We are well underway with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers training camp. Pads are on and many players have begun to impress this fan base. Young stars such as Rueben Bain, Josiah Trotter, Ted Hurst and more are looking the part of an NFL star in the making early on.

Unfortunately, there is one young player who has not looked like much of anything so far. That would be second year cornerback Benjamin Morrison. The former Notre Dame standout has yet to practice this training camp due to a hamstring injury.

After an up and down rookie year, it felt like Morrison needed to get off to a good start in 2026. Even more so with a starting outside job up for grabs opposite Zyon McCollum. Sadly, this has not been that start that anyone was hoping for.

However, the sky is not falling here. It’s far too soon to start shoveling dirt on this young career. In fact, I would argue that the Buccaneers should be patient with Benjamin Morrison.

Let’s not forget that we are talking about a high end cornerback prospect. There was belief that Morrison would have been a first round pick in 2025 if not for a hip injury cutting his season short. The talent here is undeniable.

Morrison had an interception in nearly ⅓ of his college games. In terms of ability to find the ball and make plays, you won’t find many young players at his level. Coverage ability is where he hangs his hat and what put him in the first round of the draft conversation.

We got to see a glimpse of this last year. In his ten games played (three starts) Morrison deflected four passes. He also had moments of brilliance in coverage; I remember clearly him giving AJ Brown a very hard time when the Buccaneers held the Philadelphia Eagles scoreless in the second half.

Of course, there were flaws as well. Morrison had blown coverages (the game against the Buffalo Bills comes to mind) and his share of rookie struggles. Certainly a mixed bag for his rookie year.

However, keep in mind that cornerback is one of the hardest NFL transitions. In a position that is very reactionary, it’s hard to get the timing down in a bigger, faster, stronger league. Many great cornerbacks such as Darius Slay and Ronde Barber struggled as rookies.

There is every reason to believe that Morrison had an opportunity to come into this training camp, take a step forward and win a starting job. Unfortunately, that won’t be the case.

Much like last year, Morrison is missing significant time in training camp with an injury. This was the case last year when he missed the entire preseason. For a player that only had one injury in college, it feels like they are piling up at the NFL level.

This has taken away valuable practice time. It’s very hard to improve without the reps on the field, especially against good competition. Morrison missed out on that last year and it’s happening again now.

Frustration is natural. A player with a good deal of talent not being able to put it together or even show that he’s taking steps. There’s no way to sugar coat it, this isn’t a good situation.

With that said, it isn’t a huge deal in the big picture either. The Bucs have promising options at corner, so there is no reason he has to be forced into action. The team can afford to bring him along slowly.

Even if Morrison doesn’t start at all this year, then that’s okay. He’ll have another year of games and practice under his belt. That’s way more valuable than the first two weeks of training camp.

In the worst case scenario, Morrison enters next year in basically the same spot he is now. He’d be a 23 year old with two years of NFL experience and all the talent to be an impact player. And if the team does move on from McCollum next offseason, then Morrison would be in a great position to step in and take that job.

This isn’t a player who has been hurt his whole career. He played in ten games as a rookie and 31 in college. The injuries with the Buccaneers have been disappointing, but the larger sample size tells us that these hamstring pulls don’t define him.

In the grand scheme of things this time lost in training camp matters, but more for the short term than the long term. Regardless of that, this is still a good player. Even if he starts the season as a backup, there is no reason to think that he can’t make up for lost time once he’s back on the field.

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