As a second-year running back in 2023, Rachaad White got his first taste of being the leader of the Bucs backfield. And despite a slow start, he ended up putting together something of a breakout campaign.

Overall, White ran for 990 yards and totaled another 549 receiving yards, proving to be one of the more productive running backs in the league. Despite falling painfully short of his first career 1,000-yard rushing season, the former Arizona State star finished with the fourth-most scrimmage yards among running backs last year and posted nine total touchdowns. A few of those scores were of the clutch variety, as they came during Tampa Bay’s resurgence down the stretch in the regular season.

Bucs RB Rachaad White – Photo by: USA Today

By season’s end, Rachaad White had begun to find his place in Dave Canales’ offense. But this offseason, Canales left to take the Panthers’ head coaching job, leaving the Bucs to replace him with new offensive coordinator Liam Coen.

Coen’s offense — born largely out of his time with Rams head coach Sean McVay — has some similarities to Canales’, and White and the rest of the Bucs offense has been hard at work this offseason adjusting to the differences that do exist between the systems. Part of that process has included watching film from Coen’s time with the Rams, where he worked under McVay. That’s something White was asked about after Tuesday’s mini-camp practice.

“We see a lot of clips in there. Coach Liam shows a lot of clips like Todd Gurley, Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp and the guys that came up [in this] offense,” White said. “It’s been huge, it’s been inspiring. I love to see tall, lean, big running backs like Todd and see them move and stuff like that. So I hone in on that.”

With #Bucs OC Liam Coen around, the offense has been studying a lot of old Rams tape this offseason. For RB Rachaad White, that means watching how Todd Gurley was utilized. pic.twitter.com/bVPggaqNHU

— PewterReport 🏴‍☠️ (@PewterReport) June 11, 2024

White has a special dual-threat ability out of the backfield, and that’s something he started to display as a rookie in 2022 before really growing into a hugely impactful role as the 2023 season rolled on. In Liam Coen’s offense, that ability to contribute both in the run game and passing attack will certainly serve White — and Tampa Bay — well.

“It’s just huge. The offense, it’s been a lot of great running backs that came through this offense that can catch and run the ball very well, things like that,” White said. “Coach Liam does a great job of trying to get his guys open, getting them in space, and it all comes to fruition.

“The best part about it is I’ve got Mike [Evans] and Chris [Godwin] on the outside, so I catch the check down, it’s a lot of space from there. I understand that and I know that, so that’s very huge, having that.”

A High Level Of Trust Between Rachaad White And Baker Mayfield

Bucs RB Rachaad White – Photo by: USA Today

Rachaad White made some huge plays as an outlet receiver for Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield in 2023. Once the Tampa Bay running back got the ball in his hands on a check-down, he looked to make some special things happen — and he often did.

But now that they’ve played together for a full season and have had some more time to work together this offseason in OTAs and mini-camp, how has the trust level changed between the running back and quarterback?

“It’s grown a lot. It’s been good. He trusts me to be in my spot and where I’m at,” White said Tuesday. “He goes through his reads and I’m like the safety blanket. And he trusts me, when I get the ball, to not force nothing but make some things happen. Like I said, it’s a lot of space out there. That’s always fun. It’s like backyard football when you see that.”

White is clearly excited about the space that Liam Coen’s offense creates, and with elite receivers like Mike Evans and Chris Godwin creating space on the outside, it’ll give the third-year running back more room to run when he catches those check-downs from Mayfield.

Of course, the new Bucs offense under Coen is still a work in progress, but White has been encouraged by the group’s ability to adjust to the different looks this system features. As he tells it, the offense has leaned on Mayfield and has continued to follow his lead.

Bucs OC Liam Coen – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“Liam came in and he did a great job – he does a great job of just mixing up different looks, White said. “He does a great job of throwing the defense off a lot and [marrying] the run and the pass and play-actions, and stuff like that. This offense is hard, though. Like Baker said, it isn’t easy, but he does a great job, Baker, of staying the course and trying to get us in the right play, and leading all of us on offense. We follow his lead.”

As the Bucs continue to put things together under Liam Coen throughout the rest of mini-camp and into training camp and the preseason, White said communication will remain the biggest key.

“The biggest thing is just communication,” he said. “At the end of the day, we’ve all got to be on the same page. I’d say that’s huge. Obviously, it’s so many different things that Baker and Coach [Liam] and we can get into. Different calls, different plays. So you’ve just really got to lock in and hone in on your studying and just knowing exactly what you do.

“Coach Liam is a proponent of ‘your talent and everything is going to do what it does and it’s going to take over naturally’ but the little things, the simple things, the fundamentals are really huge to him. So he harps and nags on the littlest things like alignment, assignment and just all that. He feels like it all just marries up together.”