Not Since Dunn & Alstott
December 21st, 2017
A high Buccaneers honor was equaled this week, one that amplified one of the great Tampa Bay screwups of this offseason.
CBS Sports reported that Saints rookie running back Alvin Kamara and veteran RB Mark Ingram are the first backfield tandem to be named Pro Bowlers in the same season since Warrick Dunn and Mike Alstott during the 1997 campaign. Those Bucs icons joined Barry Sanders and Dorsey Levens on Pro Bowl squad.
It’s pretty cool that the Alstott and Dunn mark hung in there for 20 years.
Kamara, a third-round pick, and Ingram have combined for more than 2,800 yards from scrimmage this season. The Saints lead the NFL in rushing touchdowns and have the No. 1-ranked offense. It’s no wonder Sean Peyton cut Adrian Peterson the minute he realized Kamara is the real deal.
Kamara was the fifth running back off the board in the 2017 draft. The RB taken after him was Pro Bowler Kareem Hunt. Three of the four running backs taken ahead of him were major contributors for teams marching toward the playoffs.
The Bucs were desperate for a running back in the draft, though they didn’t make it happen and foolishly believed Doug Martin would be a different player than he was in 2016.
Now the Bucs are back to Square 1 on the running back front, aching for a beast in the backfield and trying to develop a running game that compares to the punishing ones in the NFC South.
December 21st, 2017 at 12:37 pm
No surprise, the Bucs in general, as in every GM we have ever had, have no vision, they always try to fix last year problems!!! For example the WR and DL were problems in 2016, everyone knew going into the season that VJax was done except the Bucs, this year DL CB RB were extreme problems, everyone but the Bucs brass knew this was a problem, it’s never ending
December 21st, 2017 at 12:42 pm
We take him along with Howard and Goodwin?
Even with the worst d line talent in the nfl we win 8 games
December 21st, 2017 at 12:47 pm
Ill bet the Saints are glad they did not fire their super bowl winning coach after a few down seasons.
Three straight 7-9 seasons before this year.
I guarantee our resident goobers would never have tolerated it.
December 21st, 2017 at 12:48 pm
draft derrius guice-LSU or Ronald jones-USC….GO BUCS!!!!
December 21st, 2017 at 12:51 pm
If we drafted kamara or hunt, klueless would no doubt had them backup drug martin and had them play majority special teams
Absolutely the worst player evaluator of his own roster…and the sheep still think he is a good hc and playcaller
“O grudog, o grudog, where are thou grudog”
Son of Kobe Faker
December 21st, 2017 at 12:53 pm
Nice article Joe!!!!!! Once again proving why you don’t draft RB in the 1st round!!!!!!! And if the Bucs had drafted any of those rookie pro-bowlers no way they have the year they had behind the Bucs O-line and a QB that failed at strecthing the field!!!!!!
Go Bucs!!!!!!!!
December 21st, 2017 at 12:58 pm
Drafting RBs in the 1st rd kinda like drafting a kicker in the 2nd rd 🤦 …..you just don’t do it!!!
I love how everyone piles on the GM after the draft and picks doesn’t pan out.
December 21st, 2017 at 1:08 pm
“Kamara, a third-round pick”
Kamara was a high-ish 2nd round pick – #41 overall
December 21st, 2017 at 2:01 pm
The Bucs were desperate for a running back in the draft, though they didn’t make it happen and foolishly believed Doug Martin would be a different player than he was in 2016
Inept Jason Licht
LICHT=FAIL
December 21st, 2017 at 2:05 pm
Jason can scout but has zero vision for building a roster
December 21st, 2017 at 2:16 pm
And if we didn’t draft JE21 and took an RB everyone would be complaining how we desperately needed Saftey help and how T.J. ward signing was a waste because our D is atrocious. Everyone whines and complains because they have nothing better to do. How’d that RB turn out for the Vikings? No guarantee of anything when you draft a player. If our D was Middle of the pack and half way competitive we would at the minimum be close to .500.
December 21st, 2017 at 2:19 pm
Bucs really have to adjust to the NFC South again, everyone has great talent at running back except us so the obvious answer is they need to put everything into an overhaul of the d line to stop them all
December 21st, 2017 at 2:30 pm
Pick, you’re thinking of Cook. Kamara was 3rd round number 67.
December 21st, 2017 at 3:39 pm
I stand corrected re: Kamara’s draft spot – my bad – carry on.
I’m happy with our 2017 picks regardless. Sure we needed DE and RB help – but we got 4 good players who all contributed in their rookie years (and all seem to have high ceilings as well) with our 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 3rd round picks. Hard to do much better than that.
Licht’s prioritization in the moment of drafting who he considers BPA instead of reaching for a perceived lesser player at a position of “need” will pay huge dividends in the long run.
So many bitch about Jason not filling this need or that need in a timely enough fashion – but overlook the fact that he’s bringing in good young football players via the draft at a rate much higher than the average NFL General Manager.
5 years of Dom’s drafts (not to mention the previous 5 years of Allen drafts) left this team in shambles talent wise and Jason Licht is just starting to turn the corner on that colossal mess.
3 years and 11 months after GM Licht walked in the door at 1BP we can safely say that this team is SUBSTANTIALLY more talented than what Jason inherited and most of that talent is still quite young.
Anyone who wants to oust Jason Licht at this point is a fool and has zero understanding of how difficult a task Licht was faced with nor how well he’s done at building a viable team from practically scratch.
4-10 sucks balls – but that 2017 record is NOT indicative of how this team will perform next year and moving forward (with the current GM and coaching staff if the Glazers are smart enough to stay patient).
December 21st, 2017 at 4:20 pm
No mention of the swing and a miss on McNichols………..
December 21st, 2017 at 6:15 pm
Hmmmm….Alstott was a FB not a RB. Yes he played some RB but he is listed as a FB.
Also, we need to keep DK but remove Mike Smith. We have an all time pathetic D which has talent on all 3 levels. This to me is not excusable.
December 22nd, 2017 at 5:09 am
Pickgrin, you are right about picking the BPA will make your team stronger in the long run but you can not simply ignore needs like DE and RB like Licht did. Now if he had a better “hit” percentage on free agent acquisitions then this BPA would be the way to go but our GM really dropped the ball on DL free agents and did not go that avenue in getting depth at the RB position instead relying on Dougie and his Boise Alumni-mate McNichols who was a cut casualty. 17 RBs were picked before McNichols including 8 in the 4th round including Samaje Perine, USF’s Marlon Mack, and Green Bay RB Jamaal Williams. Kamara and Karem Hunt went in the 3rd round. It looks like Licht could have had a decent RB if simply did not wait too long and just took an RB when his pick came up in round 3 or 4……