Is Rachaad White Really Going To Be the Buccaneers Lead Running Back In 2023?
Yesterday in my observations from the Buccaneers' final practice before they take on the Baltimore Ravens, I noted Sean Tucker split some of the first-team offense carries with Rachaad White.
"Tucker was splitting the first team reps with Rachaad White, while it was only one drive it is definitely something to monitor."
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He specifically had one 'move the ball' period where White started the drive and Tucker ended the drive, even scoring a touchdown to cap it off.
Does this mean that White is going to lose some of his regular season workload as the bellcow back to Sean Tucker?
That's hard to say. But Tucker is firmly in the driver's seat for the RB2 role on this team.
To add more context to my report from yesterday, while Tucker did have that one drive, the team also had three other periods where Baker and the first-team offense were working in the red zone.
In those periods, White got the vast majority of the reps, but Tucker did get a carry in the goal line work as well. Tucker did not work with the scout team during the red zone or move the ball period.
On the previous day of practice (Wednesday), in the move-the-ball period, Tucker did get some brief work with the first-team offense as well but White got the majority of the reps in that period.
The Buccaneers have been preparing for their final pre-season game against the Ravens, I do expect to see a lot of Sean Tucker in that game. So that could be part of the reason he was getting so much work in practice.
Tucker is an undrafted free agent but likely would have been a Day 2 or 3 if not for some medical concerns coming up in the draft process.
My expectation is that Tucker will start the season as the backup to Rachaad White and will see the field. But just how much work he gets will be hard to predict.
Last year Leonard Fournette got hurt in Week 10 against the Seahawks, and from that point on White started to cut into his workload.
In the final six games of the seasons when both were available, White got more rushing attempts in four of those games.
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