There’s plenty to be excited about for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2025. After winning the NFC South last year, the Buccaneers made strides to improve their roster. But in their first preseason game of 2025, RB Rachaad White suffered an injury.
What Happened to Rachaad White?
In the first quarter of the Buccaneers’ preseason opener, with Tampa Bay up 3-0, White had a 12-yard rush where he tweaked something in his groin.
He tried to play through it on the next play, but couldn’t. He laid down on the sideline before heading into the blue tent.
Rachaad White into the blue tent after tweaking something on a 12 yard run.
Stayed in the game to run another play then came out. #Bucs
— Sean Barie FOX 13 (@SeanBarieTV) August 9, 2025
He had six carries and 28 yards before exiting. White will not be returning to tonight’s game. While it could be precautionary to keep the running back out, the severity of the injury will be one to monitor in the following days.
Bucs announce Rachaad White is out the rest of the game with a groin injury.
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) August 9, 2025
With White out for the game, Sean Tucker took over the top running back role tonight, as Tampa Bay is holding out the starters.
Fantasy Impact of White’s Injury
It speaks volumes about White’s role on this team that he was even playing in this game. After losing his job completely to Bucky Irving last season, White’s ADP plummeted into the 40s at running back.
White was set to open the season as the primary passing down back, but was slated for minimal touches on offense with Irving as the clear lead back. Given that White was able to stay in the game for a play before taking himself out, this probably isn’t something likely to bleed into the regular season. Nevertheless, an injury to White will only further solidify Irving’s RB1 status.
Fantasy managers should not have been drafting a fully healthy White. The main thing this does is elevate Sean Tucker into the clear RB2 role. Of course, if White’s injury is minor, we will pump the brakes on that.
However, Tucker will now have a chance to play his way into more touches and possibly jump White on the depth chart. If White is out for an extended period of time, Tucker would surge into the latter rounds of fantasy drafts as the Irving handcuff.
White was RB39 while Bucky Irving was RB4 in our RB+ grading a season ago. In the playoff loss to the Commanders, Irving touched the ball on 19 of 30 snaps while White was given just three touches on 22 snaps. This profiles as a backfield moving away from White, and any health limitations will only accelerate that process.
