Todd Bowles Explains Why He Likes Rookie Running Back Rachaad White
May 6th, 2022
Looking for burst.
Yes, the air conditioning worked at One Buc Palace last Thursday night. Yet it was uncomfortable for Bucs coach Todd Bowles.
Reviewing the Bucs’ draft Wednesday on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Bowles admitted he may have been squirming in his chair when the Bucs traded back from No. 27 to No. 33.
“We needed those picks to try to get a couple of guys we needed,” Bowles said of the motivation for trading back with the Jags. “And we were confident that one of those four guys [the Bucs targeted] that were there at 27 would be there at 33.”
Still, the Bucs traded back six spots and didn’t pick until the draft re-opened on Friday night. All four could have been gone by the time the Bucs opened that second round. So the final minutes of the first round seemed awfully long for Bowles.
“It started getting a little hot, and sweating a little bit,” Bowles said on “Movin’ the Chains,” co-hosted by Pat Kirwan and Jim Miller. “We still had our guy on the board [at No. 33].”
Of course, that turned out to be defensive tackle Logan Hall.
Bowles had interesting comments about Rachaad White, the running back out of Arizona State. Joe has read over the past couple of years that even in 2020 while winning the Super Bowl, some NFL types thought the Bucs lacked speed on offense, specifically at running back.
It is a thought Bowles seems to agree with, which is why he is happy with the selection of White. Bowles added one reason the Bucs drafted White is his quick burst, which perhaps Playoff Lenny and Ke’Shawn Vaughn are lacking.
“He brings a change of pace back to us,” Bowles said. “He’s a little different than Fournette and Vaughn and Gio [Bernard]. He can run and catch it. He has very good feet in the hole. He always leans forward going in. He has very quick feet and very good acceleration and burst.
“So we really like that about him. We thought we were really lacking a change of pace back and we really needed one that can come in and run the ball and catch the ball as well.”
Well, Joe is a big believer in speed. You cannot have too much of it. And Joe seems to be picking up from Bowles something that sounds very smart. Pound the defense with Playoff Lenny and just when the defense gets used to his physical style, you bring in White. And — pow — he breaks off a big run with his change-of-pace burst.
May 6th, 2022 at 5:18 am
One thing is for sure, Rachaad should will be a chain mover, picking a lot of first downs, and help the offense be even more consistent between the 20’s.
BTW A very cool stat, the Bucs are the best Red Zone offense the last 2 years, speaking of consistency.
lol Thats a little better than what a Bucs assistant coach said of the Red Zone offense a few years ago… In the Immortal words of Todd Monken “We chose to Suck” lololol
BTW good for Todd, the current Offensive Coordinator, and QB coach of the National Champion Georgia Bulldogs.
Todd helped Mike Evans out huge. Mike was Todds first focus when Dirk hired him, and we see how Todd helped Mike really become a lot more consistent on the field of play.
GO BUCS!!!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!!
May 6th, 2022 at 5:35 am
Rachaad ‘JUICE’ White!
May 6th, 2022 at 6:16 am
PUH-LEASE people!!!!!!!
Running backs are a “dime-a-dozen” in any football league…..and almost all of them NEVER live up to their draft status on any draft board on any team.
Unlike yester years of the NFL……defensive players are SO much faster now and hardly ever make significant impacts on teams offenses except for the few special Running Backs in the NFL that you can literally count on one hand.
Drafting this guy was a severe over reach again by the Bucs.
May 6th, 2022 at 7:03 am
What is negative Nancy
May 6th, 2022 at 7:13 am
Our backs look slow…..especially Lenny….but he’s deceptively fast…..
We’ve got some speed on this team……and….we probably have the fastest punter in the league.
May 6th, 2022 at 7:17 am
Our current running backs are fairly pedestrian, so this kid has got a good chance to do some damage.
May 6th, 2022 at 7:25 am
Texas A & M and Florida’s running backs were available when we took White so we shall see how it plays out
White got rated higher by Licht cause of his hands
They believe he can be an every down back which makes sense
When rojo was in game defenses probably thought playing odds bucs were going to run and even if threw dump off to rojo his hands would let him down. And picking up blitz not a strong point. Even with rojo being a good runner/ player for bucs
Hope white gets a chance to play but lets be honest. It may be tough to get snaps with guys in front who know the system.
With that stand up , studder step slash…he does look leveon ish. Lets see how he backs up early statements
May 6th, 2022 at 7:27 am
Ah, what a big sigh of relief. Anthem is sharing his unique football wisdom with us again.
May 6th, 2022 at 7:35 am
Get the opposing defence to brace for impact … Then put in a scatback. Classic Redskins. Joe Gibbs.
Free aspirin in the visitors locker room.
May 6th, 2022 at 7:39 am
Vaughn was an early third round pick and round the bench his first year as well as most of his second year. I would imagine if Lenny doesn’t get hurt White will do the same.
May 6th, 2022 at 7:54 am
This guy somehow reminds me of Coradelle Patterson.
May 6th, 2022 at 7:55 am
LOL, ROJO was supposed to be a change of pace back.
White was interviewed and said he is after Lenny’s job!
He is a competitor, and wants to be The Guy!
May 6th, 2022 at 8:06 am
TheBucsAnthem Says:
May 6th, 2022 at 6:16 am
PUH-LEASE people!!!!!!!
Running backs are a “dime-a-dozen” in any football league….
Not true.
Look at the stud and very good running backs found in all rounds of the 2017 NFL draft.
Christian McCaffrey, Dalvin Cook, Joe Mixon, Alvin Kamara, Kareem Hunt, James Conner, Tarik Cohen, Jamaal Williams, Marlon Mack, Aaron Jones, Chris Carson and of course Leonard Fournette
May 6th, 2022 at 8:29 am
Talk to me when he passes sneak Vaughn on the depth chart
May 6th, 2022 at 8:29 am
Lenny is deceptively fast. He does not have the huge burst through the hole though. Vaughn Does have a burst and some speed. Gio- I don’t know, we barely saw him.
The more I have seen clips of this kid running in college though, I am excited about the rookie. Hope he sees some playing time. My guess is it will all depend on how well he picks up pass protection.
May 6th, 2022 at 8:35 am
RBs, like Lenny, get hurt occasionally. Good to have depth.
May 6th, 2022 at 8:52 am
Imagine if White is the next Eric Dickerson.
Go Bucs!!!!
May 6th, 2022 at 9:17 am
Reminds me of a little more forward lean …..Cross of Amp Lee and Charles Sims
May 6th, 2022 at 9:29 am
If he doesn’t get Brady killed in pass protection, and doesn’t fumble, he will have a successful rookie season
May 6th, 2022 at 9:54 am
He kinda reminds me of Charles Sims. Hopefully he’ll be a better runner out of the backfield.
May 6th, 2022 at 10:36 am
I think if you were criticizing why the Bucs passed on Spiller here is your answer. Not seeing the Sims compare. Sims was stiff and a straightline runner. Thats not White.
May 6th, 2022 at 10:41 am
White does seem to have more wiggle than Sims. Rooting for the guy. It would be nice to see a RB pick actually work.
May 6th, 2022 at 10:50 am
I don’t see Sims at all… sure 6′ 214 is probably identical to Sims as well as good hands… but that is it. White has very nifty feet… and comparisons to Marcus Allen are very interesting. Lots of wiggle from White in short spaces… he never gets hit clean and always leans forward. His hands are worthy of WR consideration and he ran routes out wide in empty sets often. His 4.48 Combine time was ordinary-ish but still better than Sims… Cadillac… Fournette… Doug Martin… but he did manage to clock 21.5 MPH at the Senior Bowl in February… that long speed is there.
May 6th, 2022 at 10:59 am
What does he know about offense? Leave that to TB12. Focus on improving your defensive calls in crucial last second games on the line type plays.
I’m only half joking…. I really do hope this kid is a stud so people stop complaining that we need to draft an RB with our top pick every year. Or an RB at all!
May 6th, 2022 at 11:14 am
“It would be nice to see a RB pick actually work”
Especially in a league where running backs have routinely become plug and play for many teams…..The Ravens literally find guys off the street who go on to average 4.3 YPC.
I dont know why it seems so hard for the Bucs to draft running backs but hopefully White can change that narrative.
May 6th, 2022 at 11:18 am
Anthem is a 🤡
May 6th, 2022 at 11:39 am
I’m a huge believer in building a stable of RBs that can do it all. No telegraphing!
May 6th, 2022 at 12:12 pm
@TheBucsAnthem is exactly correct. If you wanna draft a back, fine. But, you don’t need to use the 90th pick. The bucs could’ve found a similar player in the fourth or fifth round. This was a reach. He may be a fine player, but it wasn’t a need.
May 6th, 2022 at 12:45 pm
I got a feeling Mr. White is going to be a very good RB.
May 6th, 2022 at 2:07 pm
Brady needs a dependable, quick receiving back–Vaughn has shown nothing.
May 7th, 2022 at 9:02 am
Not a fan of his skip/ hop running style. And he doesn’t hit the hole hard. His style of running just doesn’t translate to the NFL. It worked in college because the holes were bigger and the defense was slower. He will end up primarily as a third down pass catcher out of the backfield. A third round pick is a little rich for what your getting.
May 9th, 2022 at 7:46 am
Lenny is not slow by any means. He outran the whole Kansas City defense in the Super Bowl to the end zone. He’s deceptively fast. GOBUCS!