Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2020 NFL Draft grades: Antoine Winfield leads an All-Star class

Tampa Bay needed to figure out what they were going to do at running back, which doesn’t mean they needed to take a running back in order to figure anything out.

With Ronald Jones still coming into his own, the Bucs offense lacked the threat of a serious run game. But with Tom Brady coming to town, the passing game launched itself even further into the forefront than it already had been with Jameis Winston. Couple that with the fact that Brady’s offenses in New England never had a workhorse back (the closest thing was LeGarrette Blount) and running back was more of a luxury upgrade than a serious need.

If the Bucs were going to add a running back it likely would have needed to be one of the top-tier backs, all of whom — expect J.K. Dobbins were — off the board when Tampa came on the clock in the second round. With Antoine Winfield available to fill an even bigger need, the Bucs passed on landing a top back.

The next logical option was to wait until the next day and see what mid-tier backs were available to supplement the offense (Joshua Kelley, La’Mical Perine, and DeeJay Dallas were all taken on Day 3). Instead the Bucs took a running back in Ke’Shawn Vaughn who took a step back in 2019 and his best trait is that he’s fast when no one is in front of him.

Vaughn might turn into a decent complement to Jones but he’s not a replacement for him if things come to that. Better running backs were there for the taking.