Roschon Johnson And The Bucs
April 5th, 2023
Texas RB Roschon Johnson.
Now this would be an interesting addition to the Bucs’ running backs room.
Joe isn’t trying to bury Rachaad White. That’s ridiculous for a guy who has only had one season under his belt in the NFL. He’s shown flashes, but in Joe’s mind the jury is still out on a guy who was the RB1b on the worst rushing team in the NFL.
Given that SpongeBob was so over his head as an offensive coordinator without his safety blanket also known as former Bucs Super Bowl-winning coach Bucco Bruce Arians, Joe is eager to see what new offensive coordinator Dave Canales can do with White.
It seems the Bucs are intrigued by a Texas running back, and they brought him in for a visit. But not the one you may be thinking of. Instead of having Bijon Robinson in for an official Top-30 visit to One Buc Palace, the Bucs brought in his teammate, Roschon Johnson.
Naturally, when you have a guy like Robinson on the roster, fellow running backs will not going to get a lot of touches. But Johnson was a pretty good running back, too.
Johnson averaged six yards a carry for the Longhorns last year totaling 554 yards. Impressively, 402 of those yards came after contact.
Johnson also averaged nine yards a catch.
Here is how Emory Hunt of CBS Sports, the Czar of the Playbook, breaks down Johnson in his 2023 Football Gameplan Draft Guide.
Strengths: Brings a good, all-around skill set to the position. Showing the ability to run, catch and block rather well; superb in all three. Good quickness and burst once he gets rolling, and is able to string a few moves together while going downhill, able to evade a defender in the open field. Excellent pass protector and pass catcher; can be trusted on the field on all 3 downs. Wildcat QB experience adds another element for him inside the Red Zone or short yardage.
Hunt grades Johnson as a capable NFL starter.
The way Joe looks at Johnson, he could push White to be more consistent. White flashed and looked fantastic against Seattle. But Joe needs to see more of that to be convinced White is the guy.
Adding someone who can break tackles would be a welcome addition to the Bucs. How many times last year did Joe see Playoff Lenny get touched on the foot and buckle?
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April 5th, 2023 at 4:21 pm
Another Rojo?
April 5th, 2023 at 4:22 pm
He doesn’t seem real special. Good effort, decent speed, decent hands, doesn’t explode on cuts, doesn’t run over people. Pedestrian.
April 5th, 2023 at 4:23 pm
I like this kid. Doubt he’ll be available after the 2nd round though.
April 5th, 2023 at 4:27 pm
“Joe isn’t trying to bury Rachaad White. That’s ridiculous to do for a guy who has only had one season under his belt in the NFL.”
Well, that’s rich.
April 5th, 2023 at 4:37 pm
Sasquatch I don’t know what film you’re looking at but his size-agility-strength combination is good, but what I really like about him is his legs always keep moving. He’s a guy who always falls forward for extra and breaks tackles. Big heart – no give up. Strong. That translates.
April 5th, 2023 at 4:38 pm
Sure. Why not..
April 5th, 2023 at 4:48 pm
Rischon should be a low mileage running back, without a lot of hits on his body. The downside is limited tape on his ability, but that is what scouts are for. Sean Sullivan has mixed reviews on him, so he isn’t really selling him to me either.
April 5th, 2023 at 5:00 pm
My concern about our running game doesn’t have anything to do with our RBs … yet. I’m more concerned about what to expect from the coaching at this point, and obviously about seeing our OLine improve.
I’m still not at all sure what to expect from Canales insofar as our running game goes. Seattle’s run game last year impressed me, and that was with a 5’9″ rookie RB (Ken Walker) gaining over half of their running yards (Seahawks 2,042 yards in the run game ranked #18 which is neat, but their team average of 4.8 YPC was even more impressive). Considering that their OLine gave up 46 sacks, I’m not sure I’d consider it to be particularly strong across the board.
Our OLine SHOULD be better this season, especially if we draft a rookie Tackle in Rnd 1 (or even Rnd 2). With Jensen, Wirfs, Hainsey, Goedeke, Leverett & Stinnie all under contract, we’ve got some pretty good talent. Add in a quality Tackle and our OLine has some promise.
I admit that I’m not as enthusiastic about Rashaad White as some, but with a better OLine in front of him he may make a giant leap forward this year. I still like the idea of using Ko as a FB in certain situations, and would love for us to draft a power back for short yardage & goal line situations. Roschon Johnson would suit me just fine in that role. He’s good size (5’11” & 219 lbs) and is listed as a ‘tough, physical runner’ by Walter Football. Ranked #14 among RBs & projected to go in Rnds 4-6 by them. If he’s there in Rnd 5, I’d pull the trigger on that one.
April 5th, 2023 at 5:16 pm
Rachaad & Roschon……..way, way too confusing for TBBF.
April 5th, 2023 at 5:17 pm
Doesn’t JL have a thing for bringing in teammates of his targets or asking guys about other players on the team? I thought he’s done that a few times
April 5th, 2023 at 5:25 pm
I love Roschon Johnson. Great balance, great burst through the hole, tough runner, made the most out of his touches playing second fiddle to Bijan Robinson.
April 5th, 2023 at 5:42 pm
I’ve heard about him. He was a historically good QB coming out of high school. Was a back up at texas and switched to RB to help the TEAM. He was a LEADER on and off the field. I like what he did to transform himself into a good RB not sure he’ll be there later in the draft.
April 5th, 2023 at 5:57 pm
Most believe this guy will be a 4th-5th round pick…
If he is available when we pick in round 5 it wouldn’t be much of a reach. But I would NOT waste our 3rd round pick on this RB.
April 5th, 2023 at 6:16 pm
I’VE SEEN NO FOOTAGE ON HIM, BUT HE SOUNDS LIKE HE DESERVES A GOOD HARD LOOK FROM BUCCANEERS ( IF HE CAN BLOCK,RUN & CATCH AS WELL AS RUN A WILDCAT OFFENSE, SOUNDS PRETTY VERSATILE ( SWISS ARMY KNIFE ) KIND OF PLAYER !
April 5th, 2023 at 7:36 pm
@TOMMY MORDUE
STOP YELLING! TURN OF THE EFFING CAPS LOCK!
April 5th, 2023 at 7:37 pm
Good quickness and burst once he gets rolling. Team says they wanted to get faster, that evaluation doesn’t scream speed
April 5th, 2023 at 7:52 pm
Mac Jones? A possibility? Some talk of a trade …. Would Jason do it?
April 5th, 2023 at 8:01 pm
@ Buc4evr
Our salary cap says – No.
But we might draft QB in the 6th or 7th round.
April 5th, 2023 at 8:11 pm
Interesting column, Joes. If he follows he might be worth getting but I don’t see how the Bucs can burn one of their top picks on running back when they have so many other needs in the trenches.
I also think you got to give sneak phone and newcomer Chase Edmonds a chance to show you what they can do.
April 5th, 2023 at 8:12 pm
I like the way Light looks at the guy behind the guy.
If a rb can produce on less touches due to being behind a star, then he may slide under the radar to a spot where we would be comfortable taking him. To many needs before the 5th round.
April 5th, 2023 at 9:03 pm
He’s likely available in 5-6 rounds so I think it’s a smart one to look at by Licht
April 5th, 2023 at 9:06 pm
Licht is a fargin’ genius.
April 5th, 2023 at 9:15 pm
Watching his highlights, and while they’re fairly impressive, he looked sluggish. Then I see he runs a 4.58, which is about right, I figured he was right at 4.6. For an NFL RB, that’s fine, you don’t actually need 4.4x speed to be successful, you mainly need good vision. I assume he’s been looked at as a day 3 pick based on his measurables, but I haven’t looked into it much.
While I remain 100% opposed to wasting another pick on a RB, one thing in his favor is that he’s at least a different style of RB. At the NFL level, however, I don’t think he’s breaking 90% of those tackles, and I think the lack of speed is going make him look very average. Also while he appeared to have good power, with his style, I’d want to see him run with more power – but he’s also not as big as I thought he was, so I’m not sure how much more power he can run with, without being too slow.
April 5th, 2023 at 9:24 pm
Adding to the above… the unnamed ‘scout’ report says, “He plays slow but he’s a bulldozer. He’s also going to test way faster than he plays.”
Yeah, that’s what I saw too, he looks sluggish in the highlights, and as noted I thought he’d be in the 4.6x’s based on the tape, but he was slightly better than that. Also, yes, I know Emmitt was a 4.6x 40 guy, but he also had remarkable vision, and that was evident on tape, he just always seemed to make the right decision and know where/when to turn it on, and where/when to slightly hesitate to get the most out of his blockers. This guy looks, as the scout said, more like a bulldozer, which is why his size/weight is concerning since he’s basically the same size as White (only 4 pounds heavier, White is very slightly taller).
April 5th, 2023 at 11:09 pm
SPONGE BOB!!!!!! I just spit out my drink
April 6th, 2023 at 12:17 am
Ima longhorns fan and been talking about RoJo and the Bucs for a while on JBF. He dominated the senior bowl till he broke his hand. He split a lot of time with Bijan in different sets and schemes. Even though UT had/has one of the top oline, he is a big body like White except he can penetrate and get through. Not just biased because ima Texas fan, but he would be a great day two RB if anyone wanted to go that direction. Except…I definitely don’t want to go RB day two. We need to bulk up on a starting OT and oline depth and DB depth.
April 6th, 2023 at 6:20 am
Sean Tucker