Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 4 Standouts from Preseason Week 1 vs. Steelers

4. Ronald Jones, RB

In the 2018 draft, the Buccaneers used the 38th overall pick on running back Ronald Jones out of USC. And in his first year in the NFL, that looked like a tremendous mistake. Not only did Jones manage just 44 yards on 23 carries as a rookie but he looked even worse, appearing tentative, indecisive and generally overwhelmed by running into a professional defense.

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Throughout training camp, though, Jones has reportedly looked like a new player. That translated to the preseason tilt on Friday night. The box score line of four carries for 18 yards and one reception for five yards won’t jump out at you. But the film shows a confident player that looked miles more comfortable than he was in his first NFL season. If that keeps up, that’s tremendous news for the Bucs.

3. Matt Gay, K

Kicking woes have been the norm for the Buccaneers for quite some time, most famously with trading up for Roberto Aguayo to be selected in the second round. Since his tumultuous time with Tampa and eventual release, the team has consistently been looking for a quality, reliable answer in the kicking game. They may have found it in rookie Matt Gay.

Bucs fans were left prematurely groaning when the team drafted Gay in the fifth round this year, already expecting the worst for the Utah product. Since then, though, all he’s done is seemingly move back and convert attempts in practice from farther and farther away. He showcased that against Pittsburgh by drilling a 55-yard attempt, his only try of the night.

Even though we want to see a larger sample size, Gay living up the hype that’s been coming out of camp in live-game action is promising. Perhaps the end to the kicking problems has finally put on a uniform in Tampa Bay.