Baker Mayfield Talks Jacob Parrish
June 6th, 2025
Bucs GM Jason Licht had an animated conversation with CBS insider Pete Prisco on Tuesday.
So a guy who talked to Baker Mayfield and Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht this week walked away telling people he expects Jamel Dean to start at outside cornerback and rookie corner Jacob Parrish is wowing his quarterback.
File that away in your hard drive.
Joe’s referring to Prickly Pete Prisco of CBS Sports. He patrolled the grounds of One Buc Palace on Tuesday and was spotted having 1-on-1 discussions with Licht and Mayfield.
Prisco told CBS Sports HQ that rookie third-round pick cornerback Jacob Parrish is impressing coaches and getting lots of work at nickel corner. He’s also caught the eye of his quarterback. No, not Kyle Trask.
“I asked Baker Mayfield about [Parrish],” Prisco said. “He said, ‘[Parrish] did some things in practice that rookies don’t do.’ You know, he kind of baited Mayfield in one zone situation.”
Prisco noted rookie cornerback Benjamin Morrison (Round 2) likely will be a hungry backup to start training camp and the regular season.
“I think Jamel Dean will open as the starter but he’s going to get pushed by Benjamin Morrison,” Prisco said. “That’s going to make that defense a lot better.”
Joe loves hearing the excitement surrounding Parrish. If he can combine his elite speed with mature instincts, the Bucs will have the kind of nickel they haven’t had in a long time.
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June 6th, 2025 at 8:31 pm
Love it!!!! DBs that don’t play scared combined with improved pass rush means more TOs and with our offense, that’s bad news for other teams. We score more, they pass more. They pass more, we defend better and run up scores.
LOVE IT!!!!
June 6th, 2025 at 8:44 pm
LFG!
June 6th, 2025 at 8:53 pm
Bucs are coming for the Bowl!
June 6th, 2025 at 9:09 pm
how many games we get out of the top four corners is critical
June 6th, 2025 at 9:15 pm
Sounds great. As they absorb more coaching and “never let anything over your head” is emphasized, we should expect to see the rookies embrace 12 yards off the ball soft zone coverage like they were Bowles veteran CBs.
June 6th, 2025 at 9:40 pm
If these guys don’t cause Bowles to play more press coverage. He needs to be fired. So tired of this off the ball crap creating no help to our pass rush.
June 6th, 2025 at 9:47 pm
Parrish sounds like a potential day 1 contributer. Looking forward to hearing positive updates on Morrison as camp goes on 🤞🏼
100% positive article…. Turdhunters will set that straight 🤣.
June 6th, 2025 at 9:52 pm
Aqualung, I swear last time you posted you said we played 15 yards off the ball soft zone coverage. Even you admit we’ve improved! But 20%! That means we should go from 22 points against (.20×22=4.4)down to 17.6 points against. I knew we were better but this is great!
June 6th, 2025 at 9:56 pm
BF28, agree absolutely,this woopie cushion 15 yds only allows short pass progression down the field. Sorta like the old prevent defence. All it prevented getting the ball back.
June 6th, 2025 at 10:10 pm
Let’s relax. It’s hype season. We know the Bucs are within reach of being an elite team. It has to play out for us to know who will make the trip.
June 6th, 2025 at 10:14 pm
Fire the Cannons!!!
June 6th, 2025 at 11:06 pm
Joes story says this:”“I think Jamel Dean will open as the starter but he’s going to get pushed by Benjamin Morrison,” yeah he aint gonna need to be pushed, he will be on IR. Glad we have depth at this usually vulnerable position.
June 6th, 2025 at 11:10 pm
I will not relax! It is hype season but I don’t need hype articles to know what this team has.
They know they have the roster to be a Super Bowl competitor. Our expectations should be super high.
Bring on the season, bring on Washington, Philly, SF, Detroit and the rest of them!
Real excited about the new rookie crop, and if Bowles can be believed, he will have some new defensive game plans for us. We will certainly see more press but will continue to see a mix of coverages.
June 6th, 2025 at 11:56 pm
So far the Positrolls are mercifully absent in this one.
June 7th, 2025 at 12:16 am
If you’re reading this, don’t feel like you’re being a “super fan” for thinking that the Bucs have a Top 3 Roster in the NFL. You are right. They actually do. We will see what they do with it. But they absolutely have it.
June 7th, 2025 at 12:22 am
I Love Dennis at LB next to David. I have a feeling that him and Kancy are the future leaders of this defense. College teammates. Elite Talents. Yes, Dennis does have to stay healthy. But anybody that knows ball can see that he looked very much like an elite linebacker when he is healthy and available. I project at least 10 sacks for Kancey this season. And this secondary that we have has the potential to be a top 5 unit in a year or two if they are deployed and schemed properly. I do have faith in Todd to put the pieces together. Put some respect on his name and what we have become under his and Jason’s watch. A well respected team throughout the league, a back to back to back time NFC south champions.
June 7th, 2025 at 12:38 am
I think Parish is Ronde 2.0 but with 4.3 speed!
Sick!
June 7th, 2025 at 1:14 am
This is finally some nice intel.
June 7th, 2025 at 1:45 am
Parrish is another D.J. Reed. Soon will be getting that $30 million contract. What is K-State feeding these undersized corners?
June 7th, 2025 at 2:53 am
So …best case scenario we have the secondary that produced the NFL’s 29th ranked pass defense plus an exciting rookie nickel back, potentially, and one hungry back up corner. Add a nickel playing safety and a pro bowl safety slumping after a big contract and I think we’ve pretty much checked all the boxes.
June 7th, 2025 at 5:34 am
I’m looking forward to the upcoming season with high hopes. Are any of the upcoming minicamp’s practices open to the press?
June 7th, 2025 at 7:07 am
While many are viewing Jacob Parrish as a slot corner, I would put my money that he competes as an outside CB. While he is on the shorter side, so far he has the speed and intelligence to be a starter at any of the three positions.
June 7th, 2025 at 7:39 am
So hold on a second is Joe saying that Jacob parish is a master baiter?
June 7th, 2025 at 8:30 am
I don’t think they drafted Morrison to back up Dean, they drafted him to replace Dean. Dean has had enough time to prove he can’t create turnovers. If Morrison can show in camp, and the preseason they he’s that guy who can take the ball away starting the season with him on the bench would be foolish.
June 7th, 2025 at 8:51 am
Morrison n Parrish are both naturals. Contrary to JDean’s stiffness, hesitant to jam the receiver, lack of reacting n tracking the ball, passive playing style, n lack of aggressiveness, Morrison n Parrish plays aggressive, have initial quickness in pedal, are physical with quick feet, has smooth hip flexibility, with the ability to consistently turn n track the ball. We should deal JDean now. His only attribute is speed n height, which has been useless.
June 7th, 2025 at 9:42 am
Aqualung, “positrolls”? Love it.
We’re like Jets and Sharks in here. Hopefully nobody takes some things too seriously.
June 7th, 2025 at 10:05 am
Jacob Parrish, master painter of disguises
June 7th, 2025 at 10:24 am
I read in an article yesterday that one of the national pundits suggested that Tampa will not go far in the playoffs because we lack surge capacity, or something to that effect. I disagree! I strongly believe that our draft class will provide the surge capacity we need to finish the season strong and make a push into the playoffs. At the start of the season, the rookies will be experiencing the typical learning curve, but by the last quarter of the season, they’ll be contributing in an impactful way. Parrish and Egbuka will make an immediate impact, where Morrison and the others will contribute more as the season progresses.
June 7th, 2025 at 10:45 am
Hodad … ‘I don’t think they drafted Morrison to back up Dean, they drafted him to replace Dean. Dean has had enough time to prove he can’t create turnovers.’
I agree with you on the first one … Bucs didn’t draft Morrison to back up Dean. If Morrison shows that he’s ready, he’ll get plenty of chance to play in this defense. And yes, that MIGHT include as Dean’s replacement this year.
Seems a bit strange though that so many (including Todd?) have come to the conclusion to Jamel SHOULD be creating a lot more INTs. I look at Dean’s first 4 years here & he had 7 INTs … almost 2 INTs average per year. Over that period he also had 41 PDs (about 10 PD per year average) and only allowed an average of 54.2% pass completion rate (that’s excellent BTW).
But something’s gone very wrong over the past 2 years. Jamel’s had just 1 INT in 2023 & 2024 … a mere 0.5 INT average per year. He’s also only had 11 PDs total (roughly HALF of his previous average) and his pass completion rate allowed has ballooned to 68.0% for 2023 & 2024. That’s a major degradation in performance since 2022.
So here’s the question Hodad: ‘Why?’ Has his degraded performance been the result of (1) injuries; (2) lack of ‘intensity’ after getting a new (big) contract in early 2023; or (3) the way he’s being used with all the injuries our defense has had over these past 2 years.
BTW, compared Dean’s average performance in his first 4 years against McCollum’s average performance in his first 3 years here. Zion has had 2 INTs TOTAL in his first 3 years (much less than Dean’s average). Zion has also had 27 PDs total in those 3 years, right at 9 PDs average per year (just a tad less than Jamel’s 10 PD per year average). And oh ya, Zion has allowed opposing QBs to complete 59.9% of their passes (about 5% less than Jamel’s 54.2% average in his first 4 years).
And yet, we all consider McCollum to be an excellent outside CB, and no one’s picking on HIM for having too few INTs. I tend to think that Bucs need to fingure out what’s really happened to Jamel Dean in these past 2 years BEFORE we throw him to the curb.
June 7th, 2025 at 11:23 am
Defense Rules, even over the hill and rookie QBs can make a cornerback look bad when they are comfortable in the pocket. I’m really feeling like this David Walker is gonna be a difference maker on the edge, maybe even more so than Reddick. Dean may or may not start but the secondary is gonna be better with the competition. I want to see this rookie from SMU that may plug in anywhere on the DLine. I don’t know why but I’m thinking the other Walker and Jones may be better depth at middle linebacker. If Winfield is 100% and Diaby makes a jump who knows? We may have a really good defense. Braswell might even be decent depth and make us some plays! Training camp ought to be as competitive as some of these players have seen since they’ve been here. I can see how hard this team is working on it. If I could only have one more thing defensively it would be a couple more DTs. Big, burly guys. Suh and Vea together must have been fun to watch.
June 7th, 2025 at 11:46 am
I’m a huge Zyon fan. His athleticism and fearlessness are great but he’s used those qualities too frequently to get his hands on balls that he should have intercepted. Make those grabs and his numbers go up quickly.
I noticed on a story about Sterling Shepard that he was working extra hard on regaining his once great hands, catching hundreds of balls after practice.
Wonder if Zyon and Dean are getting in plenty of reps CATCHING the ball.
June 7th, 2025 at 12:25 pm
St Pete … One of the things that I noticed about Jacob Parrish’s background is that in high school he played both ways. He was a defensive back on defense, but also played running back and wide receiver on offense. Rushed for 1,951 career yards and 22 touchdowns while hauling in 69 passes for 1,313 yards and another 15 scores. Set the school record for career receiving yards.
Wouldn’t be surprised to see him (eventually) lead the team in INTs. Sounds like he’s got pretty good hands.
June 7th, 2025 at 12:37 pm
Kenton … I really believe that we WILL have a very good defense, providing that we can stay reasonably healthy. And especially Vita Vea. He was on the field for a whopping 705 def snaps, almost two-thirds of our opponents’ plays. I’d love to know how well we did on the other one-third when Vea wasn’t on the field. He’s a beast.
And I agree with you that our Secondary is gonna be MUCH better than it was last year, as well as our OLBs. I have zero idea how well Reddick will do in this defense, but I have a lot of confidence in Diaby & Braswell, and am hopeful that Walker will jump in there & play like a veteran right off the bat.
June 7th, 2025 at 1:35 pm
@stpete
Don’t know about Zyon and Dean but I think Morrison has been spotted alongside EE on the jugs after practice .
June 7th, 2025 at 4:32 pm
Everyone needs to take in some deep and slow breaths. The excitement and hype is over the top. Yes, the Bucs should be better, but other teams will be too. To think the Bucs have a cakewalk to the SB is just wrong.