Everyone on the planet knew the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were going to have a shaky run game in 2023. That has just been the way it's been with this team over the better part of the past decade.
In an NFL where throwing the ball is king, this wasn't always a bad thing. The Bucs were able to overcome one of, if not the worst, rushing attacks during the past few years by having one of the best passing attacks.
The issues with the rushing attack before the season were obvious, and the one that stuck out the most was that Ke'Shawn Vaughn was still inexplicably on the team.
Listen, it is hard to make it to the NFL in the first place, much less to play on a team that wins a Super Bowl while keeping your job during a ton of upheaval.
However, it would be more than fair to say that the numbers paint a clear picture as to why people fairly wonder about Vaughn with the Bucs.
Prior to this season, Vaughn had 342 rushing yards on 79 rushing attempts (4.3 yards per carry), however, that number on its face is a little inflated when considering that 86 of those yards came on three attempts. This changes that overall number to 3.4 ypc.
This has been the name of the game with Vaughn: brief flashes that can excite the fanbase and inflate the numbers slightly, but the overall product has been far from living up to the third-round draft pick that was used to bring Vaughn to Tampa earlier than expected.
After all this time, it was obvious that Vaughn was never going to play a large role in this offense nor would he even get used to the highest of his talent, yet the Bucs chose to keep him as a contributing member of this team.
The result has been almost exactly what was expected. While the sample size is small, Ke'Shawn Vaughn is on pace to have his most touches in a season despite averaging a mere 1.7 yards per carry (15 attempts for 25 yards with a long of eight!)
This is about as unsustainable as production can be, and with Sean Tucker taking a step back and Chase Edmonds still out, it shows no sign of resolving itself anytime soon.
The future is bleak for the Bucs on the ground if this coaching staff keeps its stubborn belief in balance to the sake of hurting the flow of the game. As harsh as it may seem, getting Vaughn off the field might be a good place to start at fixing the glaring issue with the attack.
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