time he’s on the field the odds of an opposing big YAC pass play to a fullback jump astronomically. Vomitous.

  23. DS Says:

    @DR the secondary being the strength of the team has highlighted how the linebackers have been terrible and the front dline has been so-so

  24. BucsfaninOregon Says:

    How many times did we hear, “Wide open!” last night when referring to Detriot’s offense and how many times did we hear that when the Bucs had the ball? We had to fight for every inch because they we able to play close coverage. Something we don’t or can’t do. Oh yea, they had pass rusher’s in Mayfield’s face every time he went back for a pass.

    We don’t need pass rushers. Riddick is hurt- -just put in uh, uh Braswell!

  25. Defense Rules Says:

    DS … Now I get where you were coming from. It’s all relative.

  26. Defense Rules Says:

    Daryl Green … ‘I like RW but there is a definitely a difference when Bucky runs the rock.’

    If we need 2 yards for a 1st down, give me Rachaad. If I’m needing (or hoping for) an explosive play, Bucky’s the guy.

    Thus far Rachaad’s run it 64 times in 7 games for 252 yards (3.9 YPC). And oh ya, 4 TDs & 20 first downs.

    Bucky’s run it 71 times in 4 games for 237 yards (3.3 YPC). And oh ya, 0 TDs & 7 first downs.

    Of course Baker’s got it over both of them. He’s run it 22 times in 7 games for 158 yards (7.2 YPC) with 0 TDs but 11 first downs.

    Those are our 3 horses. Tucker is following the wagon instead of pulling it with 11 carries and 34 yards (3.1 YPC) but he does have 1 TD & 2 first downs.

    If my vote counted, I’d re-sign Rachaad in a heartbeat to maybe a 2-year contract with a competitive salary. Behind last year’s & this year’s OLine, he’s gotten some pretty decent production. And he’s only missed ONE game since he was drafted. Availability counts.

  27. toopanca Says:

    That is good! Hopefully, they will be in a position to do that next year at ILB.

 

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