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Recently we’ve come to learn a little bit about what it’s like meeting with the Bucs at the NFL Scouting Combine. Thanks to Tampa Bay’s social media team, they showed what a meeting went like last year at the Combine with Bucs general manager Jason Licht and his staff met with wide receiver Jalen McMillan, who was last year’s third-round pick.
While that was some entertaining insight, that’s only a glimpse of the details of what goes on in these meetings. The Bucs met with many players at this year’s 2025 Combine, and while the team isn’t going to publicly display for competition reasons how each interview went, we did find one prospect that enjoyed talking with Tampa.
Kansas cornerback Cobee Bryant met formally with the Bucs, and not only did it go well, it was his personal favorite one out of all the formal interviews that he did this week.
“That was the best one, that was fun,” Bryant said. “The energy they had, it was fun.”
Cobee Bryant Brings Two Traits That Bucs Need
If it was high energy it’s because that’s probably because Cobee Bryant is exactly what Bucs head coach Todd Bowles is looking for in one area specifically. Bowles emphatically stated earlier in the week at the Combine that he wants ballhawks on this defense. Tampa Bay had just seven interceptions last season, including only six in the secondary. In four years at Kansas, Bryant at 13 picks.
Kansas CB Cobee Bryant – Photo by: USA Today
“I know how to react to the ball,” Bryant said. “My reaction time is pretty good, that’s how I catch a lot of picks.”
His aggressiveness is what sets Bryant apart from others. His understanding of the game has helped him take away the ball often. Some of that comes from also playing wide receiver and preparing for this even at a young age.
“I used to train myself a lot really by myself,” Bryant said. “My dad would throw me the football. I played receiver in high school, coming into college I started at receiver at Kansas but they switched by to DB because I got recruited to both sides. It got easy for me to catch a lot of picks because I knew what receivers would do.”
It’s easy to tell that Bryant is a very confident player. He is a big fan of cornerback Jalen Ramsey, especially because of the trash talking, and most trash talkers are vocal because they know they have the skills to back it up. That’s an element of the game that Bryant thrives in, too.
Believe it or not, another area that he thrives in is the run game. Most corners aren’t known for their tackling ability but Bryant was so good at it that he had a 90.1 run defense grade. The physical nature is what he enjoys about it.
“I can hit anybody,” Bryant said. “I just love football. I can do something to somebody. It’s fun hitting anybody on a football field. You can do a lot things that you can’t do outside of football. It’s fun playing football.
Tampa Bay’s defense struggled to tackle at times last year, so getting a ballhawk like Bryant, who also loves to tackle could be what the Bucs need on Day 2 of the draft.
What Cobee Bryant Is Saying To His Detractors
Kansas CB Cobee Bryant – Photo by: USA Today
If there’s any knock about Bryant is that he’s not the biggest cornerback. He’s 6-foot and weighed in at 180 pounds at the Combine after playing in the 170s during his time at KU. He’s on the smaller size weight-wise and there are always concerns that he could get pushed around and out-sized by bigger, more physical receivers because of it. But Bryant has a message to anyone that may doubt him.
“It doesn’t matter about my size,” Bryant says. “My size really doesn’t matter but I know I got to gain weight. Film talks. Film talks (for) itself. A lot of people say I’m too small, but the film talks itself.”
The Bucs may very well be looking for a starting corner depending on what they decide about with Jamel Dean. He fits the mold in terms of being a ballhawk who loves to tackle, and Bryant would bring those traits to a Bucs secondary that desperately needs them.
