Peyton Barber seems to have an early edge over Jones, Rick Stroud of The Tampa Bay Times reports. "Peyton is our starter," Buccaneers coach Dirk Koetter said Monday. "We're definitely going to use Ronald Jones and take advantage of what he's going to do. We do have the two veteran backs behind him. Again, we've got three more preseason games. Let's just let it sort out a little more."
Jones took eight carries for nine yards and a touchdown in Thursday's preseason opener against Miami, getting all of his opportunities after Barber -- who had four carries for 21 yards and a score -- had been removed from the game. Koetter seems content with the current pecking order, though his Monday comment did leave the door open for Jones to make a push for the starting job over the final three weeks of the preseason. With Charles Sims, Jacquizz Rodgers and Shaun Wilson competing for a role on passing downs, Tampa seems to be headed for a three-man backfield committee to open the season. Jones offers upside as the best pure running talent of the group, but uncertainty about his workload is also a big factor in the evaluation process.