Free agency is mostly behind us and the NFL Draft is on the horizon, which means the rumor mill is starting to spin in all sorts of ways.
Some of that is motivated by comments being made by decision-makers in front offices. Tampa Bay Buccaneers GM Jason Licht stirred the pot a bit by tossing out a scenario where the team could draft a skill position player in the first-round, which isn’t s crazy as it might sound.
Other rumors are popping up externally.
FOX Sports’ Ralph Vacchiano rattled off potential trade bait each team could dangle to move up in the NFL Draft and had a bit of a surprising pick for the Buccaneers. He thinks the team could move starting running back Rachaad White, using logic we’ve heard before that makes sense from one angle but not from others.
“[White] has been fairly productive in his three seasons. The Bucs might be better off pairing Irving with a rookie this season, or increasing the workload of third-year pro Sean Tucker. White, meanwhile, would be a cheap option for another team, especially one looking for someone to share a backfield,” Vacchiano wrote.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard something like this and might not be the last, with all of the hits being played here in terms of why it makes sense to move White. It does make sense for the Bucs to move White if the future of the backfield is Bucky Irving and Sean Tucker, but the question is whether or not the future is now.
Buccaneers trading Rachaad White still doesn’t make a lot of sense
If the Bucs trade White it will need to be for something that helps offset the loss of a key cog in the backfield equation. He’s been usurped by Irving as both the RB1 of the future and a fan favorite, but he still has a ton of value as part of the offense’s success.
Last year he finished with over 1,000 total yards and nine touchdowns, which isn’t anything to take for granted. Tucker is a guy who finally started to come into his own last year after a dud of a rookie season, but he’s still unproven and isn’t yet on the level of White or Irving in terms of assuming the RB2 role.
We’re also putting a lot of pressure on Bucky to step up, which he seems capable of being able to do but the team has been hesitant to throw into the fire. We saw him take a backseat at times to White and Tucker to try and preserve his health, and launching him into the RB1 role without a clear sidekick (Tucker is great but needs to prove it still) seems risky.
There’s also the element of putting new offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard behind the eight ball straight out of the gate. If the idea is to not skip a beat from Dave Canales and Liam Coen, then cutting out a big piece of the offense seems like a step in the wrong direction.
That being said, if the Bucs want to churn the running back room and land a rookie this year in the draft then it could make sense to move White. But even that returns us to a place where we’re trying to force logic when the simplest — and best — thing for the Bucs to do is hold onto White for one more year and see how much higher the offense can soar with him in the mix.
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