Will Buccaneers Fans See More Ro-Jo at Ray-Jay in 2019?

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If you’re like a lot of Buccaneers fans, you are still trying to figure out what the team did with their 2018 2nd-round draft pick.  Reminder: they picked up a tailback from USC, Ronald Jones II.

Jones II spent most of 2018 in the Dirk Koetter witness protection program. Brief sightings were a slight indication of the speed and elusiveness a back of his talent can bring, especially to a team still looking for a replacement for the muscle hamster, Doug Martin. Yeah, I went there.

The fact of the matter is the Buccaneers might just be in a really good situation with the running back position moving forward. The continuing emergence of Peyton Barber, who, at 5’11” and 225 pounds, hits holes with authority and power, was just enough to wet the whistle of fans looking for a running game to complement one of the league’s top passing franchises.

Now allow for a sophomore campaign from Ronald Jones II. At 5’11” and 208 pounds, he has the escapability of David Copperfield, the quick start/stop of a cat, and the speed to outrun most linebackers and defensive backs in the NFL. The 2019 Buccaneers might just be using the run to set up the pass. But with Professor Arians, this would seem a tall order.

Remember WD-40?  Mike Alstott and Warrick Dunn. That tandem was pretty significant in the annals of Buccaneer lore. Are Pey-Bay and Ro-Jo that? Not quite.  But they both have styles that could complement each other and put the 2019 team on the NFL running back map. The talent is there.  Would a significant running game help the team in the red zone and put the ball across the goal line when teams stack the secondary to stop the Arians’ air attack? Most certainly.

We are twenty-two days away from the 2019 NFL draft.  Nobody knows how long it could take for this years draft selections to make their bones in red and pewter.  Will Ronald Jones II make his this season?  This question remains to be seen but one thing is for sure, if he does, Buccaneer fans will no longer need help remembering what the team did with their 2018 2nd-round draft pick.

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