The tailback position in Tampa Bay is interesting, I think. Neither Peyton Barber nor Ronald Jones can be counted on for big numbers, but both have a chance to dramatically outperform where they’re selected.

One of them, anyway. Bruce Arians tends to put together pass-dominated offenses, but I also see him as a coach who prefers to just put one running back out there and run him into the ground. I don’t see Arians as a big committee guy.

When I say that, I’m thinking of Andre Ellington. Ellington is very much a third-down back – a smaller guy who would be best used in tandem with another back. Yet in 2014, Arians took him and ran him into the ground. Ellington averaged 19 rushing attempts and 4 catches in the first 10 games of that season. (I can’t think of another instance where a back more overused.)

So I have interest in Barber (I think he’ll start). And I have interest in Jones as one of the first handcuff-type selections. Jones was a mega-bust as a rookie, but there has been plenty of praise thrown his way in the offseason – by coaches, and most recently by Jameis Winston. (And if we can’t trust Jameis Winston, who can we trust?)

If either back is going to hit it sort of big, however, Tampa Bay will need to run more and run more effectively. In PPR scoring last year, that team had the worst running back numbers in the league (that’s rushing production, plus pass-catching production by those players).

TEAM RUNNING BACK PRODUCTION, PPR
TeamNoRecRunTotalTDPPR
New Orleans1099031,7662,66927537.9
New England1219991,6462,64523523.5
LA Chargers1071,0501,7052,75522514.5
LA Rams706761,8552,53124467.1
Kansas City829221,3712,29325461.3
Chicago1029651,4152,38019454.0
NY Giants1138601,5252,38516447.5
Denver957001,7462,44617441.6
Carolina1149191,3032,22217438.2
Seattle685092,0922,60116424.1
Cleveland827121,5792,29118419.1
Detroit1167531,4962,24912412.9
Indianapolis976161,5812,19715406.7
Pittsburgh887521,3132,06517396.5
San Francisco837811,7992,5809395.0
Oakland1078391,4732,3128386.2
Baltimore704541,6592,11317383.3
Philadelphia776601,4382,09816382.8
Miami776701,5392,20914381.9
Dallas886401,5772,21710369.7
Tennessee744991,5922,09114367.1
Washington816131,3701,98313357.3
Jacksonville987911,1401,93111357.1
Cincinnati835551,4131,96812351.8
NY Jets685991,4362,03512343.5
Green Bay726011,2991,90013340.0
Atlanta684711,3651,83613329.6
Arizona796031,1531,75612326.6
Minnesota785631,2781,84110322.1
Houston503801,4711,8519289.1
Buffalo695881,2411,8294275.9
Tampa Bay684341,0501,4848264.4

—Ian Allan