At the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' training camp practice on Sunday, the sixth period, about 45 minutes in, was the first one that featured a full 11 on each side going against each other. As usual, the drill started with the first-team players on both sides, and as has become usual this summer, second-year defender Jacob Parrish was in as the right outside cornerback.
After a handful of snaps, the first team gave way to the second team but Parrish didn't leave the field. Instead, he moved into the slot and rookie Ayden Garnes replaced him on the outside. Parrish is very familiar with the former role from his days at Kansas State, and he spent his NFL rookie season working primarily out of the slot, so he wasn't lost at either spot. This kind of activity may not phase him, but it is interesting in that it hints at what could be a somewhat unusual role for him in the regular season.
"I feel I'm pretty versatile, so whatever Coach Bowles wants me to do I've just got to be ready to go out there and do it," said Parrish. "I've been taking outside reps, I've been taking nickel reps. Just trying to stay ahead of the curve so I can go out there at nickel if I'm needed there."
This already happened last season. Parrish may have been the team's primary slot corner when the depth chart was fully loaded, but when injuries started hitting all over the secondary he was on occasion and asked to play on the outside. And, for some small stretches, Parrish was the team's starting outside corner but would move into the slot in nickel personnel with someone else coming on to play on the outside. That's a hybrid role that the Bucs really haven't seen anyone play since Hall of Famer Rondé Barber made it his career-long signature.
Parrish is all for it, and the Bucs are clearly trying to make sure he's on the field as much as possible after his impressive rookie season.
"It's been fun," he said. "I played outside corner in college, so it's not like it's something new to me. But it's exciting. I'm just out there trying to learn from Zyon, learn from others and go out there and make some plays."
Parrish is listed as being 5-10 and 198 points, which is why he was commonly viewed as a slot corner in the 2025 draft process. The Bucs landed him in the third round after considering taking him in the second (they eventually went with another corner, Benjamin Morrison, there) and did indeed utilize him initially in the slot. However, it was Bowles who said from the very beginning after Parrish's arrival that he believed the young DB could handle outside corner in the NFL, as well. And Parrish is proving him right.
"He's very quick," said Bowles. "He's right up there with Zyon [McCollum] as one of our best cover guys, and he can play inside as well, so that makes him very versatile. Him understanding the scheme better in year two and playing more position ball as opposed to just using his athleticism all the time has put him in great position to have a very good camp, and he's been doing that."
With Morrison essentially sidelined by injury for all of training camp and much of the offseason program before that, the most common first-team lineup the Bucs have shown is with McCollum and Parrish as the outside corners and rookie Keionte Scott in the slot. That's certainly one prominent option for the Buccaneers, but it's also possible that they'll open the regular season with Parrish in that hybrid role pioneered in Tampa by Barber. He's showing on a daily basis that he can handle it.
