Top Priority For Zac Robinson: Fix The Running Game
February 20th, 2026
Solve the run game puzzle.
Joe doesn’t know on what or who to blame for the Bucs’ running game. But it sure would help if the Bucs had a run game this fall.
Two years ago under Liam Coen, the Bucs had an outstanding running game. Then-rookie running back Bucky Irving was on fire.
Coen gets a head coaching gig in Jacksonville and Josh Grizzard took over and if you ask Joe, the run game never did look the same. Didn’t in training camp, didn’t in worthless preseason games and that continued through the entire regular season.
OK, sure, you can blame the injuries to the offensive line. You could argue Rachaad White wasn’t used right. You could suggest Bucky took a step (or two?) back. Or maybe Grizzard just didn’t know how to craft a decent run game.
How bad was the run game for the Bucs last year? One of the worst types Ryan McCrystal of Sharp Football Analysis.
[Bucs] Running backs gained 10 or more yards on 7.8% of carries, ranked 29th.
Now you have Bucky coming off shoulder surgery and Rachaad White flipped the Bucs a double-bird on his way out of the locker room and out of town.
So yeah, running back is a big question mark, whether anyone wants to embrace that fact or not.
Yes, Joe is confident the Bucs will bring in a running back, whether by free agency or the draft. And if you ask Joe, new Bucs offensive coordinator Zac Robinson has one key task: Revive the Bucs’ run game.
February 20th, 2026 at 7:11 am
Tyler Allgeier.
February 20th, 2026 at 7:16 am
White played his cards wrong with his bridge burning. Very immature. And too bad, he’s a solid back when used correctly. But unfortunately for him, running back still aren’t valued that high. So good luck to him. But he’s replaceable. We’ll see what they do. As for Bucky, seems like he needs to grow up a bit. Don’t want to be too judgmental about his mental issues. But come on dude, you got hurt. Rest up and get better. It happens. Hopefully he’s working with a sports psych.
February 20th, 2026 at 7:35 am
Saquon Barkley has a bit more experience than Bucky does Joe. He averaged 5.8 yards per rush 2 years ago. Last year he averaged 4.1 per rush. Big difference in those 2 Eagles teams. A similar step back for Bucky last year and a big difference in those 2 Bucs teams. I think the offensive line was the cause of both of those runners downturns. I know that Bucky has it in him. 1100+ rushing yards as a rookie and a good receiver, too. But with a shoulder and a few other problems, Tucker a restricted free agent, and White probably gone, yeah “running back is a big question mark, whether anyone wants to embrace that fact or not”. I can’t help thinking a stable offensive line will help alot of our offensive woes. And we may have an inside track on Tyler Algiers with Zac Robinson. Four years and 700 touches in the league and has never fumbled? Unheard of. And he was a linebacker in college? Wow. Sounds like a football player to me. We shouldn’t have much work to do on offense but we will have some. Starting with Algiers would make a statement. “Top priority for Zac Robinson: Fix the running game”.
February 20th, 2026 at 7:49 am
What the Heck!!!. Robinson needs to fix the whole offense!!!, not just the running game. Joe if you remember Baker was not playing all that well for whatever reason. The O Line was a disaster, and the passing game was somewhere else as well. The only good thing about the offense was that it was slightly better than the defense, which was beyond pathetic.
As far as White , can’t blame him in one respect. He was poorly utilized, no doubt. However, yes he could have waited and talked to the new coordinator and or Bowles . My thoughts are hopefully Robinson talks to him about how he would use him. He is a really a complete Back when utilized properly.
On another note my concern right now is M Evans. I think the Patriots are going to make a serious run for him. They have a ton of cap money and made a serious play for Godwin.
Joe I know you said you are not concerned, but you better consider that one.
Last night on NFL network Sarah Walsh mentioned how competitive Evans is and wants to win one more SB. Well the Patriots would be hard to pass up . They can offer money and a legitimate shot to contender!
February 20th, 2026 at 8:02 am
Injured oline end of story
February 20th, 2026 at 8:12 am
Healthy o-line fixes most of the problem.
February 20th, 2026 at 8:16 am
“You could argue Rachaad White wasn’t used right. You could suggest Bucky took a step (or two?) back. Or maybe Grizzard just didn’t know how to craft a decent run game.”
All of this and then some, and no it wasn’t just the health of the OL.
Rachaad White played more games and got less touches than Bucky and still managed to finish averaging 4.5 yards per carry, behind MORE personnel combinations of our OL.
Also, not like he was ripping off chunk runs to pad/skew his yardage, White was running hard. Part of that problem playcall didn’t help give him mo
Part of it was the difference in splitting the workload.
First 3 games of the season it felt like Bucky was being forced to prop up the run game by himself, when Coen used both in 2024.
My opinion, but the imbalance probably played a part in Buckys’ shoulder injury and foot sprain.
We heard about the “hot hand” all season, barely saw behavior that tact was something the offense was actually implimenting.
Also, I’m going to add the fall off in the pass game contributions from our backfield to this, because we use long handoffs to get our guys in space.
Evidenced by both backs being in the negative in terms of yards-before-catch, but having more YAC production than receiving because they’re catching the majority of their passes behind to LOS.
’24 Bucky & Rachaad combined for 98 catches, 785, & 8 TDs. 35 of those 98 receptions moved the chains. Bucky & Chaad combine 1,004 YAC yards in ’24
’25 Bucky & Rachaad cobined 70 catches, 495 yards, 1 TD. 22 of those 70 catches moved the chains. Both RBs combined for 689 YAC in ’25
This season was the first in his 4 seasons with us that Rachaad White didn’t have a single receiving score. White had 2 as a rookie, 3 under Canales, 6 with Coen, and none with Grizz.
Guys are trying to make White out to be the bad guy for expressing his frustrations last season or celebrating Grizz getting fired on social media(then quickly taking it down) is mild in my opinion. If he were a guy like Shady McCoy and treat “sh*t talk” like a 2nd language, he could’ve been alot more scathing expressing himself. Hell, I was pissed on Whites’ behalf alot this past season.
Anywho, Z-Rob has more than just fixing our run game, he’s got to reinvigorate our enitre backfield and find a way to squeeze potential out of all of our RBs. Not just Bucky.
February 20th, 2026 at 8:41 am
Last year’s running game looked a LOT like Byron’s. Even worse pounding Bucky up the middle over and over when White was far more effective
February 20th, 2026 at 8:44 am
If the Bucs had an AVERAGE DEFENSE they would not have to score 45 points per game. They mostly have to play catch up to stay in the game. Holding down teams scoring would allow the Bucs to mix up the play calling. Extended drives will incorporate more success in running.
February 20th, 2026 at 8:45 am
Baker couldn’t beat Cousins. RB is not the only issue.
And there’s that Grand Canyon like defense to paper over.
This could get very ugly very quickly.
February 20th, 2026 at 9:03 am
Grizzard wasn’t ready to be an OC and if they asked Coen about Grizzard, he may have said, “Yeah, sure, he’s ready”, like Frank Pentangeli in The Godfather.
February 20th, 2026 at 9:19 am
Fixing the offense for our new OC will be the relatively easier job. He needs to pray that Bowles fixes the defense, or they might both be out of a job.
Rachaad White’s greatest strength was catching passes out of the backfield; he was one of the best in the league at that. Why Grizz didn’t use him for that is a mystery to me. I understand why White was upset, understandably so, but he didn’t need to go public with it in the way he did. That’s not a good look.
February 20th, 2026 at 9:22 am
“I understand why White was upset, understandably so, but he didn’t need to go public with it in the way he did. That’s not a good look.”
Neither was White being healthy on the sideline watching Bucky and his bum shoulder rush the ball for 2.3 yards a pop
February 20th, 2026 at 9:34 am
Warren Brooks Lynch Says:
Neither was White being healthy on the sideline watching Bucky and his bum shoulder rush the ball for 2.3 yards a pop
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I agree with you 100%! But if he really posted something on social media celebrating the firing of Grizz, that’s not something that would help him get another job. On the contrary, it could hurt him.
February 20th, 2026 at 9:39 am
The disaster started with the handling of Wirfs injury. His knee should have been cleaned up right after the season. But the medical and training staff decided to hold off (like Jensen) to see if organically things healed on their own. When that clearly wasn’t working, they decided to have surgery days before training camp. That snowballed to having our center play LT, or guard play center and backup play guard. Then Luke and Mauch got hurt, the only 2 left playing their starting positions…and now you had a dumpster fire on the oline that never was able get healthy and the Bucs were starting Heck, Jordan, and some other guys they pulled off the street. Couple that with an inexperienced OC and..well there you have it.
Bucky was hurt and playing behind a crap oline. Teams were stacking the box to stop the run and pressure Baker.
February 20th, 2026 at 9:40 am
I see White going to KC. He’s perfect for their offense and will put up some good numbers.
February 20th, 2026 at 9:43 am
“I agree with you 100%! But if he really posted something on social media celebrating the firing of Grizz, that’s not something that would help him get another job.”
Eh, doubt it and the funny thing about that is, White & Grizz might end up in the NFC East together playing each other twice a year.
Also the post wasn’t words, it was a guy sitting on the toilet spraying air freshener, it was well placed and timed well enough to be funny not malicious.
February 20th, 2026 at 9:49 am
No team in the NFL will be remotely consistent on offense with 2-3 backups on the offensive line every week…..AND at different positions. Our center isn’t a center, similar to Marpet, we tried to make him a center but now it’s time to recognize he’s a very solid guard who when needed can swing out to LT if Wirfs gets hurt or even back to C…but he’s a guard as a starter. The middle of our o-line was an absolute disaster and was pushed into the backfield constantly. Baker was mentally operating with a two second window to process/pass. RBs were immediately dealing with a defender at the hand off. Entire offense was doomed when the guards went down. We were fine with missing receivers but when the line started accumulating injuries, the offense began to struggle. Our OC for whatever reason couldn’t adapt play calling to quick routes, roll outs, etc….his bread and butter was pushing the ball down the field but with two seconds to process/pass, it was a hopeless cause.
February 20th, 2026 at 9:59 am
Warren Brooks Lynch Says:
Also the post wasn’t words, it was a guy sitting on the toilet spraying air freshener, it was well placed and timed well enough to be funny not malicious.
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OK, I hadn’t seen the post, so that’s good.
February 20th, 2026 at 10:42 am
WBL. I like White too. Maybe we can sign Allgeier(gonna trust Lt.Dan’s spelling) and keep White. And Bucky and Tucker. We’ve all watched and been impressed with Allgeier’s tough running style. But he’s not in the same league as White as a pass catcher. They say running backs are cheap. This is becoming quite the conundrum. I don’t know how the budget works for the NFL and I don’t guess we’d have more than 3 backs suited up. And I like Tucker. Ok. I hate to lose White but if we do we will throw it to Bucky and Tucker more and let Allgeier take over for White as the veteran in the room and a primary and short yardage back. Watch Licht draft that Notre Dame kid with our first pick.
February 20th, 2026 at 10:54 am
Bucky should have gone on IR and had surgery during the season.
Rashad White and Tucker shouid have finished the year as starters.
Our running game sucked because we had two 3rd string guards starting.
I hope we realize now that every O-Line needs 8 guys who can start.
O-Line depth is everything in the NFL.
Time to start investing higher draft picks in backups.
February 20th, 2026 at 11:01 am
“Watch Licht draft that Notre Dame kid with our first pick.”
Highly doubt this, not because Love isn’t good, but this doesn’t line up with how Licht has gone after drafting the RB position.
2014: Charles Sims in the 3rd
2017: Jeremy McNicols in the 5th(Still in the league, didn’t work out for us though)
2018: Ronald Jones in the 2nd(no longer in the league)
2020: Ke’Shawn Vaughn in the 3rd(no longer in the league)
2022: Rachaad White in the 3rd(probably gone this offseason)
2024: Bucky Irving in the 4th(coming back from surgery)
Again, if we move in a way to make that pick make sense with our moves in free agency, I’d still feel like we’d be pissing away value compared to more premium positions drafting an RB that high.
February 20th, 2026 at 11:11 am
Pick all offense draft…..all offense FA’s….Guru Bowzo will make do with what is already there.
February 20th, 2026 at 11:16 am
WBL, kind of said that tongue in cheek. If we draft a running back in any round I’m sure it’ll have some of us ticked off. Gipper screamed for months for us to draft Emmanwori last year. Seattle coaches said he was their defensive leader by the time the playoffs rolled around. A rookie defensive leader on the best defense in the league? Now then, since we know that it’s possible let’s draft JRod and see if we can catch some lightning in a bottle. Lightning strikes twice.
February 20th, 2026 at 11:56 am
We are fine at running back. Our only weakness in the running game is offensive line depth. Our backups stunk up the place and got shredded.
Our starters stay in and we will run very well.
February 20th, 2026 at 12:09 pm
“Gipper screamed for months for us to draft Emmanwori last year.”
Gippers’ an idiot, he framed that as if we should’ve drafted Emmanwori in place of Egbuka who was drafted 16 spots ahead and got selected in the 2nd 35th overall which was 18 spots ahead of our 2nd round pick. Gipper should stick to the Mayfield worship, that’s his niche lol
Also, Mike McDonald calls his own defense and every OLB in Seattle had reps in coverage over the course of the season. Along with Byron Murphy & Leonard Williams, who happened to be Bowles first draft pick as Jets HC back in ’15