It was a play that never happened. But it sure helped Tristin McCollum’s bid for a roster spot with the Eagles.
Early in the first quarter of the Eagles’ preseason finale against the Vikings at the Linc Saturday, McCollum picked off a Jaren Hall deep ball intended for Trishton Jackson and returned it 36 yards. That one snap showed off McCollum’s instincts, coverage skill and athleticism.
The fact that it was negated by a penalty on Cooper DeJean didn’t matter. We all saw a glimpse of what McCollum had been doing all summer in training camp.
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And it’s why he now finds himself on the Eagles’ 53-man roster.
“Tristin obviously flashed in games and did some really good things in games that we all saw, but also, he was consistent in the things that he did in practice,” Nick Sirianni said. “He has great athletic ability that can help on special teams. Really happy for him. As sad as we are for the guys that don't make it … a guy like Tristin, you're really excited for. Because he went and earned it.”
McCollum went undrafted in 2022 out of Sam Houston State in Huntsville, Texas. He spent his rookie year on the Texans’ practice squad, but the Eagles snapped him up as a futures contract player after the season, and he spent last year on the Eagles’ practice squad, getting into four games as a game-day call-up, including the playoff loss to the Bucs.
This is an interesting group of backup safeties. James Bradberry is a 31-year-old veteran who’s never played safety. Avonte Maddox is a 28-year-old veteran who’s been mainly a slot corner. Sydney Brown is a 24-year-old 3rd-round pick who’s still rehabbing that torn ACL from last January. And then there’s McCollum, one of eight undrafted players who survived final cuts Tuesday.
Philadelphia Eagles
The Tristin McCollum we saw this year looked nothing like the 2023 version.
“Night and day,” he said. “Mentally, last year, the game was moving really, really fast for me. This year, having a chance to get in the playbook a lot, having a chance to tighten the screws in the offseason, it allowed me to come in with good footing where the game slowed down tremendously. I was able to go through my progression nice and easily and calmly, and it just made all the difference.”
McCollum played 82 special teams snaps in his four game-day call-ups last year. His only defensive reps — 29 of them — came in the season-ending loss to the Giants, mostly after the game and the Eagles’ playoff fate had been decided.
It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough to make a difference.
“That was really, really important,” he said. “That experience is so big, especially for a player like me that gets a lot of reps only in practice. So getting out there in the game, getting the stadium atmosphere, playing with a lot of high-rep guys, that makes a big difference when you have a lot of good players around you.”
A taste of the NFL also helped McCollum feel like he belongs, and that showed in the way he performed in training camp.
“Last year I was very anxious,” he said. “It was my first time with a new team and my first time getting different kind of reps with different kind of guys. The anxiety, I'm a big overthinker sometimes. That got the best of me but this year I made an emphasis to calm down the overthinking, just lock in my keys and just play my game.”
One thing McCollum learned his first two NFL training camps was that he wasn’t doing enough. He was doing everything asked of him, but when you’re undrafted you always have to do more than what’s asked of you to separate yourself from the guys who are drafted and have big contracts.
“It was getting extra in the playbook, never thinking that I understood it,” he said. “It was always going home and doing my extra studying and taking the extra notes. Always being intentional in the meeting room so that when I get out there I don't have to think about what I have to do. I just kind of know it and I can just act.”
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