Bucs rookie CB Jacob Parrish.
Look, Joe’s not going to go nuts here after watching two days of underwear football practice with the rookies, the UDFAs and the tryout slugs.
Players who were drafted should stick out against guys who very likely will be tech support specialists at Best Buy, assistant managers at Chilis and short order cooks in September.
Let’s see what these guys do when the pads come on in August playing against grown-arse men and NFL vets.
But for now, Joe thinks the Bucs may have something in Jacob Parrish, a corner from Kansas State picked in the third round. Even Bucs coach Todd Bowles was crowing about him on Friday and dared to use the word “starter” in the same sentence as Parrish’s name. Whoa.
In the two practices Joe witnessed, Parrish sure looked like he belonged.
Field Yates over at BSPN decided to sift through all the non-first round draft picks last month to see which ones ought to have an impact for their teams in their rookie seasons.
Yates believes Parrish will be one of those guys.
> **10\. Jacob Parrish, CB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (No. 84)**
> Tampa Bay doubled-dipped at cornerback on Day 2, selecting Parrish in Round 3 after taking Benjamin Morrison in Round 2. Parrish finished 64th on my final board, and I believe he can translate his versatile game to the pro level. He played 395 snaps as an outside corner and 201 snaps as a slot corner in 2024. Parrish has premier speed and capable ball skills, and he is a very skilled blitzer. That should shine on a Todd Bowles-coached team.
Well, Parrish showed that ballhawk ability this weekend that Bowles has been begging for.
Now does Joe think Parrish is going to drive Baker Mayfield nuts in training camp? Not really. The quarterbacks the Bucs had in rookie minicamp were, well, less than precise with their throws. They made the receivers work for completions.
Joe is pretty confident the picks that Parrish had came, in part, because several passes were off the mark. Is Mayfield going to be that wild? Unlikely.
Aside from Emeka Egbuka or Tez Johnson, has anyone outside their colleges and families heard of the other receivers in rookie minicamp? Parrish will be facing Mike Evans, Jalen McMillen, a veteran like Sterling Shepard and hopefully Chris Godwin soon.
That’s more than a couple of steps up from what Parrish was defending over the weekend.
But as Joe typed yesterday, Parrish sure doesn’t appear to be some slouch.