The Tampa Bay Buccaneers got their man when they signed future Hall of Fame quarterback and six-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady to a two-year deal in free agency.
But for all of Brady's excellence and the weapons he has in the passing game, the Bucs still seem to have work to do on the offensive side of the ball.
The Buccaneers ranked 26th in football in terms of rushing defense-adjusted value over average (DVOA) in 2019, per Football Outsiders, and they often relied on an air-raid attack.
However, running back Ronald Jones showed potential in his sophomore season, averaging 4.2 yards per carry while adding 31 receptions for 309 yards and taking over the starting job.
Bucs general manager Jason Licht is incredibly high on Jones' ceiling in 2020 (via Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk, paraphrasing JoeBucsFan's original report):
“Licht said during a Thursday conference call that he believes Jones has yet to ‘scratch the surface' of how good he will be in the NFL after making a ‘huge jump' last year. That doesn’t mean they’ll stand pat at the position in the draft, but he stressed that any move in that direction isn’t a sign of dissatisfaction with Jones.
“‘It doesn’t stop us from wanting to add to that group … but we have a lot of faith in Ronald, and in fact, we have more faith in him now that we ever have,' … ‘But that’s another position, as you can tell [when] you look across the league, some of the better teams they have one, two or three guys that they can rely on in different roles in their offense.'”
Jones might also benefit from a more balanced attack with Brady under center.
Brady excels at managing the game and reading defenses, which could give him more leeway in calling audibles to running plays as the Bucs look to use the full extent of their weapons.
Jones took a big leap in his sophomore campaign, so it is not out of reach for him to make strides yet again in year three even if Tampa chooses to add yet another back in the draft.
Follow Us
Subscribe