Captain Fear
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- Mar 20, 2019
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Negative reviews of Buccaneers running back Ronald Jones‘ work started coming in the preseason and things never got better from there.
Jones played in nine games and ran 23 times for 44 yards during a season that fell well short of the expectations he carried into the league as a second-round pick. According to running backs coach Todd McNair, the hope in Tampa this year is that Jones can rediscover both his confidence and his game.
“Rojo had 23 carries on the season and 13 of those he got hit at or behind the line of scrimmage,” McNair said, via the Tampa Bay Times. “So the biggest thing with him is restoring his confidence. I think once we start getting him to the second level clean. You know, a guy comes out of college, USC is a high-profile program. A second round pick and he doesn’t have a lot of success. I’ve seen it happen before and his confidence goes way down. With him it’s baby steps and working our approach.”
The Buccaneers haven’t shook up the depth chart at running back this offseason, which leaves Peyton Barber as the No. 1 back in front of Jones. That should provide plenty of chances to see if the effort to rebuild Jones’ game is successful.