The Bucs' newest signee, RB Derrick Ward, will have to share the ball with 2008 starter Earnest Graham and possibly other players in the Tampa Bay backfield.

But Ward made it clear in his first day as a Buccaneer that he's fine with that.

"It's a great fit," Ward said. "I know Earnest is the guy here. Hopefully he'll
embrace me and I'll embrace him and we'll work well together. It's just going
to be exciting. I wish we could start practicing today."

Of course, that will have to wait. But when the Bucs do get going, they'll likely implement a rotation that takes advantage of both runners. That's par for the course nowadays, Ward said. And he should know. He comes from the Giants' Earth, Wind and Fire combination that also included Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw.

"Pretty much everybody in the NFL is
running the two- or three-back system," he said. "That's just going to work to our
advantage. If you have two or three running backs who can get the job done
during the course of a game, that's going to pay dividends for the offense and
the team as a whole. To be able to be here with Earnest and have a great tight
end like Kellen (Winslow) and have a great offensive line, it's going to be great."