The Bucs have added Andre Ellington to their running back room.
This afternoon, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers announced that they have signed running back Andre Ellington.
In his career, Ellington has rushed for 1,752 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Ellington played for the Arizona Cardinals from 2013 until he was waived in November in 2017.
He went on to finish the 2017 season with the Houston Texans. Since then he has been out of football.
In Tampa Ellington will reunite with his former head coach from Arizona Bruce Arians.
With Ellington now on board the Bucs have two running backs under contract for 2019 as Ellington joins Ronald Jones II.
Jacquizz Rodgers is an unrestricted free agent while 2018 starter Peyton Barber is a restricted free agent.
Barber is expected to return but, this singing likely ends any chance of Rodgers returning.
It is unclear what Tampa’s intentions are by signing Ellington.
There’s a chance Arians is doing one of his former players a favor by giving him a chance to compete for a roster spot in training camp.
Or the Bucs may be bringing in Ellington to play the role Rodgers held the past few seasons which is a pass-catcher out of the backfield.
Ellington is a proven pass-catcher. He has 1,368 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns in his career. Thus, he may be used on third downs to move the chains in the screen game.
Even with this move, there’s still a chance the Bucs will add another running back to the mix in free agency or the NFL Draft.
Even if Barber returns, it may not be in a starting role as he’s struggled to stay consistent.
This move is one that has little risk and high reward. Thus, it will be interesting to see how Ellington fairs come training camp and pre-season.
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