Whereas all eyes are set on the 2023 season, Pewter Report is having a look on the Bucs in 2023 and into the longer term. Going place by place, we’ll present a three-year outlook to get an concept of what the 2024 and 2025 Bucs would possibly appear to be — and the way 2023 might affect these future groups.
Quarterbacks
Right this moment, we proceed with the working backs.
Bucs Working Again Contracts
Bucs RB KeShawn Vaughn – Picture by: Cliff Welch/PR
Tampa Bay’s backfield is way from locked in for the longer term. Rachaad White is the one one with years remaining on his contract after 2023, as he was drafted in 2022 and his rookie deal runs by way of 2025. He’ll get his first probability to be a real No. 1 again this yr, and what he does with that probability will go a good distance in figuring out the outlook for the remainder of the backfield going ahead.
Ke’Shawn Vaughn, a 2020 draft decide, is in a contract yr. So far, he has been nothing greater than a No. 3 or No. 4 again, however his position might improve in 2023.
The Bucs went out and signed Chase Edmonds in free company again in March, inking him to a one-year deal. The staff will hope he can keep wholesome and contribute this season, however he’s going to be 28 subsequent offseason so there’s not a lot of a path for him to be a long-term choice for Tampa Bay in something apart from a depth/change-of-pace position. Patrick Laird, the present RB4, can also be a free agent after 2024 — and he’s no lock to make the 53-man roster out of coaching camp.
Sean Tucker and Ronnie Brown are two undrafted free brokers who supply intriguing upsides, however neither are locks to make the 2023 roster both. Due to that, it’s exhausting to say they’re established within the staff’s three-year plans.
How This 12 months Impacts 2024 & 2025
Bucs RB Rachaad White – Picture by: Cliff Welch/PR
The most important reply the Bucs can be in search of on the working again place in 2023 is whether or not or not White is a real No. 1 again. He flashed in spurts throughout his rookie season, ending with 481 yards and a landing on 129 carries, averaging 3.7 yards per carry. He added 50 catches for 290 yards (5.8 avg.) and two touchdowns as a receiver as effectively.
With Leonard Fournette gone, White is the clear beginning working again in Tampa Bay this yr. The Bucs anticipate their run recreation to enhance below new offensive coordinator Dave Canales, and admittedly something could be an enchancment over the staff’s league-worst speeding assault final yr.
If White breaks out in 2023 and proves able to being the staff’s unquestioned starter, he’ll clear up the backfield image for 2024 and 2025. The staff would have a starting-caliber again and whereas it might search for one other high-end runner to type a pleasant 1-2 punch with its 2022 draft decide, the one actual want could be complementary working mates to spherical out the backfield.
Vaughn and Edmonds determine to be gone after 2023, except one in every of them makes sufficient of a case this season to be retained subsequent offseason. Given Vaughn’s lack of alternatives up to now in his profession, he might need a change of surroundings except one thing drastic adjustments this yr. He’ll see the sector extra, however what he does together with his carries will arrange the subsequent section of his profession, whether or not it’s in Tampa or elsewhere. Whether or not or not Edmonds stays wholesome will decide what his 2023 appears to be like like. If he can keep on the sector and produce, he might carve out a spot on the roster for greater than only a yr.
Tucker is an attention-grabbing one to look at. A coronary heart situation detected through the pre-draft course of prevented him from being drafted, however the former Syracuse star has lots of potential. Along with his situation reportedly anticipated to clear up within the coming months, he could also be a candidate to interrupt out alongside White and provides the Bucs a vibrant younger 1-2 punch to depend on for the subsequent couple of years.
Three-12 months Outlook: Bucs Working Backs
Bucs RBs Chase Edmonds and Sean Tucker – Picture by: Cliff Welch/PR
Numerous this relies on White. If he doesn’t look the a part of a authentic No. 1 again, the Bucs could also be out there for one more starting-caliber choice subsequent yr. That’s to not say White will fall out of the staff’s plans fully, however there’s a actuality the place he’s not the kind of man Tampa Bay can provide the ball to 200-plus instances and can want a complement.
The outlook for the remainder of the backfield appears to be like murky past 2023. Maybe Vaughn establishes himself as a reliable and productive No. 2 this yr and Bucs decision-makers suppose he’s value re-signing subsequent offseason. Possibly he goes elsewhere and Edmonds sticks round for 2024 in a No. 3 kind of position. In a means, Edmonds might have extra of an opportunity of being retained subsequent yr as a dependable veteran presence. Suppose Giovani Bernard, although the staff will hope to get extra out of him. By 2025, although, it’s extremely unlikely he’ll nonetheless be on the roster.
The one means this group because it’s constructed now ought to fully stick collectively is that if it brings Tampa Bay’s speeding assault from final within the league to a dramatically higher rating this fall.
Tucker is the wild card. If his coronary heart situation isn’t an issue that persists, he might show to be an actual undrafted free agent gem for the Bucs. He ran for two,556 yards and 23 touchdowns over his closing two years with Syracuse and regardless that he has but to apply, some across the staff facility have given him a fairly complimentary nickname/comparability: “Child Nick Chubb.”
Three-12 months Outlook Abstract
There doesn’t determine to be a lot that Rachaad White can do that season that may rule him out of the Bucs’ future, however how he performs in 2023 will give the staff a clearer image as to the way it must construct out the remainder of the backfield in 2024 and 2025. Within the occasion that White and one other working again — whether or not it’s Vaughn or Tucker — mix to deliver Tampa Bay’s speeding assault from the underside of the league to close the highest, the Bucs could be fairly content material to enter the longer term with two strong backs.
