The Bucs And Mark Ingram
January 19th, 2019
Everything about the Bruce Arians regime screams “win immediately” and “get the most out of Jameis Winston in a hurry.”
That will require a running back.
Joe loves Peyton Barber. What’s not to like? He’s an undrafted guy who developed into a solid back. He fights for every blade of grass — unlike most of his offensive linemen — and last season proved he could battle through injuries, pass block and average 3.7 yards per carry with a large workload.
At 24 years old, his future is bright. But Barber is a 1A back/a bottom tier starter at best.
So the Bucs, for yet another offseason, are hunting for a running back to push their offense over the top. Sorry, Mr. Licht.
The fastest way to upgrade at running back is to buy one because the draft is always a mystery — and it’s after free agency. This year’s free agency class at RB is diverse and talented, and Joe will explore many of them in the coming days.
Saints two-time Pro Bowl running back Mark Ingram is among them and, at the risk of going all Dirk Koetter, Ingram is considered an elite pass blocker. He turned 29 a few weeks ago and has averaged 4.7 yards per carry since starting the season with a four-game extension.
Ingram is a true three-down back and hasn’t missed a game because of injury since 2015.
He won’t be cheap, but he won’t break the bank. He won’t be a crazy explosive home run hitter or a long term fix, but he would get the attention of offensive coordinators and complement Ronald Jones and/or whatever young speedster the Bucs acquire through the draft.
Something must be done at running back in free agency. There will be many options. Joe just hopes the guys scouting running backs previously are largely or completely removed from the process.
January 19th, 2019 at 11:47 am
Mark the Shark got a lot of miles on him, going all the way back to college. Hitting the juice will lengthen his career, but if he’s been popped already, then he’s getting tested more frequently. I suppose it would depend on the price, as other teams will consider all of these things as well.
January 19th, 2019 at 11:47 am
Crazy, some teams can find an plug in a dude off the street.
Hard to reconcile paying big dollars for one.. That said, agreed it’s a needed hole to fill.
Should be interesting..
Go Bucs!
January 19th, 2019 at 11:47 am
Depends how much he wants and how long he signs for. He may well have 2-3 good years left, but he’s rapidly approaching 30 which makes me hesitant.
January 19th, 2019 at 11:47 am
Trade Desean for a Rb also an option..
January 19th, 2019 at 11:49 am
Are you kidding me? He’s had 2 good years in an 8 year career. Barber did better this year.
No to Mark Ingram.
January 19th, 2019 at 11:51 am
I shouldn’t be surprised though. Joe goes on a running back rant every year except when we drafted Winston.
To be honest, I kind of wish we’d draft a RB in the first round just to give Joe his way. Kind of.
He’s been plugging away for one for a long while. That;s dedication.
January 19th, 2019 at 11:52 am
Pass on Ingram. He’s boring and slow
Fix the offensive line first, make sure they can open up holes for running backs before searching for a good running back because we may already have one or two
January 19th, 2019 at 11:58 am
One site has his market value at 4.4 mil / year so a team that wants him needs to pay 5 mil per.
That is not unreasonable
The thing is you can get good running backs in draft in 3 and 4 rounds for cheap
January 19th, 2019 at 12:03 pm
Ingram’s only good seasons came when he shared time with Kamara.
We don’t have that type of back on the roster.
January 19th, 2019 at 12:08 pm
Not feeling this neither, Joe.
January 19th, 2019 at 12:08 pm
Ummmmm……If you put Barber on the Saints this year then he gets the exact same numbers Ingram did. We already have Ingram on our team except he’s called Barber.
It’s just a bad fit all around. I wanna say that we need an explosive playmaker but who doesn’t? If they sign a free agent it should be a guy who catch catch and make some plays in space. That would be a nice compliment to Barber.
Meanwhile you keep looking in the draft to try and find your future star.
January 19th, 2019 at 12:11 pm
O-line for RB first priority. Trade back mid second for Darrell Henderson.
January 19th, 2019 at 12:12 pm
Heisman to Heisman Handoffs
😉
January 19th, 2019 at 12:16 pm
zach zenner detroit lions offer them a 7th or 6th round pick been saying this for three years now.
January 19th, 2019 at 12:22 pm
jimmy jack i agree with the bsrber and ingram comparison
January 19th, 2019 at 12:28 pm
Without an upgraded OL it won’t matter which RB the Bucs grab.
Upgrade the line first then worry about what RB is behind it.
January 19th, 2019 at 12:29 pm
BucEmUp….You been saying it for 3 years and he aren’t done anything noteworthy in the entirety of that time. LOL.
Theres over 30 free agent RBs this year. Why the heck should we trade away assets to get a guy who has never done nothing?
Wake me up when he does a James Conner impression.
January 19th, 2019 at 12:34 pm
“The reality of 2019 Free agency is that the Bucs have no money to get players.
we actually have to cut and release players to sign some of our players already on the team
Not only has Gump wiffed and destroyed our team with the draft,
Gump spent all our salary cap money and we have nothing to acquire free agent players
Jason Gump is the reason we cant win in Tampa
plain and simple”
Kobe “The Realist
January 19th, 2019 at 12:39 pm
Pass.
He just put out a statement saying he wants to stay in NO because he was drafted there, got married there, had kids there etc.
He will take a pay cut to stay and he only signed a 4 year $16 million deal.
January 19th, 2019 at 12:45 pm
You guys complaining about the salary cap should stop.
It’s just not reality.
There is way more than final numbers to look at, and the structure of these contracts lends itself to do what they want with only $94,000 dead.
So we don’t get a 4th rounder for McCoy or Jackson. Big Deal.
We still have close to $25,000,000 extra to spend just from those 2.
Plus BA could take the exact team we have now to the playoffs anyway.
January 19th, 2019 at 12:52 pm
@Joe … “and complement Ronald Jones.” You were doing great Joe … right up until the 7th marguerita took hold and you decided to ‘compliment’ RoJo. Explosiveness is great. Actually carrying the football when you explode is even more awesome.
January 19th, 2019 at 12:54 pm
@Kobe
This projected number means the Tampa Bay Buccaneers should have an estimated $15 million in cap space for 2019, per Spotrac.
Tampa Bay could easily clear more space by cutting ties with expensive veterans like DeSean Jackson ($10 million), Vinny Curry ($8 million), Demar Dotson ($4.8 million) and William Gholston ($3.75 million). Making these moves would clear another $25 million in cap space, and wouldn’t cost the Bucs anything in terms of dead money in the future
January 19th, 2019 at 12:57 pm
Could be a solid selection but not very exciting.
I agree with Jimmy Jack that Ingram is an older Barber.
The fly in the ointment is ROJO. He’s the one letting down the team because Barber is a workhorse…Ingram could give us depth but who is going to give us the home run…so far not ROJO and that’s why we drafted him.
If ROJO put up numbers like he did in college we’d already be set…ROJO..Barber and a late round draft pick or UDFA to develop. And are we sure where Shaun Wilson can’t play. Only had six carries but averaged just under five per carry and flashed a couple of times.
January 19th, 2019 at 1:01 pm
Billy … “We still have close to $25,000,000 extra to spend just from those 2 (GMC & DJax).” All sounds well and good Billy, but folks often overlook one minor detail: They have to be replaced, hopefully with equal or better talent. Tmaxcon & others may not like GMC, but replacing his 730 defensive snaps (in 14 games) isn’t as easy as it sounds (as well as his 6 sacks, 21 QB hits). DJax missed almost all of the last 5 games, but he still gave us 453 offensive snaps & 774 yds plus 4 TDs. You don’t replace that production for peanuts.
January 19th, 2019 at 1:03 pm
The Bucs could use a bruiser in the 4 minute drill and to grind out some 1st downs in the 2nd half.
four-game extension or suspension. Big difference.
January 19th, 2019 at 1:03 pm
St Pete. Good point about S.Wilson. He has looked better then ROJO but the sample size is so small that he will fly under the radar until August. I think he can make this team over Rondald which could likely be a battle for the final RB spot.
January 19th, 2019 at 1:04 pm
Kareem Hunt
January 19th, 2019 at 1:08 pm
He has always been slow-ish, and he’s only getting slower…Now he’s about to be 30,
No thanks…
January 19th, 2019 at 1:21 pm
Need OLine
OLine
OLine
January 19th, 2019 at 1:26 pm
Nnot going to happen anyway!
Set our sights immediately on Kareem Hunt.
He is young and capable and has likely learned a valuable lesson.
January 19th, 2019 at 1:27 pm
Every offseason joe looks for the oldest players he can find to talk about adding them to the roster. Just because we haven’t found a back in the draft does not mean it can’t be done. Doug Martin as a rookie came in and was an immediate starter. We don’t have money to pay for a 29 yr old back.
Not sure why Doug Martin age was a big issue but you wanna go pay this dude who played for a major rival in our division his entire career, that’s like you thinking Julius peppers would come here for the right price. Hard pass there’s no reason to pay when you can draft a starter
January 19th, 2019 at 1:31 pm
I’m kinda on the Kareem Hunt bandwagon, if he’s actually remorseful. Probably suspended for a minimum of 6 games, that wouldn’t help us at the start of 2019.
January 19th, 2019 at 1:32 pm
“complement Ronald Jones”… you write that as if Jones brings something to the table.
January 19th, 2019 at 1:33 pm
Pass, just get Le’Veon Bell, just gotta do it, he’ll be perfect in this offense, we could afford him after the purge of scrub vets, we can give him like 3 years fully guaranteed, I don’t see any other way around it, LB is a drama queen but he’s a playmaker, and we need that at running back
January 19th, 2019 at 1:34 pm
Haven’t we been lectured about the short shelf life of an NFL RB? How old is Ingram?
I doubt the Saints let him go, and I doubt he wants to leave.
January 19th, 2019 at 1:34 pm
GET an very good O line.
Train Jones.
Let Barber run wild. Might have another M. A.
January 19th, 2019 at 1:43 pm
Tevin Coleman > Ingram
January 19th, 2019 at 1:51 pm
Couple of things here:
1. Bucs have more than one hole. This team won’t be fixed with one draft.
2. As has been documented several times, Arians isn’t here to build a team for the next coach four years from now. He’s here to win now.
3. Not sure what’s wrong with weakening a division opponent while at the same time building your roster.
January 19th, 2019 at 1:56 pm
I think Ingram was a product of a Saints system. Kamara is doing well. if Ingram was smart he would stay in N.O.
January 19th, 2019 at 1:56 pm
If BA is a second chance guy, how about Kareem Hunt?
January 19th, 2019 at 1:59 pm
With so many holes to fill and us being close to salary cap he|| I don’t see the Bucs bringing in Ingram. If they did would I’d be ok with it? sure, but I think he will command big bucks through FA or stay with NOLA. Especially if they win the SB.
January 19th, 2019 at 2:02 pm
“Defense Rules to the rescue!…again
Sheep adds up all the FA busts that Gump over spent (look at all the money we have now. weeeee)
and think just by cutting them we can just add new players in a different position
all those overpaid useless busts need to be replaced and their replacements wont be cheap…and the depressing part is they will be back with there huge salary
we are in salary cap hell
https://overthecap.com/salary-cap-space/
we have the 29th worst salary cap mess in the NFL
where is all the talent?
Cam Brate with a hip problem?”
Kobe Faker
January 19th, 2019 at 2:31 pm
Not a bad idea ( 4 game suspension…not extension…should lower his asking price .) Weaken a division rival in the process…he has had a moderate amount of carries but nothing overboard.
January 19th, 2019 at 2:41 pm
Put Barber with the Saints offense and Oline and he averages 4.7 a pop too. I dont think Ingram is much of am upgrade or much different skillset. We need a fast rb too. A ronald jones type at his best. Maybe just maybe ronald turns out good. Im not writing him off yet. We are talking about one of the worst coaching staffs of all time here last year.
January 19th, 2019 at 3:50 pm
Ingram takes a little too long to get started in the play, and the Saints scheme does well in the shotgun to allow that plodding nature. Decent pass catching prowess.
Like some others have said, if Arians is truly “clean slate” with everyone, and the Glazers seem to have given him so much rope, then Kareem Hunt would likely come cheaper, younger, with much shiftier wiggle than Ingram, with as good or better pass catching prowess. KEEP IN MIND that Hunt will be sat down for AT LEAST 6 games by Goodell, so that will hamper the offense.
Kareem Hunt, before Nagy and the Bears throw him a bone.
Hunt > Ingram > Coleman. None are Lev Bell of course, but he’ll be a Jet for sure, Colts don’t want him, see GM comments this week.
January 19th, 2019 at 5:09 pm
Lev Bell makes DJAX look modest. I do not deny his talent anymore than I would deny DJAX’s speed.
Guess what…how many freaking yards did Lev gain this year?
Uh ZERO!!!! Talent is meaningless unless you can count on that talent to be out on the field. These guys are multi millionaires…we can’t even imagine the independence that a net worth of 12-30 internet range estimate of Bell’s worth creates.
And so just two players…Leveon Bell and Antonio Brown may have just deep sixed Mike Tomlin’s stay in Pittsburgh. I’ve always had a lot of respect for Tomlin and the Steeler’s organization. If you can’t play for the Rooneys it’s time to retire!
Talent wins championships…but disgruntled Prime Donna talent can absolutely wreck even a great franchise like Pittsburgh.
BA has already revealed his disdain for AB…I hope he feels the same way about Bell. Both of these guys fail the most important ability test despite their massive and impressive talent…availability.
NO HEAD CASES OR GREEDY BSTDS PLEASE.
January 19th, 2019 at 5:50 pm
Complement Ronald Jones??? LMAO Jones had what 47 yards on 25 -35 carries or something crazy like that? CMON Joe dude is a bust.
January 19th, 2019 at 6:00 pm
I hope Ronald Jones can at least return kickoffs and punts, if he makes the team.
January 19th, 2019 at 6:09 pm
Skinny legs & scared…bad combo for an NFL back. Jones simply isn’t NFL caliber…not even Bucco Bruce can resurrect his career me thinks.
January 19th, 2019 at 6:09 pm
It’s amazing how so many Bucs fan inflate Barber’s value. I like his story too, but that doesn’t mean squat when it comes to how good he is. If Peyton Barber is your starting RB, you have issues. He’s a 2nd string guy at best, and really, if you have a good team, with depth, he’s a number 3. Look at the Saints, Peyton Barber would struggle to get a single carry behind Kamara and Ingram. That should be the standard we’re looking for, not some Replacement level backup you could pick up for pennies.
January 19th, 2019 at 7:21 pm
Quit farting around and sign Kareem Hunt
January 19th, 2019 at 7:27 pm
We need to spend a significant amount of Free Agent & Draft Capital towards, upgrading the defensive & offensive line. But competition at the running back position is needed.
Free Agent Options:
• T.J. Yeldon (Age:25) Rushing Yards: 414 | Receiving Yards: 487 | Td’s: 5
• Mike Davis (Age:25) Rushing Yards: 514 | Receiving Yards: 214 | Td’s: 5
Draft Options:
• Josh Jacobs – Alabama
• Dexter Williams – Notre Dame
• Trayveon Williams – Texas A&M
• Travis Homer – Miami
Trade Options
• Samaje Perine – Washington
• Ryan Nall – Chicago
January 19th, 2019 at 7:35 pm
Possible Depth Chart
(PB) – Peyton Barber | Mike Davis
(SB) – Josh Jacobs | Ronald Jones
January 19th, 2019 at 8:32 pm
You and Dirt liked Barber joe that’s why Dirt is gone Barber could not make it happen once in the second level embarrassing in fact , I for one would keep him when you need a 2 yard carry .
January 19th, 2019 at 8:36 pm
I wish I didn’t have to hear Barbers name anymore , not a second level runner and ads nothing to your team ,play action means nothing when the defense doesn’t mind giving up 3 yards .
January 19th, 2019 at 8:47 pm
Samaje Perine….lol. You people.
January 20th, 2019 at 7:37 am
jimmy jack because the lions were always too stupid to keep him in the gameplan. Every time he has been given the majority of the carries he has been a 4 to 5 ypc guy at minimum and thats on the detroit lions. He just never gets chances. Hes got great vision , blocks and is 225 lbs. Hes a work horse being wasted
January 20th, 2019 at 8:25 am
(1) fix O-line either by bringing in players or scheming run blocking that fits the skill set of the guys we already have
(3) let coaches come up with plays that take advantage of “as$ rocket” ROJO’s talent (yes…I realize I’m going on faith that 2018 ROJO was not the real ROJO)
(4) watch ROJO break out for over 1,000 yards next season putting to rest all the talks of “bust”
January 20th, 2019 at 12:19 pm
Kareem Hunt deserves a second chance. Also Ogenbowle (Bucs PS) should be ginen a chance. Looked pretty good in preseason. No to Ingram or head case Bell.
January 23rd, 2019 at 11:11 am
I long for a RB that doesn’t get caught from behind by LBs (DBs would just be wishful thinking it seems).