Arians: Bucs not interested in trading Ronald Jones
Head coach Bruce Arians made it clear that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won't trade running back Ronald Jones ahead of the Nov. 2 trade deadline.
"No, none at all," Arians said, according to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. "It's a long season, and just that scenario that happened last year and still with COVID, you can't have enough good backs."
Jones dropped to No. 2 on the depth chart behind Leonard Fournette this season.
The 24-year-old runner has carried the ball 18 times for 118 yards and one touchdown across six weeks in 2021.
Jones led all Tampa Bay tailbacks last campaign with 978 yards and seven touchdowns while averaging 5.1 yards per carry. He missed the final two regular-season contests in 2020 due to a positive COVID-19 test. A quad injury during warmups in the team's wild-card round win against the Washington Football Team also forced him out of action.
The Buccaneers have plenty of depth at the position, with Giovani Bernard and Ke'Shawn Vaughn also on the roster.
Arians said he likes Jones as an insurance policy in a 17-week regular-season schedule as the Bucs attempt to repeat as Super Bowl champions.