Team news: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Buccaneers Head Coach Bruce Arians announced that RB Ronald Jones will be the "main guy" in the Tampa Bay backfield this season and will "carry the load" while the other backs find their role.

The Buccaneers signing of LeSean McCoy last week had fantasy drafters worried about Jones' fantasy prospects but Arians cleared up any uncertainty on Wednesday when he explicitly annointed Jones as Tampa's lead back, at least for early-down rushing work. Rookie RB Ke'Shawn Vaughn sparked intrigue in the fantasy community when he landed in Tampa, but he remains on the reserve/COVID list and is clearly behind Jones on the depth chart. It still seems unlikely that Jones gets a true workhorse role this season, but Arians' latest comments should instill confidence regarding his rushing workload and give his ADP a slight bump.

According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, free agent running back LeSean McCoy has reached an agreement on a one year deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

McCoy averaged 4.6 YPC for the Chiefs last season and showed that he still had something left in the tank, though the team made him inactive for several games down the stretch and in the postseason. The timing of this signing could be related to Ke'Shawn Vaughn's name popping up on the COVID-19/IR list. McCoy could just be a veteran camp body or Bruce Arians may have bigger plans since McCoy looked solid in 2019. The signing certainly takes some wind out of Ronald Jones' sails and Vaughn will now have to overcome McCoy and Jones to see the field in 2020. We currently have McCoy projected as the Buccaneers RB3.

The Buccaneers, if you haven’t heard, have a new quarterback. On Tuesday, coach Bruce Arians was asked by reporters to assess Tom Brady‘s level of preparation for 2020.

“He’s way ahead of the curve,” Arians said of Brady. “He’s a very bright guy — the terminology was the big thing. As we now get together starting tomorrow, we’ll start to collaborate a little bit more. So yeah, I think he’s in a great spot right now as far as that goes.”

The story said despite no formal practices with Brady, Brady has had plenty of informal practices with his teammates.

It’s quite possible New Orleans Saints receiver Emmanuel Sanders makes the biggest impact of any NFL free agent this year.

Sure, that might sound like hyperbole -- especially since the Tampa Bay Buccaneers just added quarterback Tom Brady in the same division. But we’re talking about a Saints team that finished 13-3 in each of the past two seasons. And their lack of go-to receivers behind Michael Thomas was one of the few things holding them back in both playoff exits.

The story said Sanders should pick up the offense quickly in New Orleans. ESPN projects Sanders for a line of 56-746-6, while we have him for 67-904-6 line. We also think if he stays healthy he could catch up to 80 passes this season. Right now we rank Sanders 35th among our WRs in PPR league and he's going late in drafts, but there seems to be some potential value there.

Buccaneers place Ke'Shawn Vaughn on reserve-COVID-19 list.

John Paulsen is high on Vaughn as someone who can possibly step in immediately and compete for snaps. As Paulsen said in his draft notes, HC Bruce Arians said that he thinks Vaughn “can play every down” and said in February that he’s looking for a running back that can stay on the field for all three downs. So unless he falls on his face as a pass-blocker in camp, I think Vaughn enters the season as the starter. If not, he should win the job by midseason.

Came Newton will certainly open up new aspects to the Patriots offense that the team wasn't able to really deploy with Tom Brady, especially in the running game. With Newton, OC Josh McDaniels, if he so chooses, will have the option to unleash a different style offense than the "death by a million paper cuts" passing game that they ran with Brady. Thanks to Newton's mobility along with his arm, the Patriots offense could utilize more bootlegs and RPOs to further give depth to the unit.

The author feels change is something the Pats seemingly will embrace. HC Bill Belichick noted earlier this offseason the Patriots would cater the offense around whoever ultimately earns the job under center, the story said. Newton also referred to himself as a "ticked off dog." We rank Newton 15th on our QB list with an ADP of the 12th round in 12-team leagues.

Trade, pending physical: Patriots are trading TE Rob Gronkowski and a seventh-round pick to the Buccaneers for a fourth-round pick, source tells ESPN.

After taking 2019 off, Rob Gronkowski joins his former QB Tom Brady in Tampa Bay. If this trade goes through, a subsequent trade of O.J. Howard could possibly follow. The addition of Gronk makes this Bucs team even more interesting heading into 2020.

Brady announced earlier today that he was leaving the Patriots, and word broke later that the Chargers didn't feel that they were in the running anymore. The Bucs offer a good set of weapons -- Chris Godwin, Mike Evans and O.J. Howard, whose career may get a jumpstart with Brady under center -- so Brady could be very fantasy relevant in 2020. However, the Bucs were third in passing yards, seventh in completions and third in passing touchdowns, so Godwin and Evans will be hard-pressed to match their numbers from last year even if the overall efficiency of the Tampa offense improves. Jarrett Stidham currently sits atop the New England depth chart.

"I don’t know what my football future holds but it is time for me to open a new stage for my life and career,"

Full statement can be viewed via link below
https://twitter.com/TomBrady/status/1239895697207549952

We kind of saw it coming, but weren't sure it would actually happen. Tom Brady's departure will certainly cause a domino effect in the QB free agency system over the next day or so. The Chargers and Buccaneers have been the top rumored teams involved and it will be interesting to see how it plays out for the 42-year old future Hall-of-Famer.