Partly because John Spytek knew his brother from their time together with the Tampa Bay Bucs, the Las Vegas Raiders claimed Philadelphia Eagles safety Trisin McCollum on waivers just before the 2025 NFL season. And it made sense because the Silver and Black badly needed safety depth.
McCollum didn't have a major role on the defense last year, playing significant snaps in just two contests. But he hung around on the roster because he could be plugged in when needed and was an ace on special teams, logging snaps with five different units in that phase of the game.
With the safety depth still a concern after last year, the Raiders added two promising youngsters in the 2026 NFL Draft. From a pure numbers standpoint, and with the unit's versatility potentially meaning that Las Vegas would carry fewer players, McCollum had an uphill battle to make the team.
But he has performed well this preseason, particularly against the Houston Texans. It's looking more and more like he'll sneak onto the Raiders' 53-man roster once again.
Tristin McCollum is making his case for the Raiders' active roster
In Las Vegas' 22-20 win over Houston last Thursday, McCollum got the starting nod alongside rookie Treydan Stukes with the first-team defense out. That means that he is fully considered a second-stringer at this point, ahead of first-year safety Dalton Johnson. Second-stringers don't get cut.
Once the action started, McCollum made his case even more. While playing the Houston starters, he made several good plays, stuffing the Texans' first-team running back for no gain and making two open-field tackles after he burst through the first line of defense. He also had two run stops.
To be fair, McCollum did miss a tackle on Houston's rushing touchdown on the opening drive, but other than that, he was fairly flawless. McCollum tied for a game-high seven total tackles and recorded a game-high six solo tackles while playing 43 defensive snaps.
Another reason that Rob Leonard and Co. should want to keep McCollum around is that he can play multiple spots in the secondary. On Thursday, he notched 27 snaps at free safety, 13 in the box, two at slot corner, and even one as an outside linebacker on the defensive line. That is versatility.
Not to mention that he played at five different spots with four different special teams units during the contest as well, logging another 10 snaps in that phase of the game. He was also targeted just one time in 29 coverage snaps, and the pass fell incomplete.
If McCollum can continue to make tackles at the line of scrimmage and in the open field, cover the back end well, move around the defense and play on a variety of special teams, then he should absolutely stick around.
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