3 Buccaneers that will improve under Bruce Arians
By Ryan Doyle
RB Ronald Jones
For a player that was projected to lead the Buccaneers rushing attack, 2018 was more than disappointing for second-round pick Ronald Jones.
The USC product ran for just 44 yards on the season. He had a total of 30 touches on the entire year. None of which came in Tampa Bay’s final four games of the season.
Tampa Bay’s coaching staff never trusted Jones. He found no room to run in the preseason, which sent him to the bottom of the depth chart. He was a healthy scratch for the first four games as well. Talk about a rough start to his career.
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Jones will get a fresh start with a new coaching staff in tow. Arians has found success with running backs that aren’t nearly as talented as Jones. Players like Rashard Mendenhall and an over the hill Chris Johnson had successful seasons in an Arians offense.
There’s no denying that Jones didn’t have much help from the blocking in front of him. The Bucs had issues opening up holes for their running backs. However, Peyton Barber didn’t struggle anywhere near as much as Jones did.
The onus will lie on Jones to improve. He needs to be able to catch passes out of the backfield and find some traction as a runner. The pressure will be there. He is a top pick and was looked at to solve the Bucs issues in the run game.
Arians will put him in a position to succeed, but it’s on him to put in the work.