Competition Prep
July 10th, 2021
Joe is no fan of offseason player workout videos on social media. They mean little at JoeBucsFan world headquarters unless they are unique in some way.
For example, O.J. Howard’s caveman workout with Derrick Henry was different. But just about anything tied to the Bucs’ fierce competition at running back also has Joe’s attention.
Full-time rusher Ronald Jones is a baller coming off a breakthrough season — the most efficient in Bucs history — and getting punched in the gut by his teammates and coaches. But then there’s Leonard “Playoff Lenny” Fournette and his heroic and beastly final seven games.
Excellent all-around back Giovani Bernard is now in the mix as a free agent, and everybody at One Buc Palace believes in second-year back Ke’Shawn Vaughn.
So if Fournette wants to show off that he’s pushing hard on his vacation, then Joe’s all for sharing.
The video below is from Fournette and his training session with young NBA stud Ja Morant. Those two don’t have a body type in common, but they can bond on being super-high draft picks of organizations that never won anything.
Joe hopes to soon see video of RoJo sprinting up hills in Arizona as he’s known to do.
It should be loads of fun to see which running back comes out firing and seizes the Bucs’ starting job.
Yeah, it’s a community backfield situation, but being the starter still matters, especially with Fournette and RoJo in contract years and waiting on fat new deals.
Getting better @JaMorant pic.twitter.com/f7q2D7TJ6V
— 7⃣ Leonard Fournette (@_fournette) July 10, 2021
July 10th, 2021 at 6:34 pm
I wanna see him sitting in a psychiatrist’s chair getting his head right.
July 10th, 2021 at 6:45 pm
Lookin REAL good!
July 10th, 2021 at 7:04 pm
That Thorazine drip will wear off eventually Pete.
July 10th, 2021 at 8:38 pm
Looks like you’re still upset about RoJo supposedly “getting punched in the gut by his teammates and coaches” Joe. Wow, it’s a good thing we won that game. And oh ya, made it into the playoffs. And of course, won the Super Bowl. Hmmm, maybe the coaching staff knows what they’re doing after all.
July 10th, 2021 at 8:51 pm
4Net is such a natural runner for being a big man. DBs don’t want to meet up with that guy.
p = mv
m = mass
v = velocity
p = bad news for DBs
July 10th, 2021 at 9:02 pm
Defense rules
It’s not a matter of them knowing what they’re doing, it was a matter of giving Ronald Jones 1, maybe 2, carries more to put him over the top of 1000 yards. It was a pretty asinine move not to.
No doubt in my mind Rojo gets about 15 carries a game compared to Lenny and Bernard splitting about 15 touches a game.
It just seems Rojos improvement over a couple years has earned that
July 10th, 2021 at 10:20 pm
If you aint putting in work on this team, you need to get the hell out.
July 10th, 2021 at 11:41 pm
Don’t care if Rojo got 1000 yards last year or gets a 1000 this year.
Don’t care whether Fournette looks good in a workout right now.
What we did last year worked. Hoping for an equally good or better version of the team this year.
Whether Fournette or Rojo earns the most carries with their play, I think this coaching staff has shown they can get a lot out of the running back position.
Rojo was 2.6 yards per carry with Koetter and crew but 5.1 per carry (4.0 during the playoffs) with Arians and crew. Fournette during the playoffs was at 4.7 yards per carry.
If one works better during the beginning of the season and another works later in the season or during the playoffs, I trust Arians and this coaching staff.
July 11th, 2021 at 12:10 am
Most of our backs are going to get significant playing time since Leftwich plays the hot hand, but I think that Gio will start the season number one. His catching ability is far and away better than any other back we have.
July 11th, 2021 at 12:49 am
I wanna see him working with one of our qbs working on his hands and working on his blocking! His running ability isn’t in question. I blame Arians because he kept taking the ball out of his hands and giving it to Lenny even though ROJO was running roughshod especially against da Bears who he was killing. Brady looking out for AB is no big deal, no big surprise.
July 11th, 2021 at 4:23 am
Looking at TB’ RBs at Patriots, James White not Blount was the go to guy for TB. Rojo is not better than Blount, so I totally believe that Rojo is a complement piece but not the primary RB this year!
July 11th, 2021 at 5:24 am
Rojo 1A
Fournette 1B
Gio 2
Vaughn 3
Someone is bound to get dinged up… I like this group… probably best this team has ever seen and ever will see.
Rojo is way too explosive to not be the number 1 guy. Fournette is the better choice at the end of games in my opinion.
July 11th, 2021 at 7:43 am
I’d like to see a video of ROJO working with the jugz machine. I also would like to see alternating starts between ROJO and Lenny, 10 each sounds good. Just saying.
July 11th, 2021 at 7:56 am
The Bucs won the Super Bowl and there’s actually people whining about Rojo not getting 1,000 yards? Hahahaha, WTFC?
July 11th, 2021 at 8:35 am
BA will use whatever RB is putting up the best numbers. I don’t disagree with that approach, and perhaps it makes each back better as they’re constantly competing with one another. I’m pulling for Rojo, but I have a feeling Fournette will establish dominance this year.
July 11th, 2021 at 10:37 am
Seventeen game season I’m thinking we’re going to need all four backs at some point.