August 16th, 2026
Can he meet the moment?
The status of the Bucs cornerbacks frightens Joe.
Right now the Bucs’ best corner has limited experience at outside corner, though Joe believes Jacob Parrish will be a fine player. Bored Zyon McCollum — he has “a groin” (hat tip to former Bucs commander Greg Schiano). And as tricky as those can be, its unclear if he will be healthy Week 1.
Benjamin Morrison is a walking injury and cannot even get on the practice field. So after him, you are looking at Josh Hayes and undrafted rookie Ayden Garnes as a possible starting corner opposite Parrish.
(For those inclined, you may want to put in a good word with your supreme being that Parrish stays healthy. Light a candle, use your prayer rug, whatever).
Friday night against the Jets in this summer’s first worthless preseason game, Garnes, when the moment arose, proved it wasn’t too big for him under the lights in New Jersey. He had a pick-six in the first half.
Jenna Laine of ESPN typed that all Garnes has done this summer is make plays.
Joe salutes Garnes for making plays when they came to him. But let’s not get too crazy here. Bailey Zappe is not Joe Burrow, the quarterback the Bucs will face in Week 1.
Joe cannot imagine the Bucs not making a move, any move, between now and Week 1 for a cornerback.
The team has no healthy depth corner. Not some, but none. No one dependable.
McCollum is coming off likely his worst season and when Bowles said he was bored, which led to busted plays, Joe has no words for that.
It was pretty obvious, both coming out of college and in his rookie season, Morrison’s toughest NFL battle would be staying out of the trainer’s room. This continued in 2026 when Morrison missed time in OTAs and minicamp. Then — SURPRISE! — Morrison turned up lame (again) right as training camp opened.
He’s yet to practice this summer but he was in costume uniform at least up in New Jersey.
Trick or treat!
So Joe doesn’t know how the Bucs can trust Morrison to be a possible starter in incinnati Week 1 unless he shocks the western world and stays on the practice field the rest of the summer.
Morrison is expected to practice this week at some point, as the Bucs practice Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday leading up the second worthless preseason game Saturday night. Joe’s heard this story before. Seeing is believing.
So again, if McCollum and McCollum can’t go Week 1, you likely are looking at either Hayes (a special teams player) or Garnes as a starting corner opposite Parrish — facing Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Burrow.
How is your morning going?
Joe hopes the jerseys the Bucs wear in Cincinnati are flame-retardant.