Despite an impressive college career and promising draft hype, Bucs rookie running back Sean Tucker went undrafted in the 2023 NFL Draft due to a medical red flag discovered during the pre-draft process. Tucker had a heart condition that gave most teams pause to dedicate a draft pick to the former Syracuse runner. As such the Bucs took a flyer on Tucker, signing him as an undrafted free agent. Tucker was recently cleared to play, as the heart condition that wrecked his draft prospects is now a thing of the past for him. This turn of events could allow Tucker to be the steal of the 2023 rookie class.

Bucs Running Back Room Leaves Door Open For Tucker

With the departure of former playoff hero Leonard Fournette, the Bucs have an unproven stable of running backs that have yet to truly establish themselves in the roles they are projected for. Rachaad White is the odds-on favorite to be the lead back. While he showed flashes in his rookie year, the Bucs running game did not improve appreciably after he supplanted Fournette as the primary option towards the back-half of 2022. Chase Edmonds is a solid complimentary option, but if White were to succumb to injury, he will be hard-pressed to be a capable lead back fill-in.

Ke’Shawn Vaughn is at this point an afterthought for the Bucs. Entering the final year of his rookie contract after being drafted in the third round of the 2020 NFL Draft, Vaughn is unlikely to be back in Tampa Bay next year and equally unlikely to have an expanded role in the Bucs new-look offense.

All of this gives Tucker the opportunity to earn not one of the coveted spots on the Bucs 53-man roster, but of also carving out a significant role in the Bucs offensive system.

Sean Tucker Scouting Report

Bucs RB Sean Tucker – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

What made Tucker such an interesting prospect to begin with? Let’s start with his standout skill. Tucker is fast. He is fast in every definition of the word. He is quick to accelerate from a dead stop, showing burst and explosiveness that will leave linebackers quoting one of my favorite movies, Top Gun: “Where did who go?!” But Tucker compliments that initial burst with long speed that allows him to finish big runs. In 2021 Tucker finished with 24 designed rushes of 15 yards or more per Pro Football Focus. That was 5th among all college running backs that year.

Given his track background this makes sense. Tucker has a recorded 60-meter time of 6.90 seconds during his freshman year at Syracuse. And having previously competed in 55m, 60m, 100m and 200m events he is comfortable at pacing himself to impressive times at various distances.

That speed is a huge asset in a mid-zone concept like the one new offensive coordinator Dave Canales is looking to employ in Tampa Bay. You can see that speed on display from this clip posted to twitter by Ben Fennell as Tucker takes a screen pass and houses it after destroying multiple pursuit lines in the process.

Syracuse RB Sean Tucker has the ability to be RB1 after the 2022 season…

You can see his feel/vision/reading blocks in the OZ run game… but he navigates his blocks well in the screen game too. Hope to see more concepts in the pass game to get him the ball in 2022 pic.twitter.com/WPNdL0m6gJ

— Ben Fennell (@BenFennell_NFL) August 1, 2022

It also allows Tucker to gain the edge on runs where he has no business doing so.

While he did not get a chance to run at the NFL combine, there is a good bet he would have posted times in the low 4.4’s to mid 4.3’s.

Tucker Has One-Cut Ability To Thrive In Bucs Rushing Attack

As Fennell alludes to in his clip, Tucker is tailor-made for the Bucs WZ/MZ run scheme by pairing his speed with the requisite vision and feel for finding the right gap in the opposing defense to exploit.

The most successful wide zone backs aren’t able to just identify the first hole to attack. They layer in an understanding of what is happening at the second level and adjusting his line to avoid linebackers and safeties. This gives him the ability to turn four-yard runs into ten-yard runs, ten-yard runs into 20-yard runs, and 20-yard runs into bigtime scores.

[insert video/tweet of long wz run]

Tucker’s Foot-Speed Is Legit

Despite being 5’9 and 207 pounds with a compact and muscular build, Tucker has extremely quick and light feet. This helps him create explosive cuts and incredible burst. You can see this feature of his game on almost any highlight reel, but I really enjoyed this clip of him running drills from Bucs training camp.

#Buccaneers running back Sean Tucker has some quick feet 👀 #GoBucs pic.twitter.com/zuHHzUoecG

— Logan B. Robinson (@LogansTwitty) July 28, 2023

Areas of Opportunity

Bucs RB Sean Tucker – Photo courtesy of Syracuse

Sean Tucker is not a complete back at this juncture. That is part of the reason why he wasn’t seen as a top-five back in his draft class even before the medical flag. Even with his strong build he won’t be confused with former Buc Doug Martin as the second coming of the “Muscle Hamster”. Tucker’s game is not predicated on north-south running in a bruising fashion, bouncing off of defenders. He has decent enough contact balance, but he himself has even noted he is more of an elusive back than a power runner.

“I’m more of a speed guy, an elusive kind of back,” Tucker said. “My speed is something that I pride myself on. I posted a training video on my Twitter page of my Combine training and the stuff that I was doing. That video was actually posted like two weeks before the combine. The numbers that I was planning and hopeful to put up at the combine were definitely going to be something that would surprise a lot of people. In the video, I was running what – a 4.3, something 4.3.”

Tucker will also need to improve some of his decision making in order to succeed at the next level. Given his game-breaking speed he would have a tendency to want to kick runs outside that weren’t designed to move in that direction. This would often leave him out in space with no blocking help. In a one-on-one situation at the college level this often did not bite him. But at the NFL level with more disciplined defenders who will undoubtedly have more help, it can lead to more negative plays than positive ones.

The biggest area Tucker will have to develop in order to carve out a major role in the Bucs offense will be in the passing game. He has some highlight-reel plays as a receiver, but there are lapses in his technique that he needs to minimize, if not outright eliminate. He can often fully stop his feet as screens develop, leading to him being flat-footed an unable to escape a rogue linebacker or lineman. And in pass protection Tucker evokes unenviable memories of Fournette, ducking his head as he half-heartedly throws his shoulder in the general direction of an edge defender.

None of these deficiencies are deal-breakers or set in stone. But rest-assured the Bucs will most likely be pointing them out to Tucker as areas he will need to show growth in as training camp progresses in order for him to potentially supplant Vaugh n for the RB3 job before the regular season starts.