These Buccaneers are hoping for more than team success in the playoffs.
The Buccaneers should be in a similar situation this offseason as they try to keep the band together for another season of going all-in with Tom Brady in 2022.
There is still the draw of playing with Brady on a Super Bowl contender, so the free-agent market should be robust for the Bucs, but that doesn’t mean that everyone is staying.
These Buccaneers will need excellent playoff performances if they want to keep their jobs in Tampa going forward.
Player #1
Ronald Jones is basically all but done in Tampa. Bruce Arians never seemed to have a place on offense to make RoJo tick, and it seems like his time is up in pewter and red.
Given that most of the running backs will be off the roster as free agents at the end of the season, Ke’Shawn Vaughn will use the next few games to prove that he has a role to play on this team going forward.
A decent push in the playoffs could stay Tampa’s hand from spending another draft pick on the position, but a bad performance could quickly have Vaughn back to being little more than a special teams player.
We haven’t seen much yet to inspire confidence in the second-year third-round pick, but there is still time to leave an impression.