Rachaad White is leaving the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after veteran receiver Mike Evans also departed, and the running back hopes joining close friend Jayden Daniels is the right next step in his NFL career.
White signed with the Washington Commanders on Friday, not long after Evans joined the San Francisco 49ers. He's reuniting with Daniels, the franchise quarterback who he became tight with when they were playing together at Arizona State in 2020 and '21.
Daniels' presence was a draw, but so was the chance to be part of an offense with the potential to be dynamic. After sharing the backfield with Bucky Irving with Tampa Bay, White enters a similar situation in Washington, where he’s expected to split carries with Jacory Croskey-Merritt, better known as “Bill.”
"I’m grateful to get an opportunity to play here, obviously, and a fresh start," White said on a video call with reporters. “It’s a great situation. We kept each other fresh over in Tampa. I’m pretty sure Bill and I, we’re going to do the same thing here. It’s just a grateful situation. Obviously, we competed and you learn a lot about yourself. But I’m happy about a new start.”
White at 27 is going into his fifth professional season after spending the first four with the Bucs, who drafted him in the third round in 2022. He rushed for 990 yards and six touchdowns in '23, before Irving arrived, and last year had 572 and four.
He experienced firsthand the shift of teams leaning on two running backs instead of one.
“When I came in, it wasn’t really big (to have) two backs,” White said. “It was still one back with (someone to) spell and things like that, but obviously the league’s been trending toward two backs. And obviously me and Bucky, we had our duo. We both did our thing.”
The Commanders keep changing their running back mix, moving on from Chris Rodriguez Jr. and Austin Ekeler and after trading Brian Robinson to the Niners before last season. Having the seventh pick in the draft could give them the chance to select Notre Dame's Jeremiyah Love, as well, though they have plenty of other needs to address.
Bringing in White gives the front office flexibility and new offensive coordinator David Blough another talented player to put around Daniels.
“Obviously I feel like I’m a running back that can do everything,” White said. “I’ve got a great skillset, a great feel for the game.”
White said he chose Washington in part because of Daniels' endorsement but also the talent in place. Starting left tackle Laremy Tunsil re-signed, and tight end Chig Okonkwo was brought in to give Daniels another tall pass-catching target.
“My job here really is to just come in here and make plays: be that guy with speed, stretch the field, break tackles, catch the ball short, make something out of nothing,” Okonkwo said. “That’s my role here.”
It's too soon to know exactly what White's role will be, but he's hoping to help younger teammates while also showing he can shoulder however big a load is needed from him.
“I just thought it was a great decision to come here,” White said. “The opportunity here is huge, and I’m for sure grateful for it, and, yeah, I’m ready to rock.”
Also Friday, the Commanders brought back receiver Dyami Brown, who played his first four seasons in the league with Washington after being taken in the third round of the 2021 draft. Brown spent last year with Jacksonville.
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FILE - Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Rachaad White (1) runs against Atlanta Falcons cornerback Mike Hughes (21) during the first half of an NFL football game, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)
Wall Street's losses deepened Friday as the ongoing fallout from the war in Iran keeps pushing oil prices higher, ratcheting up inflationary pressure on the global economy.
The S&P 500 fell 0.6% after having been up as much as 0.9% in the early going. The benchmark index is now down 3.1% so far this year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite finished 0.9% lower. The indexes also ended the week with their third straight weekly loss.
After briefly easing early Friday, crude oil prices rose again, bringing the benchmark oil price back above $100 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, closed 2.7% higher at $103.14 per barrel. It's up about 40% for the month.
A barrel of U.S. crude oil rose 3.1% to settle at $98.71. It’s risen around 46% this month.
“Everything’s just trading with crude oil at this point,” said Michael Antonelli, market strategist at Baird. “We’re basically in a holding pattern until we get kind of the hour-by-hour, day-by-day news about the conflict in the Middle East.”
Oil prices have been volatile since the start of the war. Iran’s actions have effectively stopped cargo traffic through the narrow Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s oil typically sails. That has oil producers cutting production because their crude has nowhere to go.
In just over a week since the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, more than 12 million barrels of oil equivalent per day have been taken offline, according to independent research firm Rystad Energy.
If the war continues to hamper the production and transportation of oil from the Persian Gulf, it could cause a surge in inflation that could hurt the global economy.
President Donald Trump signaled earlier this week that he would take more action to address the squeeze on oil flows. The move follows the administration’s decision to grant temporary permission for India to buy Russian oil.
While the International Energy Agency said Wednesday its members would make a record 400 million barrels of oil available from their emergency reserves, some economists believe that would do little to reassure markets.
Long-term bond yields continued to rise Friday as bond market traders reacted to the latest rise in oil prices, a key driver of inflation.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.28% from 4.26% late Thursday. It was just 3.97% before the war started.
When bond yields rise they can push up interest rates on consumer loans, such as mortgages for prospective U.S. homebuyers and bond offerings for companies looking to expand. They also push down on prices for all kinds of investments, from stocks to crypto.
“Higher inflation expectations means higher yields, and then as the higher inflation expectations go, rate cuts start to be priced out,” Antonelli said. “And that’s the whammy that we’re seeing right now.”
A Fed rate cut could give the economy and job market a boost, but also potentially worsen inflation. The Federal Reserve is scheduled to hold its next interest rate policy meetings next week. However, Wall Street traders put the odds of a rate cut at less than 1%, according to CME Group.
A new snapshot of consumer spending Friday shows inflation crept higher in January, even before the Iran war caused oil and gas prices to spike.
The Commerce Department said prices rose 2.8% in January compared with a year earlier. But excluding the volatile food and energy categories — which the Federal Reserve pays closer attention to — core prices rose 3.1%, up from 3% in the prior month and the highest in nearly two years.
Even so, consumers still lifted their spending at a solid 0.4% pace in January, with their incomes rising at the same pace, according to the report.
The University of Michigan's latest gauge of consumer sentiment on Friday showed consumer sentiment declined slightly to its lowest reading of the year as gasoline price hikes since the start of the war in Iran.
Wall Street also got an update on how U.S. economic growth fared in the October-December quarter. The economy, hobbled by last fall’s 43-day government shutdown, grew at a sluggish 0.7% annual rate, a downgrade from its initial estimate last month.
Ulta Beauty slid 14.2% for the biggest decline among S&P 500 stocks after the beauty and makeup retailer's latest quarterly results fell short of analysts’ profit targets. Ulta’s profit was dinged by a 23% increase in selling, general and administrative expenses, which jumped to $1 billion in the period.
All told, the S&P 500 fell 40.43 points to 6,632.19. The Dow lost 119.38 points to finish at 46,558.47, and the Nasdaq dropped 206.62 points to 22,105.36.
In stock markets abroad, indexes in Europe closed mostly lower after falling in Asia.
Ryan Falvey works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
A motorist fills up the tank of a vehicle at a Coscto gasoline station Thursday, March 12, 2026, in east Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
The per-gallon price for premium unleaded fuel is displayed electronically on a pump at a Costco gosoline station Thursday, March 12, 2026, in east Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Friday, March 13, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Friday, March 13, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Gregg Maloney works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
