The Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn’t exactly enter the preseason expecting drama at running back, but Josh Williams has forced a little of it anyway.
For most of the offseason, the setup looked simple enough: Bucky Irving, Kenny Gainwell, and Sean Tucker were projected as the team’s top three backs, with Williams fighting for a fourth spot. That picture has started to blur. Williams got the nod as the second primary running back against the Chiefs and used the chance to push his name into the conversation with Tucker.
Broadcast analyst Rondé Barber kept pointing to that possibility throughout the game, and Todd Bowles addressed it after the fact on Saturday. Bowles played down the idea that the order had truly changed.
“[Williams] had a good game last week and we wanted to see him against better guys so we wanted to put him out there early. It didn’t mean nothing as far as them flip-flopping but we wanted to see him earlier,” Bowles said.
Williams backed up that preseason momentum in the opener against the Jets, when he led the Buccaneers with 27 rushing yards and a touchdown on 3.4 yards per carry. Against the Chiefs, he logged just two carries for nine yards, but he added two catches for 22 yards and stayed involved.
Tucker, meanwhile, had 23 yards on five carries and punched in the go-ahead touchdown.
Williams’ case is getting a fresh look because this isn’t new territory for him. He flashed in last year’s preseason, earned a practice squad spot, and then was suspended six games for violating the league’s performance-enhancing substances policy. Tampa Bay gave him another shot, and he’s making it hard to ignore him.
Even so, Tucker still looks like the safer bet for RB3. Bowles’ comments suggested Williams’ early work was more about evaluation than a real reshuffling of the depth chart, and Tucker has already shown he can deliver in bursts once the games count.
He’s been mostly pedestrian in regular-season play, but the outbursts are real. Against Buffalo last season, Tucker rushed for 106 yards and two touchdowns and also caught a third score. In 2024, in a featured role against the Saints, he piled up 136 rushing yards and a touchdown while adding 56 receiving yards and another touchdown.
That’s the difference here: Tucker has done it in the regular season, even if only in flashes. Williams has little of that on his résumé, but the Buccaneers clearly want a longer look at him. That’s why this could end with four running backs on the roster - or with Williams back on the practice squad and waiting for another elevation.
For now, Tucker remains the favorite. But Williams has turned what looked like a formality into one of the more interesting battles in Tampa Bay’s preseason.
In Other News...
Bucs Helped Create A Wild Harrison Butker Moment That Wont Count
The preseason can produce some strange footnotes, and the Buccaneers found themselves part of one Sunday when Harrison Butker drilled a 69-yard field goal against Tampa Bay. The kick would have topped the NFLs official mark, but preseason games do not count in the record books, leaving the Chiefs standout with a booming reminder of what he can do and the Bucs with an unusual line on the game receipt.
Butker was sharp enough overall to give the moment even more weight, adding two other long field goals while missing one try. His 69-yarder still lands as one of the longest made in any actual football game, tied for second all-time, even if it will not live alongside the leagues official records. [Read more 🡒]
Buccaneers Fringe Roster Battle Got A Lot More Intense Vs Chiefs
The first half against the Chiefs gave the Buccaneers a clearer look at the edges of their roster, because the starters were out there only two drives before the backups and fringe contenders took over. For a team still sorting out depth across the board, the opening preseason minutes became less about the headline names and more about which young players could make a case when the real evaluation began.
Yaya Diaby flashed, and Fordham, David Walker and Nelson all had moments that helped their standing, while Hurst and Foerner were among the players whose mistakes showed how thin the margin can be in games like this. In a contest built around job interviews more than final scores, those kinds of snaps can matter a lot, and the second half should tell Tampa Bay even more about who is separating from the pack. [Read more 🡒]
Buccaneers Preseason Game Sparked An NFL Take Fans Will Hate
Harrison Butkers latest showcase came in a preseason game against the Buccaneers, where the Chiefs kicker launched a 69-yard field goal that would have shattered the NFLs official regular-season mark. It did not count in the record book because of the setting, but it was still the kind of kick that reminds everyone how far the position has evolved and how little room there is for error when a specialist can turn a casual-looking snap into a near midfield celebration.
The reaction afterward was almost as sharp as the kick itself, with NFL analyst Joe Schad publicly floating the idea that the league competition committee should consider narrowing the goal posts. For Tampa Bay, it was the sort of offseason headline that lands with extra sting because it came against their own defense and turned a routine preseason snap into a broader debate about where kicking is headed next. [Read more 🡒]