“After watching him, we have a running back,” Bucs head coach Bruce Arians said. “And we have a big, strong, fast running back.”

Which running back is Arians talking about?

Leonard Fournette or Ronald Jones II?

“Everything in our offense starts with the running game,” Arians said. “We’re known for throwing it down the field, but you can’t throw it down the field if you’re not running the ball. Man, he is really impressive.”

Is Arians talking about Ke’Shawn Vaughn after his 70-yard rushing performance from Sunday’s win over Carolina?

Bucs RB Peyton Barber – Photo by: Mary Holt/PR

“I love him,” Arians said. “For a man that size, you know, when you watched the tape, you don’t see him as 230 (pounds). You think he’s a 205-pound running back because he’s got great feet.”

So which back is Arians talking about?

It wasn’t any of those three runners. That was Arians talking about former Bucs running back Peyton Barber back in 2019.

You remember Barber, Tampa Bay’s starting running back for half of the 2019 season? Barber rushed for 470 yards and six touchdowns while averaging an underwhelming 3.1 yards per carry.

Arians thought Barber was a lead back in 2019, which was his first season as Tampa Bay’s head coach. Jones ultimately beat out Barber for the starting job halfway through the season. Barber wasn’t even re-signed in 2020.

Barber, an undrafted free agent, spent the 2002 season as the No. 3 back in Washington. He rushed for 258 yards and four touchdowns, averaging 2.7 yards per carry. This year, he’s helped out Las Vegas as a reserve runner, with 209 yards and two touchdowns.

So when Arians said that Vaughn was a “lead back” when asked if last year’s third-round pick was anything more a third-down back, take the head coach’s praise with a grain of salt.

“No, I think he’s a lead back,” Arians said of Vaughn on Monday. “He has great running skills, excellent jump-cut ability and he’s worked on his hands. His hands are better. He dropped one yesterday, and it pissed him off. But he has worked on his hands hard. I think he’s a lead dog, yeah.”

Bucs RB Ke’Shawn Vaughn – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

If Vaughn doesn’t show better hands on game days, Arians will change his mind about him as quickly as he did Barber back in 2019 (although Barber had far better hands). Vaughn has 13 targets in the passing game during his first two seasons in Tampa Bay. The results haven’t been pretty.

He’s had six drops – including his lone target at Carolina on Sunday – with only five career catches for 34 yards and a touchdown. Jones, who struggles as a pass catcher and had two receptions and a drop against the Panthers, actually has better hands.

But where Jones fails miserably is in pass protection – even in his fourth NFL season. Vaughn is better in that area, which is why he has supplanted Jones on third downs with Fournette and Giovani Bernard out with injuries. So for Vaughn to be a true “lead back” in the NFL, his hands must improve immediately.

So why did Arians call Vaughn a lead back at this stage of his career with such a small sample size? The Vanderbilt product has just 44 carries for 229 yards (5.2 avg.) in his two years with the Bucs, including 18 catches for 120 yards (6.7 avg.) and a touchdown.

Good question.

It’s been so far, so good for Vaughn with his limited opportunities – outside of a tough game against the Saints. Sunday’s game at Carolina should offer him more opportunities over the next two weeks with Fournette out until the playoffs with a hamstring injury. The Bucs certainly hope that his arrow is pointing up for Vaughn after a game in which he averaged 10 yards per carry and had an impressive 55-yard touchdown.

But one carry and one game don’t make a career.

Bucs RB Ronald Jones II – Photo by: USA Today

Remember what Jones did at Carolina last November? He ripped off a 98-yard touchdown run en route to a 192-yard day in the Bucs’ 46-23 win over the Panthers.

How did you feel about Jones the next morning on that Victory Monday?

Jones seemed like he was on his way to a 1,000-yard season and a possibly contract extension with Tampa Bay, right?

Imagine back on Monday, November 16, 2020 if I were to tell you that a year later Jones would be relegated to just a handful of carries each game as a season-long backup.

And that it was Fournette on pace to get 1,000 yards rushing instead of Jones. You probably wouldn’t have believed me.

Fournette was an afterthought last November. He ran for just 19 yards on eight carries (2.4 avg.) against the Panthers that Sunday while Jones was having his career day.

My how things have changed for the Bucs’ backfield since then.

It’s okay to be excited about Vaughn’s career day at Carolina. It’s okay to be hopeful that Vaughn can be more than a third-string running back in Tampa Bay.

After all, Jones’ NFL career got off to a far worse start with a paltry 44 yards rushing and a puny 1.9 average during his rookie season in 2018. He showed dramatic improvement the next year and Jones won the starting job in 2019, then nearly rushed for 1,000 yards last season.

Bucs RB Ke’Shawn Vaughn – Photo by: USA Today

But it’s far too early to suggest Vaughn is an NFL lead back until we see more from him.

Arians’ “lead back” comment might just be coachspeak – trying to pump up the young Vaughn and boost him with some added confidence through the media. If so, then Arians is doing his job as a good head coach.

Yet Arians may really believe Vaughn is a lead back. He sees Vaughn behind the scenes in practice more than fans and the media do. But it’s what happens on game days that really matter.

Just remember that Arians said similar things about Barber. So his praise for Vaughn might be hyperbole, too.

Time will tell if Vaughn can hang onto more passes and rip off more big runs. And if he’s closer to being another Fournette or another Barber in the realm of Arians’ running backs in Tampa.