FAB 3. Will Bucs RBs Catch More Passes With Brady At QB?

One of the biggest questions surrounding the 2020 Buccaneers will be how new quarterback Tom Brady fits into Bruce Arians’ offense, which centers around a vertical passing game. Brady was directed to get rid of the ball quickly in New England’s offense over the last decade with Josh McDaniels calling the plays, and that often meant checking the ball down to the Patriots running backs.

Running back James White was the second-leading receiver in New England last year, but that was by default rather than by design. Without tight end Rob Gronkowski, who retired following the Patriots’ Super Bowl win in 2018, and with newly added receivers like Antonio Brown, Josh Gordon and Mohamed Sanu not panning out, Brady didn’t have any quality receivers or tight ends to throw to outside of receiver Julian Edelman.

Bucs QB Tom Brady – Photo by: Getty Images

White wound up with 72 catches for 645 yards and five touchdowns in 2019, which was second on the team behind Edelman. New England’s third-most productive player in the passing game last year was receiver Phillip Dorsett II, who only had 29 catches for 397 yards and five scores.

Yet even with Gronkowski in the lineup for most of the 2018 season, White still caught a ton of passes, leading the Patriots with 87 receptions for 751 yards and three TDs. He’s just a quality receiver out of the backfield and Brady had a ton of trust in him picking up first downs and then scoring some touchdowns in the red zone.

White was New England’s fourth-leading receiver in 2017 with 56 catches for 429 yards and three touchdowns, but Brady still threw the ball to the backs a lot. Dion Lewis had 32 receptions for 214 yards and three TDs, while Rex Burkhead had 30 catches for 254 yards and three scores. The Patriots running backs combined for 126 receptions for 957 yards and nine scores that year, which isn’t too far off from last year when New England’s running backs totaled 121 catches for 1,134 yards and six TDs.

It may surprise you to learn that the Bucs threw the ball to their running backs quite a bit, too. Tampa Bay’s running backs combined for 84 receptions for 723 yards with one touchdown, with Dare Ogunbowale’s 36 catches for 286 yards and Ronald Jones II’s 31 receptions for 309 yards leading the way.

Bucs QB Jameis Winston – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Arians and Byron Leftwich, who serves as the Bucs’ passing game coordinator and play-caller, would have liked to have seen Jameis Winston check the ball down to the running backs more often, especially when under duress. Winston was sacked 47 times in 2019 and the coaching staff determined 15 of those sacks were on Winston for not checking the ball down, throwing the ball away or scrambling for positive yards when the opportunity presented itself. By comparison, Brady was sacked just 27 times in New England in 2019.

While Brady will be expected to hang in the pocket a second longer to give the receivers and tight ends running vertical routes the time needed to get downfield, the 42-year old quarterback has become a master of self preservation and avoiding sacks by not hesitating to check the ball down or throw it away. That should naturally result in more opportunities for Jones, Ogunbowale and rookie running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn, the team’s third-round pick.

“I’m comfortable that the guys that we have here have the ability to get the job done,” Leftwich said. “We all know that he threw to the running backs a lot in the past and we threw to the running backs some here, too. It’s just, when you have Mike Evans and you have the players that we had outside, sometimes our best option was to get the ball into our wide receivers’ and tight ends’ hands so we didn’t have a lot of catches by the running backs.

“But we are pleased with our running backs when they do catch the ball. What they’re able to do with it, how they’re able to get open, how they’re able to create separation. So we feel fine there with the understanding. We’re aware of everybody we have, we understand Tom and what he’s done in the past and we’ll do whatever we have to do to make things right, but we feel comfortable with everything that we have on our roster, every position.”

Bucs RB Ke’Shawn Vaughn – Photo by: Getty Images

Leftwich has yet to see Vaughn and fellow rookie running back Raymond Calais, the team’s seventh-round pick, in person due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced the cancelled the NFL’s 2020 offseason. But Leftwich likes what he has seen on tape from both running backs and their receiving ability. Vaughn caught 66 passes for 648 yards (9.8 avg.) and three touchdowns in college, while Calais wasn’t used much in the passing game at run-first Louisiana-Lafayette where he totaled 17 receptions for 145 yards (8.5 avg.) with one score.

“They’re both fast guys – both guys that have made big plays their whole careers that they’ve played football,” Leftwich said. “When you watch the guys play they’re just a big play waiting to happen. Same as every other position, we’re just happy to have good football players. We want as many good football players as we can get, and it’s my job to put these guys in position to make plays and to win on certain downs. But the tough part is not having the opportunity to get these guys in here.

“We know what they showed on tape. We can’t wait for the opportunity to get these guys in our practice facility, practicing our plays so we can learn what they can do extremely well. We’re just waiting to get these guys and have an opportunity to put them in position to make plays so we can see what they really do.”

Jones, who is entering his third year in the league, is expected to be the Bucs’ feature back this season. He made huge strides as a receiver in 2019 thanks to new running backs coach Todd McNair, who changed his catching technique. After catching just seven passes for 33 yards as a rookie, Jones had a career year in 2019 that included a personal-best eight catches for 77 yards against Arizona.

Bucs RB Ronald Jones II – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Jones has been working on his hands again this offseason and could see an even bigger role in the receiving game in 2020, especially with Brady at quarterback, but Evans and fellow Pro Bowl receiver Chris Godwin, who led the Bucs with 86 catches for 1,333 yards and nine touchdowns, will continue to lead the way in targets in Tampa Bay – along with Gronkowski. Jones could catch between 40-50 passes in 2020 as the result of having Brady at quarterback, but don’t expect the running backs to be featured in the passing game the way the Bucs’ wide receivers and tight ends will be due to the desire of Arians and Leftwich to push the ball down the field with regularity.

With Brady’s history of checking the ball down, it wouldn’t be a shock to see the total production of Tampa Bay’s running backs increase in the passing game to 95 receptions for 850 yards and a handful of touchdowns in 2020.