Buccaneers doing smart thing regarding Leonard Fournette

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be slightly tweaking their offense when it comes to their running game. As it pertains to one specific back, in particular, the Buccaneers are doing the right thing with his reported expected usage.

Greg Auman, who covers the Bucs for the Athletic, is pretty well-sourced (to say the least) when it comes to the inner workings of the team. Any time he has some scuttlebutt to report on it’s usually something to be taken seriously. That’s what makes this little nugget in response to a since-deleted tweet significant.

The biggest takeaway here is that the Buccaneers are doing the perfect thing.

Leonard Fournette is far and away the best back the Bucs have on the roster, and even though the offense is apparently using more of a committee approach, Fournette is still clearly the lead dog. That said, Fournette, like pretty much all running backs, is prone to getting bit by the injury bug every now and then.

Fortunately, the Buccaneers have done a tremendous job of providing themselves with ample depth at the running back position with a mix of veteran and young talent. The career life span of an NFL running back is essentially microscopic, especially compared to other positions, so you can never have too many.

With the Buccaneers wanting to run the ball more frequently, and given the fact that Fournette, AKA “Late-Season Lenny”, AKA “Playoff Lenny”, AKA “Lombardi Lenny” has earned those nicknames for performing best down the stretch, any attempt to keep him as healthy as possible is a positive way of thinking. You need to be able to run the ball at least somewhat effectively late in the season, so everything about this should be seen as wise.

While there may be some questions surrounding the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this season, particularly with new head honcho Todd Bowles, he has his staff and players implementing the right approach when it comes to their best back, and that should be applauded.