Getty Tom Brady will likely look to Rachaad White for running the ball more down the stretch.
Higher ups with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have left little doubt about rookie running back Rachaad White taking on a bigger load in the final seven games of the season.
White started the last game in Week 10 and rushed for 105 yards on 22 carries, only the second 100-yard game by a Bucs player this season. Veteran running back Leonard Fournette had the only other 100-yard game all the way back in Week 1.
“Rachaad White is a heck of a player,” a Buccaneers personnel executive told Heavy senior writer Matt Lombardo. “He really can do it all.”
Bucs’ RB Rachaad White vs. Seahawks’ S Quandre Diggs:
White’s emergence and Fournette’s health could lead to another start in Week 12 against the Cleveland Browns on November 27. White averages 3.7 yards per carry, and he had 20 catches for 135 yards thus far. Fournette injured his hip against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 10, and his status is questionable for the Browns game.
Bucs head coach Todd Bowles also liked what he saw from White the last time out. Bowles notably had a package of plays designed for White in the first drive of the 21-16 win over the Seahawks.
“He has the most uncanny way of setting up his blockers and letting the hole develop and then seeing the hole and scooting right through it,” Bowles said on the Bucs Total Access radio show. “You can’t teach that. That’s something that you have to get over time. You either develop it in high school or college.”
Former Bucs Wide Receiver Anticipates More Carries for White
Interviewing on Tampa radio station WDAE, retired Bucs wide receiver Michael Clayton explained that White’s skill set simply fits better with a young offensive line than it does for Fournette.
“When you don’t have that aggression and you need a running back to kind of find the hole, you need a more patient back,” Clayton said on WDAE via JoeBucsFan.com. “And Rachaad White has shown that he is that more patient back. So I think that his running style fits the aggressiveness — or lack thereof — right now of our offensive line.”
We need to give Rachaad White more touches. I feel like he’s so much better than Lenny with the ball in his hands.
“We did a tremendous job last week proving that we don’t have to be as aggressive, we just need to get a hat on a hat,” Clayton added. “But you definitely need a running back who can find the hole, and to me Rachaad White right now gives us the best opportunity to have more yards per carry at this point.”
White’s 3.7 yards per carry is the best on the Bucs squad. Fournette has struggled with a near-career low of 3.4 yards per attempt.
White: ‘It Was a Play to Me’
White’s stiff arm in a big run against the Seahawks became a hit on social media, and he received the “Angry Runs” scepter, a spin off of “Angry Birds”, from “Good Morning Football” last week.
“I thought it was very interesting. It’s a huge thing, now that I’ve seen it and received it — I was just blessed to get it. Just being added in ‘Good Morning Football’, and seeing how passionate guys are about it, I’m just grateful to be the first to bring it to Tampa Bay,” White told reporters on Monday, November 21.
Rachaad White on receiving the scepter from @gmfb and @KyleBrandt for the Angry Run 😡in Germany against the Seahawks a week ago. He smiles a lot, so it was hard to look angry in the acceptance pic.
White didn’t think of his run as particularly ‘angry’ though.
“I mean, I don’t know. For me, my impression looking back was like — I’m a very even-keeled guy,” White said. “My impression was — it was a play to me. But then everybody [was] excited and it was a good way to kind of get the team rallied up and fired up as I could see from my teammates and the guys’ reaction. So, it was pretty smooth.”