Todd Bowles knows a thing or two about developing defensive backs not taken in Round 1 of the NFL Draft.
The Bowles list of successes is long.
Jacob Parrish and Zyon McCollum are two of those players, the current Bucs starting cornerbacks.
Speaking on [WFLA-TV](https://www.wfla.com/sports/), Bowles noted how the NFL game slowed down for Parrish when he arrived in Tampa after being a 2025 third-round picks. From Day 1, per Bowles, Parrish was calm, cool and focused — at nickel corner or playing outside.
For McCollum, the story was very different.
> “I think it just started slowing down for Zyon a lot this year from a concentration standpoint,” Bowles said of his 2022 fifth-round pick. “I thought last year his eyes were all over the place and he was seeing things that he shouldn’t have been seeing. This year, he just concentrated starting in the spring and just focused on the things he needed to do and not try to make every play.”
Candid stuff from Bowles.
What’s certain is that Parrish and McCollum may be the best corner tandem in the NFL through the first half of this season.