Who won Bucs running back battle between Leonard Fournette, Ronald Jones, Gio Bernard

The defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers had the fortune of bringing back every starter from the team last year and even add on tack on depth to a few key positions.

One of those positions was at running back, where Ronald Jones II and Leonard Fournette return for another championship run while Gionvani Bernard has joined the fray. With the Bucs’ preseason in the books, which one of these three veterans will enter the the Thursday night opener against Dallas as the primary ballcarrier?

Verdict

The answer to that question appears to be Ronald Jones. He got a bulk of the reps with the rest of the Tampa starters in their preseason finale at the Houston Texans last Saturday, taking four carries for 27 yards and a touchdown. Meanwhile, Fournette didn’t register a single carry for a second straight game and Bernard left the game with an injured ankle.

Fantasy football implications

While the starter, Jones is at best a flex option given the fact that he’ll most likely split a fair share of carries with “Lombardi Lenny”. Both Fournette and Bernard should be considered as bench options for purposes of filling out depth in deeper leagues.