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Jenna Laine, ESPN Employees Author
TAMPA, Fla. — With a lot consideration on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ quarterback battle between Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask and among the early highlights from the large receivers, the operating backs have slid beneath the radar. However operating the ball will play a a lot greater function in coordinator Dave Canales’ offense in 2023. There was a renewed dedication to a extra balanced run-pass offense, which ought to assist this group rise from the league’s worst speeding assault.
So far as what number of of those gamers will stick round when it’s time to make ultimate cuts — they’ve saved 4 operating backs on their preliminary 53-man roster the final two years and in 2020 and 2019, they went with three. By way of divvying up carries — final yr Leonard Fournette and Rachaad White had a 55.1% to 37.8% cut up on whole variety of rushes and a 56.6% and 36.2% cut up on receptions, however that was as a result of White overtook Fournette, who’s now gone, for the beginning function. This yr, White ought to get roughly 66-70% of the touches as he’s at present RB1.
Rachaad White
White loved a breakout recreation in Week 10 final season, grew to become a starter, and hasn’t appeared again. Whereas he can play in quite a few offensive schemes, the transfer to a large zone scheme intently mimics what he performed in at Arizona State — a scheme that requires cutback skill, persistence and imaginative and prescient to determine and explode by the opening.
White rushed for 481 yards on 129 carries, averaging 3.7 yards per rush with a struggling offensive line final yr. He can take a step ahead there, in addition to ball safety, as White had two fumbles in the course of the common season. Skip Peete, the Bucs operating backs coach, may also help in that division as his Dallas Cowboys operating backs had zero fumbles final season.
“He’s simply so pure,” Canales stated of White. “All the pieces he does, the run recreation, the cross recreation, cross safety and routes. He’s actually a pure with each arms catching the ball. I believe he’s going to be unbelievable. My half, and our half as a employees, is simply ensuring that we’re in a position to make the most of all that ability set that he brings.”
The Bucs’ present No. 2 again is extra regular than flashy, having run a 4.51 on the NFL mix, and hasn’t gotten an entire lot of alternatives in his first three years taking part in behind Fournette, White and Ronald Jones. He is had 79 whole rushes in 19 video games, averaging 4.3 yards per carry. Whoever will get this backup function may get roughly 23-25% of the touches, which is how Canales’ outdated workforce, the Seattle Seahawks cut up issues up between Rashaad Penny and Kenneth Walker III after they had been each wholesome.
Whereas Vaughn is a one-cut runner which will profit from the transfer to the zone scheme, may there be a state of affairs the place a man like Sean Tucker overtakes him as RB2 with a powerful preseason due to his monitor velocity? Chase Edmonds’ receiving skill may additionally play an element, though they’re giving Vaughn extra alternatives as a receiver than earlier than.
“The cool half about [Vaughn] is that he has sufficient expertise proper now the place any run sort you give him, he actually is aware of what it’s designed to do,” Canales stated. “He has persistence on those the place he must be affected person. He hits it quick on those the place he must. He’s thrilling.”
Chase Edmonds
Edmonds is their third-down operating again. Coach Todd Bowles referred to as him a “jack of all trades” in that he can he can run, catch, cross block and play particular groups and he stated Edmonds “understands the sport utterly.” He’s obtained a 78.9% cross block win price since 2018 and has given up 5.0 whole sacks in keeping with ESPN Statistics and Info.
“I coached towards him and actually simply watched him play for a bunch of years whereas he was there,” Canales stated. “He’s lightning in a bottle. He’s shot out of a cannon. He can do as a lot as a whole lot of our slot receivers can too, so he’s a extremely harmful asset for us.”
Edmonds has bounced across the league since his days at Fordham — together with stints with the Miami Dolphins and Denver Broncos final yr — and his manufacturing has been modest. He admitted that the two-year, $12 million deal he signed in Miami took among the edge off of him, however in Tampa, he signed a one-year, veteran minimal deal value $1.08 million.
Sean Tucker
In three seasons at Syracuse, Tucker rushed for 3,182 yards on 589 carries, averaging 5.4 yards per carry with 27 speeding touchdowns. He additionally had 622 receiving yards and 4 receiving touchdowns, main ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper to declare him his “favourite operating again” within the 2023 draft class.
Tucker missed rookie camp and necessary minicamp because of a coronary heart situation that was detected on the NFL mix which prompted him to go undrafted. Previous to that, he stated he was operating the 40-yard sprint within the 4.3-4.4 vary.
“He has one other gear,” Canales stated. “He’s in all probability the quickest man we’ve got within the room. He actually has some suddenness to him.”
His school tape exhibits he has actually good imaginative and prescient and a eager understanding of what’s occurring on the second degree, on prime of his skill to make one minimize and explode, which makes Canales’ scheme a spot he can thrive.
“It offers us choices, having extra discipline — particularly for me — having extra discipline to run and having house,” Tucker stated on the scheme. “That creates alternatives, and for a operating again that is undoubtedly one thing that you really want.”
A former walk-on at Cal, Laird went on to hurry for 1,127 yards on 961 carries in two seasons as a starter. He signed with the Dolphins as an undrafted free agent and performed in 37 video games there from 2019-21 earlier than spending the 2022 season on the Bucs’ apply squad.
Peete was significantly complimentary of Laird’s run expertise, stability, cross safety and particular groups skill.
“Patrick Laird does all the pieces proper,” Canales stated. “He’s the man who’s tapping me on the shoulder like, ‘Hey, within the spring we had this route on this idea, is that what you need? The drawing was this.’ Like, ‘Sure, that’s proper.’ So, he’s on prime of all that.”
Ronnie Brown Jr.
The 6-foot, 190-pound rookie is at present the sixth operating again in line, signing with the Bucs as an undrafted free agent out of Shepard. In 4 seasons with the Division II faculty, he had 3,041 speeding yards, 1,158 receiving yards and 41 touchdowns in 4 seasons, main the Rams to back-to-back division titles.
He has extra of an upright operating model, but in addition a pleasant imaginative and prescient and could be very elusive. After all, the bounce in competitors would be the massive query he’ll need to reply on the subsequent degree. It’s unlikely he’ll be making as many defenders miss as he did in his school spotlight reel, which caught Canales’ eye. Count on to see a whole lot of him within the preseason.
“He had a whole lot of carries at Shepard. … He has persona too. He brings a whole lot of good juice to the room,” Canales stated.
