The Buccaneers can’t keep any consistency in their running back room or on their views of the unit. This needs to change.
As it stands, the Buccaneers have a decent running back room for this Sunday with Leonard Fournette, Ke’Shawn Vaughn, and Giovanni Bernard. Le’Veon Bell was cut in favor of elevating Ryan Griffin and bringing Leonard Fournette back, but this could come back to bite Tampa after his growing chemistry with Tom Brady.
The pass should be the priority for the Bucs against the Rams, but having a run game to lean on never hurts. Fournette is coming off an injury, but he should step into the starting role well with a decent supporting cast behind him.
This supporting cast was able to perform well in Fournette’s absence. Ke’Shawn Vaughn has looked good as the starter and Bernard had some of his best seasons of the year against the Eagles last week.
As the group looks better, one has to wonder; why did the Buccaneers keep Ronald Jones at the trade deadline?
Yes, it looked nice on paper to keep the talented one-two punch of Jones and Fournette or in the event of an injury, but that tandem never really took over. Jones didn’t even pop when Fournette was out, and now, it is entirely possible that Jones has played his last snaps for the Bucs after an extremely underwhelming 2021 season.
This situation only becomes more strange in regard to Bruce Arians’ support for Vaughn. IF Arians and company believed Vaughn to be a viable back, and it is clear that they don’t think the same about RoJo, why would they bury Vaughn on the depth chart until now?
Wouldn’t it have been nice if Vaughn had a bit more experience before playing in one of the most important games of the season?
The decision is in the past one way or another, but this idea around keeping Jones was never the right one for either party, and that has only become more true by the day as other players step up for the Buccaneers.
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