Tampa Bay Buccaneers prove with their third-round pick that Todd Bowles wasn't lying with his recent proclamation

Jacob Parrish Scouting Report

Jacob Parrish, CB, Kansas State

Age: 21 (2/29/04)

A to Z Sports Expected Draft Position: 109

Pre-Draft Round Projection: 4

A three-star recruit from the 2022 recruiting class, Jacob Parrish was a constant force on defense for the Kansas State Wildcats. He was a rotational player as a true freshman and became a starter in his sophomore season. Despite his small stature at 5'9", Parrish plays with a physical style that will immediately translate to the NFL. He gets his nose involved in the run game in a way that will remind you of Antoine Winfield Sr. He pairs that with the ability to play inside and outside in coverage with good enough ball skills to snag five interceptions with 13 passes batted down. Overall, Parrish is a long-term nickel cornerback who can play on the outside in a pinch. - A to Z Sports' Tyler Forness

Career Projection: Eventual good starter

Why the Bucs picked him

Bowles made it clear during the NFL owners meetings at the beginning of the month that the Bucs would look to improve the depth in their CB room: 

"We don't have a lot of depth. That's crystal clear. We don't have a lot of depth. We hope to address that at some point in the draft as well, obviously, and we didn't sign many in free agency. We signed (Kindle) Vildor. We signed back Bryce (Hall). He's coming off an injury. We've got to see what Vildor can do, obviously, but we're going to address that in the draft." - Todd Bowles

Adding Parrish does that, and as Tyler Fornes notes, while he projects as a nickel corner, he's a player who has the potential to play both inside and outside, adding some important positional versatility to the defense that they can use. 

After adding Notre Dame's Benjamin Morrison in the second round and now Parrish, the Bucs are making it clear that they're not going to be relegated to playing unheralded reserves who looked as comfortable as fish out of water in place of some injured starters last year.  Now the options behind starters Zyon McCollum and Jamel Dean - and perhaps in place of Dean - are stronger, which will only help the Bucs shore up the issue that's plagued them the most recently - their ability to stop opposing passing attacks.