Tom Brady built a Hall of Fame career out of lots of things, but one of the biggest ones from the very start was leaning on a running back to bail him out of third-and-long situations. Now he's in Tampa Bay, where he'll be looking for his next J.R. Redmond, Kevin Faulk or James White to save the day. Who will it be?
There are three likely candidates. Holdover tailbacks Ronald Jones and Dare Ogunbowale, and third-rounder KeShawn Vaughn. ADP numbers are a little shaky this early on, but I can tell you there's not a lot of love for Jones. The draft I was in last week, Vaughn was drafted earliest, Jones next, Ogunbowale not at all.
Jones has been a huge disappointment to this point, no question. Had he been better, the team wouldn't have had to rely on Peyton Barber, or Ogunbowale, or draft Vaughn in the first place.
In terms of pass-catching -- corralling the balls thrown his way -- though, he was respectable last season. Better than Ogunbowale, in fact, and better than Barber. Among all running backs with at least 20 targets, he was middle-of-the-pack, catching nearly 78 percent of them. That was not only better than the Bucs' other backs, but better than the running backs Brady was working with in New England.
| RUNNING BACK RECEIVING, 2019 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | No | Yds | Avg | TD | Tgt | Pct |
| Boston Scott. Phil. | 24 | 204 | 8.5 | 0 | 26 | 92.3 |
| Mark Ingram. Balt. | 26 | 247 | 9.5 | 5 | 29 | 89.7 |
| James Conner. Pitt. | 34 | 251 | 7.4 | 3 | 38 | 89.5 |
| DeAndre Washington. Oak. | 36 | 292 | 8.1 | 0 | 41 | 87.8 |
| Jamaal Williams. G.B. | 39 | 253 | 6.5 | 5 | 45 | 86.7 |
| Matt Breida. S.F. | 19 | 120 | 6.3 | 1 | 22 | 86.4 |
| Royce Freeman. Den. | 43 | 256 | 6.0 | 1 | 50 | 86.0 |
| Austin Ekeler. LAC | 92 | 993 | 10.8 | 8 | 108 | 85.2 |
| LeVeon Bell. NYJ | 66 | 461 | 7.0 | 1 | 78 | 84.6 |
| Devonta Freeman. Atl. | 59 | 410 | 7.0 | 4 | 70 | 84.3 |
| Dalvin Cook. Min. | 53 | 519 | 9.8 | 0 | 63 | 84.1 |
| Kareem Hunt. Cle. | 37 | 285 | 7.7 | 1 | 44 | 84.1 |
| Jalen Richard. Oak. | 36 | 323 | 9.0 | 0 | 43 | 83.7 |
| Alvin Kamara. N.O. | 81 | 533 | 6.6 | 1 | 97 | 83.5 |
| Kyle Juszczyk. S.F. | 20 | 239 | 12.0 | 1 | 24 | 83.3 |
| Jaylen Samuels. Pitt. | 47 | 305 | 6.5 | 1 | 57 | 82.5 |
| LeSean McCoy. K.C. | 28 | 181 | 6.5 | 1 | 34 | 82.4 |
| Christian McCaffrey. Car. | 116 | 1005 | 8.7 | 4 | 142 | 81.7 |
| Damien Williams. K.C. | 30 | 213 | 7.1 | 2 | 37 | 81.1 |
| J.D. McKissic. Det. | 34 | 233 | 6.9 | 1 | 42 | 81.0 |
| Miles Sanders. Phil. | 50 | 509 | 10.2 | 3 | 63 | 79.4 |
| Latavius Murray. N.O. | 34 | 235 | 6.9 | 1 | 43 | 79.1 |
| Chris Carson. Sea. | 37 | 266 | 7.2 | 2 | 47 | 78.7 |
| Dion Lewis. Ten. | 25 | 164 | 6.6 | 1 | 32 | 78.1 |
| Joe Mixon. Cin. | 35 | 287 | 8.2 | 3 | 45 | 77.8 |
| Ronald Jones. T.B. | 31 | 309 | 10.0 | 0 | 40 | 77.5 |
| Ty Johnson. Det. | 24 | 109 | 4.5 | 0 | 31 | 77.4 |
| Patrick Laird. Mia. | 23 | 204 | 8.9 | 0 | 30 | 76.7 |
| David Johnson. Ariz. | 36 | 370 | 10.3 | 4 | 47 | 76.6 |
| Melvin Gordon. LAC | 42 | 296 | 7.1 | 1 | 55 | 76.4 |
| Dare Ogunbowale. T.B. | 35 | 286 | 8.2 | 0 | 46 | 76.1 |
| Ezekiel Elliott. Dall. | 54 | 420 | 7.8 | 2 | 71 | 76.1 |
| Leonard Fournette. Jac. | 76 | 522 | 6.9 | 0 | 100 | 76.0 |
| Tarik Cohen. Chi. | 79 | 456 | 5.8 | 3 | 104 | 76.0 |
| Nyheim Hines. Ind. | 44 | 320 | 7.3 | 0 | 58 | 75.9 |
| James White. N.E. | 72 | 645 | 9.0 | 5 | 95 | 75.8 |
| Derrick Henry. Ten. | 18 | 206 | 11.4 | 2 | 24 | 75.0 |
| Tony Pollard. Dall. | 15 | 107 | 7.1 | 1 | 20 | 75.0 |
| Josh Jacobs. Oak. | 20 | 166 | 8.3 | 0 | 27 | 74.1 |
| Adrian Peterson. Was. | 17 | 142 | 8.4 | 0 | 23 | 73.9 |
| Kenyan Drake. 2TM | 50 | 345 | 6.9 | 0 | 68 | 73.5 |
| Nick Chubb. Cle. | 36 | 278 | 7.7 | 0 | 49 | 73.5 |
| Phillip Lindsay. Den. | 35 | 196 | 5.6 | 0 | 48 | 72.9 |
| Chris Thompson. Was. | 42 | 378 | 9.0 | 0 | 58 | 72.4 |
| Aaron Jones. G.B. | 49 | 474 | 9.7 | 3 | 68 | 72.1 |
| David Montgomery. Chi. | 25 | 185 | 7.4 | 1 | 35 | 71.4 |
| Ameer Abdullah. Min. | 15 | 88 | 5.9 | 1 | 21 | 71.4 |
| Mark Walton. Mia. | 15 | 89 | 5.9 | 0 | 21 | 71.4 |
| Saquon Barkley. NYG | 52 | 438 | 8.4 | 2 | 73 | 71.2 |
| Rex Burkhead. N.E. | 27 | 279 | 10.3 | 0 | 38 | 71.1 |
| Duke Johnson. Hou. | 44 | 410 | 9.3 | 3 | 62 | 71.0 |
| Devin Singletary. Buff. | 29 | 194 | 6.7 | 2 | 41 | 70.7 |
| Tevin Coleman. S.F. | 21 | 180 | 8.6 | 1 | 30 | 70.0 |
| Giovani Bernard. Cin. | 30 | 234 | 7.8 | 0 | 43 | 69.8 |
| Peyton Barber. T.B. | 16 | 115 | 7.2 | 1 | 24 | 66.7 |
| C.J. Ham. Min. | 17 | 149 | 8.8 | 1 | 26 | 65.4 |
| Raheem Mostert. S.F. | 14 | 180 | 12.9 | 2 | 22 | 63.6 |
| Todd Gurley. LAR | 31 | 207 | 6.7 | 2 | 49 | 63.3 |
| Sony Michel. N.E. | 12 | 94 | 7.8 | 0 | 20 | 60.0 |
| Kalen Ballage. Mia. | 14 | 63 | 4.5 | 0 | 24 | 58.3 |
| Ryquell Armstead. Jac. | 14 | 144 | 10.3 | 2 | 24 | 58.3 |
| Chase Edmonds. Ariz. | 12 | 105 | 8.8 | 1 | 21 | 57.1 |
I'm not comfortable making a strong case for Jones as Tampa Bay's tailback in passing situations -- not at all. I think he'll open as the starter, and Ogunbowale and Vaughn will get opportunities, and the more effective player will play more.
But Vaughn caught only 66 passes in 46 college games -- 28 in 12 games for Vanderbilt last year. He wasn't a remarkably productive receiver, and is unproven in that regard. Totally unproven, of course, at the NFL level. So the idea that he's going to come in and start on third downs in the backfield with 43-year-old Tom Brady looks not only wildly optimistic but irresponsible. A lot more likely that either Jones or Ogunbowale gets those chances.
We all like rookie running backs for the unknown potential, but I think Vaughn will be drafted way earlier in every league than I'd consider him. If nobody else is going to select Jones or Ogunbowale, I suspect I'll end up with one of them on a few of my teams, as a cheaper shot-in-the-dark possibility to catch those Brady dumpoffs.
--Andy Richardson