Doug Martin rushed for 1,402 yards for the Buccaneers in 2015. Since then, the Bucs have had five different players lead them in rushing with none of them clearing 1,000 yards.
Rachaad White came the closest, rushing for 990 yards last season.
White, who rushed for 1,006 yards while at Arizona State in 2021, is ready to do what hasn’t been done in Tampa since Martin.
“Obviously, my goal is to do whatever I can to help the team win,” White said on The Rich Eisen Show on Tuesday. “We’ve been last or [near the bottom in rushing yards] 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 going to make sure I’m not . . . short of that this year and go well over that 1,000 yards.”
White also caught 64 passes for 549 yards and three touchdowns last season. He could be used even more in the passing game this season.
“The scrimmage yards are just going to speak for themselves just because I’ve always been good catching the ball and running routes out of the backfield,” White said. “I’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.”