Rachaad White: “I Want To Be The Starting Running Back”
May 5th, 2022
Rookie talk.
Joe loves the attitude flowing from the Bucs’ top three rookies.
They sound crazy serious about their craft and two of them — guard Luke Goedeke (Round 2) and running back Rachaad White (Round 3) — have fantastic stories of perseverance. Goedeke and White also talk a big game while somehow managing to not sound very cocky.
Joe believes they’re just wired to compete at all times and at all costs.
“My expectation, my goal is I’m going in there competing. I want to be the starting running back. That’s how it go,” White told The Jim Rome Show yesterday. “I know I got Lenny in front of me. And you know I’m going to soak up a lot of knowledge from Lenny in that running backs room. and Giovani Bernard. That’s just the type of guy I am. You know, I’m always a competitor first.”
Go get it, Rachaad!
Asked if Tom Brady reached out to him yet to welcome him to the Bucs, White said, “I haven’t heard from him at all.” White added that Brady has his own things to do while White has his own work to become “the smartest player” on the Bucs roster.
White added that he’s eager to be around Brady because it will help his development. “Tom can help slow the game down for me.”
Joe is very curious to see White when the pads finally come on.
May 5th, 2022 at 10:45 am
Great mentality, hope he really means it. If he does, Brady will be able to teach him a lot.
May 5th, 2022 at 10:51 am
Go for it!
May 5th, 2022 at 10:52 am
Just more reasons I had this kid as my 2nd running back on the board behind Hall. Now though it’s time to prove it and I believe he will. He really needs to learn to block better and I believe he will be the starter next year.
May 5th, 2022 at 10:54 am
White sounds like the embodiment of a Herm Edwards soundbite
May 5th, 2022 at 10:55 am
I’m definitely rooting for Mr. White, sounds humble and youngry. However I do remember a few quotes coming from last years rookie class, one in particular “making people miss is like brushing my teeth, I gotta do it”, well, how did that work ou, change my mind this year Mr. Darden
May 5th, 2022 at 10:55 am
Absolute right mindset. Strive to be the starting RB and see where things settle out. Learn all you can from those with more experience. Great way to come into camp as a rookie.
May 5th, 2022 at 10:56 am
If R. White says he wants to be the “smartest player” on the roster, then we might have just landed a film-study junkie, which is always a great sign. It all starts above the shoulder pads. Rooting for him!!
GO BUCS!!
May 5th, 2022 at 11:09 am
Love the confidence and ambition…..
As far as Darden is concerned……I’m hoping he makes a huge leap in his 2nd year…..stranger things have happened…..
If he follows JBF……..he may just develop “Rojoitis”……..hopefully not.
May 5th, 2022 at 11:09 am
Great mindset; now prove you can run with the big dogs rookie.
And D-Rok, I’m rooting for him too, but it’ll take a lot more than talk to steal snaps away from Lenny, Gio & Ke’Shawn. None of those 3 are lacking in confidence.
May 5th, 2022 at 11:10 am
I listen to a FF podcast that originates from Arizona and they love the guy, they say he’s the best pass catching and second overall RB in the draft.
May 5th, 2022 at 11:30 am
good luck; Lenny is a different level of talent; I think special teams impact may be a nice place to contribute
May 5th, 2022 at 11:37 am
Just catch the ball and get some YAC.
May 5th, 2022 at 12:24 pm
One of his biggest weaknesses is his pass pro. He won’t see the field if he can’t protect Brady. He better button that up before training camp. The biggest advice I have for him is to turn his damn head around fast because most receivers and backs struggle to keep up with Brady’s quick release and presnap reads. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen balls hit the back of receivers heads because they weren’t ready to receive the pass.
Side note: We really need Belichick to come coach this team. I’ve had enough of Brady’s “relatable” social media posts. Ever since he’s been in TB It’s constant brand promotion. I’m totally convinced the only reason he came back was to promote his brand. It’s no longer football all the time. There’s no way we would see this amount of self brand promotion if he were still in NE. The focus would constantly be on football, and that’s what we need if we’re gonna have any chance of success for the season. I’m also sure his coaches and teammates have taking note of this behavior as well.
May 5th, 2022 at 12:30 pm
Lenny understands the rookies mindset. He was the new guy two seasons sgo and expected the starting job to be given to him.
I’m looking forward to the competition and expect Lenny to play pissed off.
May 5th, 2022 at 12:48 pm
Still need to draft at least one more CB one more S (didn’t even draft one) probably one more DE probably one more DT probably one more OL & I wouldn’t be surprised if they draft a LB next year. Lavonte is like 32 now & who knows how much longer he’s gonna want to keep playing. Hopefully he keeps playing well.
May 5th, 2022 at 1:30 pm
Great attitude coming in but I don’t see him getting much action this year behind Fornette, Bernard, and Vaughn. He most likely will compete with Vaughn for the 3rd back. I got a chance to see a lot of him in the PAC 12 and the kid has some juice. He runs solid inside and is a problem in space and a great pass catching RB. Blocking needs to improve. Welcome to Tampa Bay & GO BUCS!
May 5th, 2022 at 2:20 pm
Tony … I think you just nailed the next draft. Unfortunately it’s a year away.
Assuming that we keep 10 Secondary this year, I’ll make a stab at who the 10 will be even before training camp opens:
CB-1 … Carlton Davis
CB-2 … Jamel Dean
CB-3 … Sean Murphy-Bunting
CB-4 … Ross Cockrell
CB-5 … Dee Delany
CB-6 … Zyon McCollum
S-1 … Antoine Winfield Jr
S-2 … Mike Edwards
S-3 … Logan Ryan
S-4 … Keanu Neal
Also guessing that Ryan & Edwards will play a lot of hybrid DB in Todd Bowles’ defense this year. He loves to experiment, and those 2 DBs can easily go either CB or Safety. Wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Neal playing some hybrid LB/DB either.
May 5th, 2022 at 2:29 pm
Words mean nothing. Prove it on the field.
May 5th, 2022 at 2:35 pm
Yeah but obviously I know nothing because they keep all of us out of the front office. I’ve always said they need to stop trading up & stop giving away so many draft picks & either stay put or trade down as much as possible & improve the team as much as possible, too! Sometimes I wonder if the fans could do a better job. Hey if all some of us have to do is go put a suit on & sign & draft players then I’m down with that 😀
May 5th, 2022 at 2:46 pm
I understand where they wanted to draft a RB & TE but I think I would’ve kept going D & OL & then if they wanted to go RB & TE do it after they finished with the D & OL. They’ve got Bernard Fournette & Vaughn so it wasn’t like something they needed to do right away. I guess they’re expecting the offense to score 30 & 40 points every week again.
May 5th, 2022 at 4:19 pm
I think this pick is more around injury scares than anything.
All it takes is an injury to Fournette and is the trust there in Vaughn.
What if he gets hurt too?
This team wants to be deep at all levels and feels injury is what cost them last year.
May 5th, 2022 at 5:45 pm
He will start next year…..keep evrrything clean….i have confidence in this one.
May 5th, 2022 at 5:49 pm
Swag is fine if you can back it up. I’d love to see him replace Lenny, which is an achievable goal. Go for it, rook.
Upright, stiff hips, limited wiggle, inefficient/too much east-west, injury risk and not much blocking. He’s competition for Gio in season one, unless he completely surprises.
May 5th, 2022 at 6:29 pm
@Steele – I disagree with your assessment. He’s one of the most complete backs in this years class. He’s a smooth fluid runner who can create separation and is a natural pass catcher . Although I do question why we picked him with Isaiah Spiller still on the board who was rated higher.
May 5th, 2022 at 7:15 pm
I think that’s part of the reason they drafted Carmazza from Georgia, too! They could let Pinion go save some $$$$ & put it towards either Gronkowski, Suh or JPP. Depending on what either one of them are doing. I’d think the $$$$ would go more towards Gronkowski.