Buccaneers may trade away former starting running back

The NFL Combine has come and gone and all 32 teams across the NFL will begin to dig deeper into their evaluations of collegiate prospects leading up to the NFL Draft in April while examining the free agent landscape set to kick off here in the coming weeks.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be doing just the same as every other team across the league. However, much of their focus should and will be on the defensive side of the ball, as that is one area where the team struggled in 2024. While the defense is the glaring issue for the Bucs to fix this offseason, some moves can be made on the offensive side of the ball, including along the offensive line and outside at the receiver position.

However, one area that the Bucs aren't necessarily in a hurry to mess around with is the running back room as they have found a three-headed staple in their backfield with Bucky Irving, Rachaad White, and former undrafted free agent Sean Tucker headlining.

Buccaneers may trade away former starting running back

Last season, Tampa Bay drafted Irving in the fourth round of the draft to backup White in the backfield, but he ultimately supplanted White as the team's lead back as the year progressed. The team is uber high on Irving and his abilities as a lead back, but there seems to be even more controversy in the Bucs' backfield as Matthew Berry hinted at the fact that a team source mentioned third string running back, Sean Tucker, is viewed as a legit threat to White's RB2 slot on the roster.

"But perhaps the most interesting part of the Tampa Bay running back discussion was about Sean Tucker. “He has the talent to be a No. 1 RB in this league,” said a team source. The issue is just that he’s stuck behind Bucky Irving," wrote Berry. "Reading between the lines of the conversation, I came away thinking they love Irving, they love Tucker and aren’t as enthusiastic about Rachaad White. I bet Tucker overtakes White for the RB 2 role sooner than later."

Both Irving and White had over 1,000 all-purpose yards last season, but it was the emergence of Tucker in his third-string role that grabbed those who pay close to the team's attention. Tucker might not have had eye-popping numbers, rushing 50 times for 308 yards for two scores and another 109 yards through the air for another score, but he averaged nearly 6.2 yards per carry and showed his innate ability to stay balanced while being able to run between tackles with a low pad level.

Buccaneers running back Rachaad White runs the ball against the Los Angeles Chargers. | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

Many had called for Tucker to receive more touches in 2024 and it seems likely that that could be the case according to Berry's sources. Tucker was one of the most electrifying backs in college for the Syracuse Orange and after being forgotten about during the draft due to injury, along with a slow start to his career, he is finally showing that he has what it takes to be a force in this league.

It is not a foregone conclusion that Tucker will leap over White in the pecking order in Tampa Bay, however, it does seem like the pressure is now on White to produce more than he has as of late.

Depending on what happens throughout training camp, the preseason, and even into the season, the Buccaneers could look to move White in a trade as he is still a young player with explosive ability out of the backfield, especially in the passing game. If that is an option for Tampa Bay's brass, you could see teams around the NFL come in droves as White is still on his rookie contract through the rest of the 2025 season before becoming a free agent in 2026.

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