A few weeks before mini-camp, Bucs head coach Bruce Arians appeared as a special guest on the Pewter Report Podcast. One of the big takeaways from the interview was Arians insight into the Bucs running back competition, including the pending development of RB Ke’Shawn Vaughn.

“I think [Vaughn should] continue to grow as a player,” Arians said. “He’s a hell of a runner. Hell of a runner. He’s getting better as a receiver. Really bright guy, good blitz pickup guy. I would never be shocked if he was our lead dog. He has that type of ability to be our lead dog. You never know with injury. I mean, Lenny (Leonard Fournette) was sitting there not knowing what his role was. All of a sudden RoJo (Ronald Jones II) gets hurt, and he’s Playoff Lenny. So you never know in that room. You cannot have enough good backs.”

Coming out of mini-camp, it sounds as if Vaughn has made some small strides in the right direction. Arians’ post-practice comments on Thursday sounded more confident of Vaughn as a receiver, which resonates with what we saw while watching practices. Vaughn caught the ball well all week and showed juice as a route runner too.

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

“Ke’Shawn has made a nice move,” Arians said. “But he has to be a better special teams player right now, because of what is in front of him. I have all the confidence in the world in him as a runner and a receiver.”

Arians’ support of Vaughn as an offensive player has not wavered after a disappointing rookie season by the third-round pick. Despite improvements in mini-camp, Vaughn is clearly the Bucs No. 4 running back. While his offensive development should get fans excited about the future, the reality is that Vaughn’s special teams ability will likely matter more than his offensive performance this season. According to Arians, it sounds like he still has room to grow in that area of the game.

Vaughn played just 39 special teams snaps in 2020, including 34 on the less-important punt/kick return teams. He must improve as a blocker and as a tackle in order to earn a spot on kick coverage teams. If Vaughn can’t do that, he’ll risk spending the majority of his second season inactive – much like his first. Along with several other Bucs players, special teams will be the area of the game to watch for Vaughn this preseason.