Arians: Fournette 'does not know enough of this offense' to start

Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Leonard Fournette ran wild against the Carolina Panthers in Week 2, but that still may not be enough to put him atop the depth chart.

Fournette rushed for over 100 yards and scored two touchdowns Sunday to help his team earn its first victory of the season. Though the running back certainly performed as a starter, head coach Bruce Arians isn't ready to hand him the position just yet.

"Not right now," said Arians, according to WFLA's Gabrielle Shirley. "I think everyone's role is good right now. He still does not know enough of this offense to be the starter."

The two running backs Fournette is competing with for carries both made critical errors in the team's Week 2 contest. Ronald Jones II fumbled after failing to receive a handoff cleanly and LeSean McCoy dropped a pass in the endzone.

Arians believes his running backs played well despite the mistakes and that the Buccaneers have an advantage in being able to use Fournette against tired defenses.

"I love the way it's at right now. (Jones) had a great run for a touchdown (and) saw that good blitz pickup. We did screw up the handoff on the draw, but that's easily correctable. To have Leonard come in with fresh legs in the fourth quarter and pound it like that, very few teams have that combination," said Arians.

"(McCoy) did a good job on third down. I know he had the one catch he'd like to have back that he dropped, but I thought our backs played really, really well other than the handoff fumble," he added.

Fournette recorded just five carries in Week 1 but saw that total rise to 12 in Week 2. Meanwhile, Jones carried the football just seven times Sunday.

The Buccaneers signed Fournette in early September after he was released by the Jacksonville Jaguars. The 25-year-old has rushed for 2,739 yards since entering the NFL as a first-round pick in 2017.