The Buccaneers need to figure out what else they have at running back besides Rachaad White.
Tampa Bay’s 2023 season made clear that the Buccaneers backfield belongs to Rachaad White. He was instrumental in every phase of the offense, which is unlikely to change. What remains uncertain heading into training camp is the roles and impact of the rest of the backfield, particularly rookie Bucky Irving.
There is no reason to believe that Rachaad White is not primed for another heavy workload this season. Last year, he had the third-most rush attempts in the NFL (272) and fourth-most yards from scrimmage (1539), thanks in no small part to his durability. White played in every game of the 2023 season, which allowed him to lead all running backs with 861 offensive snaps.
The coaching staff’s trust in White is obvious. He will have no real competition in training camp. However, the Bucs may consider managing White’s workload from camp through the preseason. The bellcow running back paradigm is all but dead, and running White into the ground would rob the Bucs of a potent playmaker sooner than later.
The question is, how do the Bucs preserve White? He is easily the most talented running back on the roster. The most likely successor is fourth-round pick Bucky Irving. Though he is undersized and an average NFL athlete at best, Irving was sparkplug for Oregon’s offense. His lack of size belies his ability to make tacklers miss and get yards after contact.
What will determine Irving’s utility in Tampa Bay this season will be the blocking system offensive coordinator Liam Coen opts to run. Last season, the Bucs switched from being a gap-heavy team to using much more outside zone, a function of their undersized and less talented offensive line.
Oregon mostly used gap blocks on Irving’s runs the last two seasons, as did Coen as Kentucky’s offensive coordinator last year. Coen may try to use Irving like the Rams have used Kyren Williams, who has a similar size and athletic profile and played for Coen with Los Angeles in 2022.
Irving’s chief competition for playing time will be veteran Chase Edmonds. While he is the incumbent change-of-pace back, he has never been a featured back for an extended period of time. He will see plenty of snaps in the preseason, but the Bucs will be looking for Irving to play his way past him on the depth chart.
Second-year player Sean Tucker could be entering a make-or-break training camp. He began his NFL career in recovery from a heart condition and was a complete non-factor during the season. In college, Tucker was an explosive ball carrier for Syracuse, but he has yet to display that dynamic playmaking in the NFL. He is very much competing for a spot on the final roster, an evaluation that will no doubt last until the end of the preseason.
Tucker’s uncertain position on the roster opens up an opportunity for undrafted rookies Ramon Jefferson and D.J. Williams. Jefferson has an advantage over every other running back on the roster: he played under Coen last season, even if he only played 28 offensive snaps. He is also two years removed from an ACL tear, so he may have a little more juice in Bucs training camp than he did with Kentucky last season.
Williams is the least experienced running back on the roster and arguably the least athletic. What he does have is mass, weighing 225 pounds at 5’9″. Still, Williams is a long shot to make the roster, save for an untimely camp injury or two.
