Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Rachaad White came within 10 yards of breaking the 1,000-yard rushing barrier, something no Bucs player has done since Doug Martin in 2015 (1,402).
Heading into Year 3, White told on Tuesday that he's ready to smash past that plateau.
"Obviously, my goal is to do whatever I can to help the team win," White said. "We've been last, or 25th to last the past five or six years -- I mean, even with the Super Bowl. When it comes to rushing, Tampa Bay has been down bad. My goal, and what I expect me to do, is turn that around, and that's to be top-10 to top-15, top-12, at the minimum. Obviously, there's not been a 1,000-yard rusher here in, like, what, nine years, and obviously, I was 10 yards short of that last year. So I'm a make sure I'm not nearby short of that this year and go well over that 1,000 yards."
White is correct about the Bucs' futility in the running game. In 2015, with Martin leading the way, Tampa ranked No. 5 in rush yards. Since that season, they've ranked 24th, 27th, 29th, 24th, 28th, 26th, 32nd and 32nd, respectively.
Last season, White shouldered a massive load out of the Bucs' backfield. He took 272 carries, tied for second-most in the NFL. No other Tampa RB broke the 50-carry mark. Yet, for the most part, the carries were inefficient. White averaged 3.6 yards per tote, 30th among RBs with at least 150 carries.
For his part, White did see his production tick upward down the stretch, including his only two 100-yard-plus games of the season.
White noted that he also believes he can be used more in the passing game this season.
"The scrimmage yards are just gonna speak for themselves just 'cause I've always been good catching the ball and running routes out of the backfield," he said. "鈥've got a lot of guys with a lot of speed obviously on the outside, and what they do speaks for [itself]. A bunch of them dumpoffs, I'm out in space, and I'm taking myself over a lot of defenders any day of the week."
The Bucs drafted Bucky Irving in the fourth round, and the Oregon product, with make-you-miss ability in the hole, could push White for carries with a good training camp and regular season. Irving is a tackle-breaker with three-down capability, even if he doesn't wow with speed. It wouldn't be a surprise to see the rookie siphon off carries.
For White, his "biggest goal" is to help the Bucs win the NFC South for the fourth consecutive season, but this time, not simply by being the slightly best team in a bad division.
"The Bucs have been a slept-on team for years, and we done had our trials and tribulations," he said. "鈥ut times have changed, and now it's time for us to take that next step. Like I said, I won eight games my rookie year, won nine my last year. It's time to take that step to get well over that, and not just barely make the playoffs or barely win the division, [but] win the division how I know we should win the division."
