Buccaneers rookie perfect take on year one in Tampa

Rachaad White has an uphill battle ahead to find success as a rookie running back on the Buccaneers. His goals show the right level of confidence.

Great players are rarely shy. Few dominant athletes of any level aren’t at least extremely confident in their own abilities outwardly. Some verge on cockiness, but this is sometimes a good thing when you have to perform at the highest level in the world every day.

The Buccaneers have generally lacked this level of confidence from their young running backs over the past few years, but it seems like they just got the perfect amount from rookie Rachaad White.

Young Buccaneer running backs have a tough history, especially during the Bruce Arians era. Ronald Jones and Ke’Shawn Vaughn are two of the most recent to come into the fold before White, and the results have been disappointing.

Neither did well in year one. The smallest mistakes, of which there were plenty, immediately land these guys on the bench, even when they were better than their counterparts.

There was no rhythm or balance outside of one year with Jones, and the first two years with Vaughn have shown very little.

Running back can be a difficult position and requires guys to be mentally strong to overcome these mistakes. Rachaad White is already showing that he will at least bring the mental toughness.

White made it clear on the Jim Rome Show that his goal is to win the starting job in Tampa. To be clear, that would mean beating out Leonard Fournette, one of the best running backs in team history, Giovani Bernard, one of the best pass-catchers at his position, and Ke’Shawn Vaughn, who has two years of NFL reps under his belt already.

Beating out any of these guys in his first year is a long shot, but this attitude from White is exactly what teams look for. Competitors are exactly what the Bucs need to be good, and it is this competitiveness that will put White in a position to contribute as a rookie.

What made White’s comments even better is that he made it clear that his goal is also to learn from the guys he is competing against. White gave a great level of respect to his peers and showed a willingness to learn, and that openness mixed with his desire to be great put him in a prime position mentally to leave his mark in Tampa.

Let’s hope we don’t have to wait long before we get to see Rachaad White prove himself for the Buccaneers. And please let him wear number three.

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