Rachaad White Won’t Say He’s Bucs’ RB1 Just Yet

Bucs running back Rachaad White flashed some potential throughout his rookie year in 2022. But splitting carries with incumbent starter Leonard Fournette meant that’s all we really saw of White: flashes.

Now, Fournette is gone and the path is there for the 2022 third-round pick to step into the Bucs’ vacant RB1 role. He changed his number from No. 29 to No. 1 this offseason, so it would be fitting for him to be Tampa Bay’s No. 1 guy in the backfield.

However, he’s not ready to call himself “RB1” yet, he said last Monday.

“For me, it’s a blessing to be able to have an opportunity,” White said. “For me, I think that’s how I go about things – to be ‘RB 1.’ I wouldn’t say I’m ‘RB 1’ yet – we’ve got a lot of great guys in the room. We’re all going to compete. I like the energy, the good vibes in the room right now [with] Chase [Edmonds] – meeting him earlier – plus ‘Sneak’ (Ke’Shawn Vaughn) and Pat [Laird].

“It’s a good room. I’m pretty proud of that. But being able to compete and things like that – that’s all you can ask for: an opportunity in life.”

Rachaad White Is All About Being A Great Teammate, Competing

Bucs RB Rachaad White Photo By: USA Today

It was clear from the moment he was drafted by the Bucs with the 91st overall pick in last year’s draft that Rachaad White was a mature, high-character guy. That’s something that became even more evident as the year went on, and it’s something that the 24-year-old continues to focus on. He spoke Monday about what he learned as a rookie and what he can do going forward for his teammates.

“I just kind of learned how you kind of go about this lifestyle and how to carry yourself in a [good] manner,” White said. “I was very grateful, blessed, fortunate that I have three older brothers an older sister, a younger sister, my mom and my family – I was raised well and raised to always be humble and appreciate the small things, the little things in life. Taking that and then seeing guys – seeing how Mike [Evans] works, how Chris [Godwin] works, how Tom [Brady] worked – seeing how guys worked and how great of human beings they [were].

“That was the biggest thing for me – I always pride myself on being who I was before I was here and just keep being a great human being. At the end of the day, I just learned that and [learned] how can I make guys around me, like my teammates, better and have an impact on my teammates more than anything. If my teammates say, ‘Yeah, Rachaad is a great teammate,’ that’s what I want most over anything.”

Bucs RB Rachaad White – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

As important as it is to White to be a great teammate, putting his best foot forward for the Bucs’ backfield is just as important. He loves to work and compete, and that’s what he intends to do — especially with that RB1 role up for grabs.

Even if Tampa Bay were to draft a running back next weekend — whether it’s a generational type of back like Bijan Robinson or someone else — White won’t back down from a competition.

“I don’t have no problem with Bijan,” White told Pewter Report last month. “The thing is, at the end of the day, what I have learned even though I’m young — [from] my agent and what people in my circle taught me — it’s a business, we all know that. Tampa Bay has to do what’s best for Tampa Bay. My coaches have to do what’s best for my coaches. Everybody has a little selfishness in them – you have to. Me, I’m selfless. You can draft Bijan, you can draft whoever, at the end of the day, I’m going to win that job, that’s just what I’ve always done.

“That’s what I always did with my track record, no matter what. No problem with Bijan or whoever Tampa drafts. Obviously you have to draft a guy, it’s the league. I don’t have any problem with that, the only problem I have is people saying, ‘We don’t know if he can be Kenneth Walker – if he could be a budding star.’ Kenneth and I are like close friends in real life, we talk a lot. I’m just saying if you give me 200 carries in a season – if you give me the opportunity and I don’t make anything out of it, then you can say we don’t know if he can be a budding star.”

Bucs Need Rachaad White To Improve Ball Security

Rachaad White did a lot of things well last year. In limited opportunities due to the presence of Fournette, he ran for 481 yards and a touchdown on 129 carries (3.7 avg.) while catching 50 passes for 290 yards and two scores.

White’s best game came in the Bucs’ 21-16 win over the Seahawks in Germany on Nov. 13. He posted his first career 100-yard game, going for 105 yards on 22 carries. He won Good Morning Football’s “Angry Runs Scepter” for his 29-yard run that ended with a huge stiff arm on Seattle safety Quandre Diggs.

But where White can get better is in the ball security department. Taking care of the football is something Bucs coaches have preached all offseason. That includes Todd Bowles, as well as new offensive coordinator Dave Canales and new running backs coach Skip Peete. Canales went as far as saying Peete got the job with Tampa Bay, in part, because his running backs in Dallas finished with zero fumbles last season.

Bucs RB Rachaad White Photo By: USA Today

White, though, is coming off of a rookie season in which he lost three fumbles. He said this week that his coaches were already working on ball security with him on the first day of the team’s offseason workouts.

“We’re talking about it right now. Coach [Bowles] put great slides up of me actually cupping my wrist in times like that and I’d say yeah, that’s on me,” White said. “It’s kind of like being young and understanding the game. I embrace it, though – it’s part of the game. A lot of people ask me how can I have more poise or just keep moving on to the next play and catch a ball or something like that – but, it’s part of the game.

“Coach Bowles put a lot of emphasis on it and Coach Peete puts a lot of emphasis on it. It’s huge – you don’t want to give the other team the ball. It’s really about technique and understanding the game of football – when not to do too much and when to do too much. As the year went on, I got better at that.”