Committee At Running Back
August 4th, 2015
Running back by committee?
Based on the news that seeped out of One Buc Palace this spring and summer, it seems new offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter may have saved Doug Martin’s gig.
The Muscle Hamster has been a shell of his rookie self when he made the Pro Bowl. Part of the reason Martin has been subpar the past two seasons — he ran for less than 1,000 yards combined — is because he has been dinged up. As Joe has asked in the past, what decent running back is pain-free in November and December?
Koetter, supposedly, wanted Martin as his feature back. But this morning on NFL Network, Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht seemed to throw cold water on that notion. Licht strongly hinted that the Bucs will have a running back by committee.
“[Doug Martin] is one guy I couldn’t be more excited about right now.,” Licht said. “He is very fresh. His legs, he has spring in his step. He has the lateral quickness back. He has the burst. He is taking this very seriously. Catching the ball very well. Right now he has the mentality he is going to be the lead guy even though we will have a little bit by committee this year. Charles Sims is very explosive as well. [Bobby] Rainey is a great complimentary player. It is a backfield more than capable.”
Notice no mention of Mike James?
Joe knows he gets peppered with all sorts of questions about “How does [Player-X] look?” to which Joe often responds with said player’s measurements. But if there is one player that has caught Joe’s eye, if not surprised him, it has been Sims. Last year, Joe just couldn’t figure out what Lovie Smith saw in the guy. It seemed like he was forced into the lineup to try to prove some point.
Joe, to be fair, offered that maybe getting hurt at the end of preseason stunted Sims’ growth. That sure seems to be the case. Sims has been explosive to the line of scrimmage in the first few days of training camp, totally a different player than last year.
If Sims can keep this up when the regular season rolls around, then Joe will understand why Lovie was so high on him.
August 4th, 2015 at 1:41 pm
Two days in a row where Joe mentions Sims, can we get some footage to better illustrate what Joe is seeing?
August 4th, 2015 at 2:09 pm
We have a good stable of running backs. If the Oline is able to do their job – we will have a solid and perhaps exciting running game this year.
August 4th, 2015 at 2:17 pm
So I’m hearing that I should steer clear of any bucs backs in my fantasy leagues?
August 4th, 2015 at 2:51 pm
I expect Sims to continue improving and become an exciting part of this offense. He fills a specific need in Koetter’s gameplan.
August 4th, 2015 at 7:15 pm
bucinNC – are you serious? The Bucs have an o-line that was historically bad last season and two rookies coming in. We have RBs by committee because none of them are special. So yeah, none of these guys should even be drafted by anyone for fantasy.
August 4th, 2015 at 10:18 pm
Last season we ran for 1375 yards, that is totally unacceptable. We have a rookie QB, we need to rush for 2200 yards this season,I hope they don’t have Jameis throwing 40 passes a game. They should keep him at 20-25 passes a game, and pound the rock. I’m looking for good things from our offense this season, and more from our defense.Let’s go Bucs and show these Haters that we are for real,i’m fired up and can’t wait for the season to start.