The Tampa Bay Buccaneers want their backfield divided three ways, and Sean Tucker may be the next runner to benefit. Todd Bowles said after Week Four that the team needs to find a way to split the carries among the three backs, with the hot hand allowed to stay on the field a little longer.
Tucker gave Bowles a reason to look twice. Against the Green Bay Packers, he finished a 54-yard touchdown drive with the score that briefly tied the game 7-7, then walked off with his first touchdown of the season. It came on a night when the Buccaneers' running game was already under pressure to do more, and it came from a player who had barely been used before the game.
That is why Tucker is drawing attention now. Before facing Green Bay in Week Four, he had logged just one offensive play all season after missing the opener with a minor hamstring injury. Against the Packers, he turned three snaps into three carries and 10 yards, including an eight-yard run on fourth-and-one that kept the drive alive. For a player whose role had been nearly invisible, it was the kind of short burst that can change a coach's thinking for at least one week.
Bowles did not dismiss that possibility. He called Tucker tough and said the runner still has to earn a few reps, even while arguing that the Buccaneers should not force equal distribution just for the sake of it. That is the important split in the coach's message: production can buy a longer look, but it does not automatically buy a full-time job. Tucker's touchdown was his first big play of the 2026 season, not proof that the rotation has already changed.
That uncertainty matters because Tampa Bay has already leaned heavily on Bucky Irving through the first month, while Tucker has been used sparingly and the backfield has not yet settled into a rhythm. The Buccaneers led the Packers for stretches of the game but still left with the 17-14 loss, which only sharpens the question of whether a more even split might help stabilize the offense. Tucker led the team with eight scores last year, so the coaching staff already knows he can finish drives. What is not settled is whether one strong drive is enough to turn three snaps into something larger the next time the Buccaneers line up at Raymond James Stadium.
