The Bucs are rather thin at RB for 2010.  28-year old Cadillac Williams enters training camp as the main man in the Bucs’ running game.  He played in 16 games (15 starts) for the Buccaneers last season and he carried the ball 211 times for 823 yards (3.9 ypc) with 4 TD runs.  He also caught 28 passes for 217 yards (7.8 avg) with 3 TD grabs last season.  Williams has now played in 54 games (48 starts) in his five years with the Bucs in which he has carried the ball 843 times for 3,240 yards (3.8 ypc) with 18 TD runs.  He has also caught 88 passes for 554 yards (6.3 avg) with 3 TD grabs.  Williams has already blown his knee out a couple of times in his career so he’s far from dependable.

29-year old Derrick Ward will back up the Caddy again in 2010.  Ward played in 14 games (1 start) for the Bucs last season and he carried the ball 114 times for 409 yards (3.6 ypc) with 1 TD run.  He also caught 20 passes for 150 yards (7.5 avg) with 2 TD grabs last season.  Ward has now played in 65 games (9 starts) in his NFL career and he has carried the ball 456 times for 2,159 yards (4.7 ypc) with 6 TD runs.  He has also caught 89 passes for 726 yards (8.2 avg) with 3 TD grabs in his career.  Ward is a solid back but he’s certainly not a workhorse type.

24-year old Clifton Smith has been concussion prone and he does his best work on special teams but he will enter training camp as the Bucs’ #3 back.  Smith played in 11 games (0 starts) for the Bucs last season in which he carried the ball 4 times for 7 yards (1.8 ypc) and he also caught 2 passes for 4 yards (2.0 avg).  Smith also returned 23 punts for 232 yards (10.1 avg) and he returned 31 kickoffs for 902 yards (29.1 avg) last season.  Smith has now played in 20 games (0 starts) in his two years with the Bucs and he has carried the ball 12 times for 47 yards (3.9 ypc) and he has also caught 6 passes for 28 yards (4.7 avg).  Smith has also returned 46 punts for 556 yards (12.1 avg) with 1 TD return and he has returned 67 kickoffs for 1,894 yards (28.3 avg) with 1 TD return. 

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE BUCS RBs in 2010:  C-

22-year old Josh Freeman was thrown to the wolves last season for the last nine weeks of the year and he was up and down as expected.  Freeman has one of the strongest throwing arms in the NFL and he’s a good runner who can easily buy time in the pocket to throw downfield.  Freeman played in 10 games for the Bucs last season and he completed 158 of 290 passes (54.5%) for 1,855 yards with 10 TD passes and 18 INTs (59.8 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 30 times for 161 yards (5.4 ypc) last season for the Bucs.  The Bucs were 3-6 (33.3%) under Freeman when he started last season and he could have a similar record unless the rookie WRs of the Bucs are the real deal.

24-year old Josh Johnson will be Freeman’s backup.  He has a lot of the same skills minus the elite throwing arm.  Johnson played in 6 games for the Buccaneers last season and he completed 63 of 125 passes (50.4%) for 685 yards with 4 TD passes and 8 INTs (50.9 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 22 times for 148 yards (6.7 ypc) last season for the Bucs.  The Bucs have been talking about using Johnson in the Wildcat Formation and he’s probably a good fit for it.  The Bucs were 0-4 (0%) under Johnson as a starting QB last season.

24-year old Rudy Carpenter will battle undrafted rookie Jevan Snead for the #3 QB job in 2010.  Based on evidence from last year when the Bucs ditched Luke McCown I have to believe that Snead has the edge here.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE BUCCANEERS QBs in 2010:  D+