Buccaneers’ Fourth Round Pick Rises to Top of NFL Rookie RBs

There were a few headline-stealing players for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a 51-27 win over the New Orleans Saints in Week 6, led by undrafted running back Sean Tucker’s 192 yards of total offense and 2 touchdowns.

Tucker’s big day took the spotlight off another huge game from another Buccaneers’ running back with rookie Bucky Irving, who had over 100 yards of total offense for the first time in his career with 82 rushing yards and 1 touchdown to go with 2 receptions for 24 yards.

According to The 33rd Team, it also shot Irving to the top of the NFL’s rooking rushing leaders with 328 rushing yards through 6 games — by far the most productive running back on Tampa Bay’s roster as well.

Out of the top 5 rookie rushers in the NFL, 2 of them are quarterbacks picked in the first round with Washington’s Jayden Daniels (318 yards) and Denver’s Bo Nix (180 yards).

Irving and Tucker reached new heights against the Saints with last year’s leading rusher, Rachaad White, sidelined with a hamstring injury. Bucs’ fans have been frustrated with White’s slow start that seems similar to 2023, when he ultimately finished with over 1,500 yards of total offense.

From JoeBucsFan.com: “One of Joe’s biggest gripes with Rachaad White as a runner (Joe has zero gripes and only loud praise for him as a receiver) is that White either has awful vision or he just doesn’t read blocks correctly. Or, perhaps he was never coached up how to read blocks … Joe went wild last year watching holes develop (sometimes) on instead of White running to daylight, he’d run right into a defender. Ugh. Well, it seems Bucky Irving has no such issues.”

---

Buccaneers Not Spending Money on Running Backs

Tampa Bay had the worst rushing attack in the NFL in 2023 — something they’ve ostensibly fixed in 2024 as they’re No. 8 in the NFL in rushing offense through 6 games.

That’s a massive, positive change no matter how you look at it — or who is carrying the ball. Another amazing thing about the Buccaneers’ rushing attack is that they’re doing it at bargain bin prices.

In total, the Buccaneers’ 3-man group of running backs is making a total of $3.7 million in 2024 with Irving ($1.5 million), White ($1.1 million) and Tucker ($915,000).

Of the 3 running backs, only Irving is signed past 2025 and White could end up being a valuable trade asset before the November 5 NFL trade deadline by getting back a draft pick from a team in desperate need for a running back.

---

Irving Added Dynamic Dimension to Offense

Irving was a third-round pick who, like White, starred in college at a Pac-12 school — White at Arizona State and Irving at Oregon. In an interesting twist, Irving had 1,593 yards of total offense in 2023, which was almost exactly White’s total. Irving also scored 13 touchdowns.

Irving’s size — 5-foot-9 and 192 pounds — and 4.55-second 40-yard dash time at the NFL combine may have caused his draft stock to fall a little bit.

“We thought (Irving) might go a little bit earlier,” Tampa Bay Director of Player Personnel Mike Biehl said. “… We thought maybe he would be a second-day pick, but he falls to the third day. I think even talking to him, when Jason (Licht) called him, he had a little bit of a chip on his shoulder, thinking he should have gone earlier. We kind of like that. He’s just another right kind of character guy that we’ve been targeting. He fits that mold.”

0 Comments