The Buccaneers are heading into their final week of offseason work for mandatory minicamp before training camp kicks off in July which will once again provide a look at how this year’s crop of rookies is progressing.
Through rookie minicamp and two OTAs, we’ve got a good look at the newest Buccaneers, albeit without pads, and so far, early impressions are impressive. Like many of the Bucs’ recent drafts, this year’s class has exhibited some of the same core principles that made previous classes so successful.
One player in particular who has started to show out is Benjamin Morrison. The Bucs selected the rookie cornerback in the second round and feel like they got a steal in the player and person. After a hip injury derailed his junior year, Morrison, who was projected to be an early first-round pick saw his draft stock fall before he was finally scooped up by the Bucs.
CBS Sports writer Chris Trapasso recently broke down 32 picks from each team who could be sleepers this season and earn a key role for their team. For the Bucs, he went with Morrison.
“Morrison was one of the first prospects I finalized a grade on in early January, and it was distinctly in the first round. He was as smooth of a sticky man-to-man cornerback as I ultimately watched in the 2025 draft. His hip injury just curtailed any momentum he could’ve had created during the pre-draft process, which is how and why the Bucs got him in the second round.”
“Zyon McCollum was a freaky tester, and he flashed in his third season in 2024, but Morrison has the refined man-coverage skills to battle the incumbent for the starting gig opposite Jamel Dean.”
After mostly sitting out of rookie minicamp, Morrison made his debut in team activities to the media during the first week of OTAs. However, it was the second week that he showed everyone in attendance what he was capable of. Morrison matched first-round rookie Emeka Egbuka step for step along the route before leaping into the air to rip the ball out for an incompletion. If Morrison can continue to play like that and keep progressing throughout the summer, there’s no doubt Dean will need to be looking over his shoulder.
Morrison will be competing for a starting job this preseason.
