
Bucs Need MULTIPLE RUNNING BACKS? | FREE AGENCY Previews: RB and LB | Bucs' Offense CAN SUCCEED
About this episode
Buccaneers did not tender RB Sean Tucker meaning he could hit free agency - and that means the Bucs need more than one this off-season
Taking a look at running backs and linebackers in free agency that can step in an immediately help upgrade the team
This Bucs offense can be successful if Mike Evans leaves - and we know that because there's evidence of it happening.
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Locked On Bucs – Daily Podcast On The Tampa Bay Buccaneers — Bucs Need MULTIPLE RUNNING BACKS? | FREE AGENCY Previews: RB and LB | Bucs' Offense CAN SUCCEED. Machine-transcribed; use the interactive transcript above to jump the player to any line.
It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Aaron Judge. Welcome to MLB The Show 26. The greatest game in baseball is back, whether you're a gamer or a baseball fan. This one is tough to put down. Jump into franchise mode with your favorite team. Build your roster, chase a pennant, and see if you have what it takes to win it all. It's the closest thing to being in the big leagues yourself. Use it MLB The.Show slash Lockdown and use Code Lockdown to unlock a pack for Diamond Dynasty. Internet connection required. Preorder now on PlayStation 5, Xbox and Nintendo Switch, rated E for everyone. MLB The Show 26, own the show. Freight rail does more than move goods. It drives America's economy. Every dollar invested generates another $2.50 in economic activity, spurring growth from farms to factories. And here's the best part.
Freight railroads fund their own infrastructure, saving taxpayers billions while powering the economy forward, from reducing highway congestion to delivering goods safely and efficiently. Freight rail keeps America moving. Learn more at ar.org slash America's engine. We continue our free agency positional previews with running backs after the news broke that the Bucks are not going to tender running backs, Sean Tucker, meaning he will hit free agency and the Bucks only have one running back on the roster. You are locked on Buccaneers, your daily Tampa Bay Buccaneers podcast, part of the locked on podcast network, your team every day. What's up and welcome into this episode of Lockdown Bucks, your daily podcast covering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, part of the locked on podcast network. Now the number one sports podcast network, I'd like to thank you for making locked on
Bucks, your first listen review every day. I am your host, James Jarko, writer over at Bucks report. I have covered the Buccaneers for over 10 years and I am here with you every Monday through Friday along with the every day. Or so for that, I want to share my appreciation for your continued support of the show. I'm going to tell you why the Buccaneers offense is going to be perfectly fine if they lose a receiver in free agency that we're going to take a look at linebackers that can be of interest to Jason Light and Todd Bowles in free agency. That is all coming up a little bit later. I'm going to start this one off with a two-parter. Obviously, we were already going to talk about running backs in our positional previews, but there was some news on Wednesday that shoves that conversation into the forefront. The Buccaneers are not going to tender, restricted free agent running back, Sean Tucker, meaning he will now likely get to the open market and will have some options. Now this means a couple of things. Number one, it means that the need for running back gets that much more important. You're already losing Rashad White.
Now there's a chance that Sean Tucker leaves as well, which leaves you with one reliable running back on the roster in Buccaneerving. Jason Light told us in Indianapolis that they were looking to add to that room no matter what, and they were not completely satisfied with where they were at the moment. The other thing that it means is that Tucker isn't necessarily gone, and I want to make that very clear, just because they didn't tender him does not mean that he will not be a Buccaneer in 2026. The Buccaneers could very well bring him back at a lower price than what that tender author was going to be. It would have cost the Bucks around $3.5 million, and perhaps they feel like his market isn't going to dictate that big of a salary and they can bring him back cheaper. If not, you still need to sign one, and now maybe you're a little more interested in the running back class in the draft, then you would be if you signed one and still had Sean Tucker on the roster, and I think I could be wrong, but I think this was the fastest
or one of the fastest running back classes in scouting combined history. That's also a direction the Bucks may want to go in since they don't have that home run threat. Yes, Bucky is quick for sure, but we saw in his rookie season that he does not have that elite breakaway speed to knock out 50, 60, 70 yard touchdown runs. He usually, when he had those big breakaway runs, got caught and didn't make it to the end zone. So a guy like Giderian Price or Mike Washington on day two would make some sense for the Buccaneers, depending on what they're able to do in free agency on the defensive side of the ball. All that said, you still have to replace Rashad no matter what. You guys, I've been talking about this, I mean, even before the season ended that Rashad White was gone, but you know where I stayed. I think that Tyler Algier is the best fit for this team for this offense to replace Rashad White. He was great in Robinson's offense in Atlanta when he actually got opportunity, but when
you have Bijon Robinson in front of you, you don't get a ton of opportunity. He can catch. He can block. He is a complete bat that your confident can be on the field on third downs. He's a much better short yardage guy than any running back. The Bucks have had over the last couple of years and it's not going to take him seven tries to gain one yard against the New Orleans Saints like we saw with the Bucks last year. But beyond Algier, who are some players, the Bucks can look to in order to address the need of running back that also aren't going to cost big money. That big money needs to be spent on defense. I know I've talked about bargain binge shopping and that the Bucks should avoid it, but that is on the defensive side at edge, linebacker, maybe defensive line running back. You can bargain hunt for sure and still be able to fill the need. The first name that pops out to me is Najee Harris. Now, does Najee still believe that he is a top level starting caliber running back in the NFL? Because if he does, that would be a non-starting. You don't even enter negotiations at that point.
He would know where you stand with Bucky Irving. You would know where he stands as far as what he thinks. He can accomplish the two sides are not going to meet in the middle there. That said, up until last season with the chargers where he only played three games, he's been a decent blocker. Now, he's not as good as Rashad was. He's not as good as Tyler Algier, but he isn't a huge liability either. He's not rookie year Bucky Irving in his first couple of games. We know he can produce over a thousand yards every year in Pittsburgh with a four yards per carry average. He can catch the ball his worst season. He had a 75% catch rate and averaged 280 yards a season through the air. Now, SpotTrack has his AAV market value at under $3 million. I know mathematician, but I feel like if it costs the same or less to get Najee Harris as it does Sean Tucker and Najee is good with being an RB2 or like that RB1B behind Bucky
Irving, then it's an upgrade to bring him in instead of bringing back Sean Tucker. Hang up is that he tore his Achilles last season in need three. Now reportedly, he was up to 15 miles an hour running on a treadmill just five months after surgery. So that is a very, very good sign, but there is risk there. I think that low of a number is still well worth the risk and he could always sign just a one year deal to show teams that he's back to normal and then can hit free agency again the next year at 28 years old. So this could wind up being a rental situation. It could very much be a hey, you come in and help us and be our RB2. We're going to help you by allowing you to showcase that you're fully healthy and then you can get your big money on the market next year. But I think that a reduced role coming off of surgery in this style of offense would allow him to get those opportunities that he needs to showcase his talent in his health while also not running him into the ground and putting more strain on him than is absolutely
necessary. Another guy that I really like and this is for sure a one year kind of play is Ricky most now he wasn't utilized much at all in Vegas last year and this was after he led the NFL and Russian touchdowns just three seasons ago, but he might be the best blocking running back in free agency this year. It has been consistently good throughout his career. You're also talking about a guy that can get those short yardage pickups. He can punch it in from inside the five. He can pick up those fourth and once. He can catch his average catch percentage over his career is over 78% and while he has been in the NFL for 11 years, he barely touched the field first first five. So there isn't a lot of wear and tear on him despite the fact that he's about to turn 32. There's not a lot of wear on the tread of those tires so to speak. This also would give you a veteran presence that leadership role there with Bucky and
likely a rookie running back and he's someone that can certainly excel in Zach Robinson's style of offense. He averages five yards per carry for his career, which is absolutely outstanding. It just seems like wherever he is, there's always someone else there that takes the lion's share of the carries, whether that was San Francisco with Elijah Mitchell, Miami with Devon H and or even last year with the Raiders and Ashton Gentie. But most are is an outstanding compliment to Bucky as the RB two that can do anything that you need him to, which allows him to be a three down back if God forbid. Something happens to Bucky Irving and he misses games again this season. But most of it has become comfortable in that RB two role throughout his career. It would be no different in Tampa. He knows he would still get opportunities, but that he wouldn't be the lead back in this platoon. The last one that I'm going to mention here in their arson caveats is Alexander Mattis.
He got absolutely no playing time last year with the dolphins because of the neck injury that was probably even more severe than what Jaylen Macmillan suffered. Now Madison wants to return to the NFL with the hurdle being whether or not he gets medically cleared. If he does, and the bucks are still in the market for a better and running back that checks all the boxes that they need, Madison would flip the bill in Minnesota. He stepped in numerous times from RB two to RB one due to injuries and he performed extremely well. He was reliable, but not great, a very reliable blocker though because it's stellar as a past catcher, so you do lose a little bit there. But the rest of what the bucks need, Madison would be able to provide. I mentioned him last because I think he would wind up being kind of the consolation prize. If you miss on the other guys that I named Madison is the decision that you make where it's well, we didn't get the guys at the top of our list for whatever reason.
But in a pinch, we believe Madison's ability to perform to the level that we need in order to stay honest and stay balanced on offense and keep scoring points. We believe that he can fulfill that role. The couple of other names that I'm going to throw out there real quick, they caught my eye, but I discarded them mostly because of how bad they are at blocking or the injury history kind of turned me off. Jerome Ford, JK Dobbins and Kareem Hunt, all of them would provide something that would help the bucks offense and fill kind of the void left by workshop white, but none of them are as complete as the other guys that I listed off or I just don't feel like I can really rely on them to be around for the majority of the season. The most expensive guy that I named based on estimated market value is Al's year by almost double. All the others were under $3 million a year and whether or not that's what they actually go for is a completely different conversation because the market can be a funny thing that these are players that can step in and help while not cutting too much into the funds that
you need to bring in impact starters on defense. Speaking of which, we're going to dive into the linebackers, that is coming up next on today's episode of Walked On Bucks Part Up, the Locked On Podcast Network 13, as we deck. Hey, it's Matt Derry from the Locked On Lions Podcast. The people I love depend on me. If I'm gone, the financial responsibilities don't disappear. I didn't want my family figuring things out during the hardest moment of their lives. That's why I knew only one place to go. I chose life insurance through my friends at ethos. Ethos makes getting life insurance fast and easy, 100% online. You can get a quote in seconds, apply in minutes, and get same day coverage. There's no medical exam. You just answer a few simple health questions. You can get up to $3 million in coverage. Some policies are as low as $30 a month. I love the folks of ethos. Protect your family with life insurance from ethos now by going to ethos.com slash Locked
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just use the promo code free agency. All caps, all one word. You're gonna get a free month of the everyday or club. If you sign up for an annual membership, it's gonna take one month off the cost, plenty coming to the all access members through free agency. I have some special things planned for the draft that will be all access member exclusives. So you're going to want to check that out. Much like the running backs you guys kind of know my 101 in terms of which linebacker I would sign if I'm Jason Light and it is Nicobie D. He isn't going to cost the King's ransom. He could do everything that Todd Bulls needs, his linebackers to do in this defense. He can cover, he can get after the quarterback to an ask, although that's not really his forte, when he's incredibly reliable in run defense. So I'm not going to talk much more about him beyond that just because I have talked about him so often throughout this process. But the next guy on my list is kind of, we're gonna say the wild card. He has all the talents and ability in the world
to completely change the scope of what this defense is. But it also means that you're probably not investing a lot of money in edge help because he's going to cost so much and it is Devon Moore. Look, Lloyd is one of the best all fall linebackers in the NFL and the fact that he's becoming available strictly the financial burden of the Jaguars and the issue, the cap issues that they're facing because of the Trevor Lawrence contract. Lloyd's market value is north of $20 million. And yes, I talked about it on the Swatcha Wednesday night. The bucks can clear about $50 million of cap space within minutes to put them close to $70 million in total cap space, which means theoretically, you could go out and you could sign Devon Lloyd and you can sign Trey Hendrickson. You still have money left to invest in a running back and depth in the O line and a defensive lineman, but that pretty much guarantees that Mike Evans
does not return because you will not have those folks left. Is that the move that would be best for the team and their chances of competing for Super Bowl? Possibly, but I'll get more into that in a little bit. Lloyd finished as PFF's third overall linebacker last season trailing only Fred Warner and Jack Campbell among qualified players again. He's one of the best in the business. He's coming off of kind of his worst years statistically, at least in terms of tackles. 2025 was the only time in his career that he didn't surpass 110 tackles and he actually finished barely above 80 on the season. However, on the flip side, he had a career high five interceptions with one being returned 99 yards for a touchdown. He averages over six passes defense per year. He had 10 quarterback hits last season. He has five football recoveries in his career and he's not a blitzing lineback.
Not that he can't be, he just hasn't been. You want him roaming the middle of the field. He has ball-hawk abilities with insane game speed that allows him to go sideline to sideline with eats. 15 tackles for loss over the last three seasons. You need to find someone to replace Levante David. This is a guy that would come in and remind you of prime Levante David, the one that was going toe-to-toe year after year with Luke Keekley, but didn't get any of the recognition that Keekley did. But again, are you going to, are you willing to spend over $20 million a year on an off-ball linebacker? There aren't many that are worth that. Devon Lloyd just happens to be one of them and the limited ones that are worth that are because they change the entire landscape of what you are able to do defensively. It all would just really depend on what else you can find to help the defense.
Now, if you want discount Devon Lloyd, you get the other debt. You sign Devon Bush. Honestly, Bush is probably second on my personal list of linebackers, I would like the bucks to sign behind the Kobe D. I just mentioned that Lloyd was PFF's third highest rated linebacker last season. Bush was fourth in his estimated market value is less than half of what Lloyd's is. He's played, you know, inside linebacker in a three, four in the past, he's played outside linebacker in a four three, you know, none of that is going to be new to him. And he's coming up with a career high 125 tackles on a scout Cleveland Brown's defense. In his career before last season, he had just two interceptions. Last year alone, he had three interceptions with two of them being returned for touchdowns. And that's to go along with two forced fumbles of homework sets and seven tackles for loss.
He was in absolute minutes. Not only did he start to come into his own as a ballhawk and I keep bringing that up because both harped on it all last off season and it didn't end up coming to fruition. So don't for one second think that he just gave up on wanting ballhawks in his defense. But Devin Bush is also really starting to grow as an all around just solid reliable linebacker. Last year was one of his best in terms of mistackle percentage and one of his better seasons in terms of past coverage. The past or rating when targeted last season for Devin Bush was a career best 64.2. And that is something that the bucks could desperately use considering what happened over the middle of the field last season. There is some injury history there. So this wouldn't be without risk. But if you can land him for under $10 million a year, that is well worth the risk. You would still be drafting a guy. You may still get Lavante back as well.
But this kind of move shows up the middle of the field better than what the bucks have dealt with over the course of the last three seasons. The last one here that I'll go in depth about is Leo Chanel. And he's from the Kansas City Chiefs and a lot of you are sitting there going to. But let me tell you this, if the bucks sign Chanel, it will be viewed in by a vast majority of people as a bargain bin siding where the team didn't want to invest much in the position. Fans are going to be upset, why didn't you do better at linebacker, we need someone better than Chanel. For those of you that watched him, you'll know that landing this guy at $5 to $6 million a year is an absolute steal. And it leaves you a lot of flexibility to spend money elsewhere while getting a guy that will immediately not only outplay his contract, but will be in every down kind of player. He can grow into a leader on this defense.
Chanel was still in PFF's top 40 linebackers in the NFL. And he only played 53% of the defensive snaps. He played over 40% of special team steps for the Chiefs last year. And I'm going to tell you this, he's not a pass rush. But he is one heck of a cover linebacker while also being one of the best run stopping off-ball linebackers in the NFL over the last three seasons. His career high in tackles for a season is 65. But he wasn't a starter nor was he in every down player in Kansas City. And that wasn't because he couldn't be. It was because they had so many great players on defense that they kept rotating through all of them. Of course, that's also a big reason why they were getting to Superbolts is because their defense was stacked and deep so they could keep guys fresh later into the season than a lot of other NFL teams could. Even with limited playing time, he still racked up seven sacks over the last four seasons as well as 17 tackles for loss. He allowed less than a hundred yards
when targeted this past season and allowed a pass rating of 88.4. He's an incredibly good young talent that has started just 44 games over four seasons. Last year's 53% of defensive snaps was a career high for him. Having played just 41% the previous two seasons and then 23% as a rookie. This kid is a gamer. He's going to be cheap probably somewhere in the four to six million dollar range. But he's going to play far beyond that kind of cost if the opportunity is there to start. Couple others that I'm going to name real quick that are good fits and under that $10 million threshold based on estimates. The other chiefs linebacker Jack Cochran, Kway Walker of course, but I think he might be a long shot to actually get to the open market. We still have a couple of days for these players to start negotiating. Alex Anzaloni is another one that I've talked about a lot. He's a bit older, but would be a great addition for the next couple of seasons.
Same thing with Matt Milano. He's going to be inexpensive, but he's a little bit older. And then Bobby Ocarica, who just became available on Wednesday when the Giants cut ties with him. If he stays below that $9 million range, he got 10 from the Giants last year. If he stays at $9 million or below, I'm definitely interested. If it goes any higher than that, there are other players that I like better that are in that same price range. But that is one name that I would keep an eye on. Can the offense survive a big departure and still be among the best in the NFL? That is coming up next on today's episode of Locked On Box. This episode is sponsored by Better Health. March is a time to celebrate women, especially around international women's day and to recognize just how much they carry at work in relationships, in families, and in all the unseen roles they step into every single day.
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Oh, Joey, another day, another buzz delayed. Look on the bright side. You can finally catch up on podcasts. You don't mind running late? What's your deal? What's my deal? I saved up Metro with no activation fees. I got one line 5G for just $25 a month, kept the phone I love, and a five-year price guarantee for my talk text and data. Only $25? I'm going to Metro when we hop off. Get that mop of your money feeling only a Metro by T-Mobile. Just bring your number $30 first month and $25 after without a pay price guarantee exception's apply. See you side for details. Wrap and things up here on today's episode of locked on box. And I really said all I wanted to say about the Mike Evans situation earlier this week. So I'm not going to rehash all of the same topics. If you missed it, go back, listen to it. I spent nearly 15 minutes breaking down all of my thoughts, you know, things that I was hearing, what I was, the vibes that I was getting. So if you didn't hear that, go back and listen to that.
I will talk a little bit with Evan on tomorrow's show about the Mike Evans situation. But what I want to talk about here is where the offense will be if he doesn't return. And the reason that I'm doing this is I've seen a whole lot of, you know, if he leaves the boxer cooked, sky is falling kind of rhetoric being floated around out there on social media, on different blogs, different podcasts, things like that, I'm going to be honest with you. I think it's really, really overblown. And quite honestly, bordering on false, the box offense, if he leaves, is still going to be fun and they still have a legitimate chance to be one of the best offenses in the league barring the injury issues that they had last year. Here's why. We all know where Zach Robinson came from, right? No, I'm not talking about Atlanta and the Falcons offense, I'm talking about Los Angeles
from the Garden of McVan. Think back to two years ago, when the offense in Tampa was absolutely cooking under Liam Cohen, it wasn't Mike Evans that was tearing it up, it was Chris Godwin. Godwin was in the top three in the NFL in receptions, targets, yards and touchdowns before his ankle got snapped into a billion pieces by Roe Quantsman. Now why is that? It's because Cohen and Robinson come from an offensive system that does not use an ex-receiver the way most teams do. Their offense runs through the slot and using those mismatches to create opportunity. Now that's not to say that a dominant ex-receiver, such as Mike, wouldn't have a place in this offense. Of course he would. He has a place in any offense, are you kidding me? But look at, you know, you look at what Drake London did with Zach Robinson. The thing is, it's not a necessity.
Go back to 2021 and the Los Angeles Rams when Robinson was there on the staff and the Rams won the Super Bowl. Who was the guy that the offense ran through? Cooper Cup, who broke record set season. He isn't an ex-receiver, he's a slot receiver. He finished with 191 targets, 145 receptions, 1,947 yards, and 16 touchdowns. 108 of his 145 receptions resulted in a first down and he averaged 114 and a half yards per day. That's absolutely insane. No, I don't think Chris Godwin, being a slot receiver in Tampa, is going to get 191 targets if Evans works elite. That's the beauty of it. You have three receivers in Tampa under contract. Right now, they could all line up outside or in the slot. All of them can play the X, Y, or Z receiver.
And it allows for a ton of flexibility on Robinson's part to move guys in and out of those spots, to create mismatches and be able to keep this offense hungry. You throw in Tess Johnson and his speed and you still have an incredibly dangerous offense with a buffet of weapons that a lot of teams are going to have trouble stopping. Godwin can play the slot, a Buka can play the slot, McMillan can play the slot. A Buka show last year, he can play all three receiver positions because he had to. That 2021 Super Bowl Rams team didn't operate under traditional receiver roles. Beyond Cooper Cup, they had Van Jefferson as their second leading receiver on the team. They had Odell Beckham Jr. for eight games. They had to Sean Jackson, which I completely forgot about because he only played in seven games and he had eight receptions all of you. And then they had Robert Woods for nine days. You mean to tell me that that receiving crew
that had just two guys over 800 yards on the season is more talented than what the bucks have under contract right now, right this minute, no shot. Absolutely no shot. And I get it, Robinson's offense isn't a carbon copy of what McVeigh does, but it doesn't have to be. The foundation of the offense is rooted in what he learned under McVeigh with some tweaks here and there. But this is an offense that can thrive with exactly what they have in house right now. This isn't me saying that you should let Mike walk or that the box wouldn't love to have him or that he wouldn't add even more potential to what this offense can be. What I am saying is what I've been saying and been brutally attacked for on social media and in the comments sections. And it's this, if you have to choose
between paying a receiver at age 33, $25 million a year or spending that on the side of the ball that truly needs the help, that truly needs the upgrades. Then it is better for the overall success of the franchise both this year and in the future to spend that money where it's needed, not where it's the most sentimental, not where it's going to make the fans happiest because somebody is returning to the team because this scheme with these receivers is still going to be able to push Baker towards 4,000 yards and over 30 touchdowns again. That just isn't going to do any good if the defense can't stop it. That's going to do it for this episode. Coming up tomorrow, we will be joined by Evan Koski. He has plenty of thoughts on Trey Hendrickson
and he's got some bold predictions for everyone. In the meantime, check out everything on Twitter, at Locked On Bucks, at JRco underscore bucks, Instagram and TikTok, at Locked On Bucks in both of those places. Subscribe on YouTube with the notifications turned on as well as wherever you get your podcasts. Check out the every day or club in the All Access here. You get a month free with promo code free agency, all one word, click the link in the show notes or go to lockdownbucks.supercast.com. If you want to support the show, but you don't want to join the every day or club, it's real simple. Like this episode on YouTube, leave a five star review wherever you get podcasts. It does help other Buccaneers fans find the show. Hope you all have an absolutely outstanding day. Stay safe, stay healthy, fire the cannons. I want to thank you so much for joining me right here on Locked On Bucks, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Uh-huh. Music
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