Doug Martin A “Risk”
March 4th, 2016
Popular sports radio and television personality Adam Schein suggests caution in signing Doug Martin.
Bucs fans want free agent running back Doug Martin back.
Joe wants Doug Martin back.
But Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht, and all NFL general managers, should exercise caution with everyone’s favorite Muscle Hamster. And who suggests this?
That would be popular sports radio and television personality Adam Schein. In a piece on NFL.com, Schein explains Martin isn’t the slam dunk signing many want and hope him to be.
Here’s hoping Martin signs back in Tampa Bay. He’s familiar with the Bucs, and they know him. Martin is a good fit in Dirk Koetter’s offense.
Martin’s career has been a roller-coaster ride: He eclipsed 1,400 rushing yards in his rookie campaign and this past season … but failed to reach 500 yards in either of the two years sandwiched in between. So where’s his body at heading toward Year 5? Can you trust him to play 16 games?
Make no mistake: Martin is a legit No. 1 back … when healthy. You know what they say: In the NFL, the most important ability is availability.
It’s a fair point. One reason Licht declined the fifth-year option to Martin — other than Martin being one of the least productive backs in 2013 and 2014 — was Licht wanted a prove-it year. Martin proved it.
Still, half of Martin’s career is forgettable; Schein is on the money. But last year was different. The last time the Bucs had a productive quarterback, prior to America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston, was when Martin ran wild in his rookie year.
When Martin had slop for a quarterback, he was godawful or hurt.
Martin’s career has been either excellent or awful with no in-between. When paired with decent quarterback play, he has been strong. Who is to believe, today, that Jameis will turn into a pumpkin this fall?
March 4th, 2016 at 5:37 am
Schein’s correct: “Martin’s career has been a roller-coaster ride.” But that doesn’t mean we should dump the roller-coaster and hop on the merry-go-round instead.
We know that Doug Martin has the ability to be a top-rated RB in the NFL … IF running behind a decent OLine. We know that he showed up in the best shape of his life last year and played all 16 games. We know that he loves the Bucs. We also know that after carrying the rock for 4 seasons for minimum wage, he wants to be paid. I for one don’t blame him a bit.
Regardless of what RBs may want however, the going rate this year for a top RB (not named Peterson) should be in the $5 – $6 mil range. Licht is just doing what a good GM should do. Doug will sign a 3-year contract with the Bucs for $15 – $20 mil unless some team decides to overpay badly. Then Bucs would have no choice but to move on.
March 4th, 2016 at 6:11 am
First, teams with good offensive lines can plug in just about any running back.
None of them are going to overpay a runner.
Second, so is Martin going to leave and sign with a team that has a suspect offensive line? Joe just made the case for that not happening.
Is Martin going to a team that does not have a good quarterback?
Only seven teams had rushers go for more than 1,000 last year and only one made the playoffs.
I don’t believe anyone is going to drop a pile of cash in Martin’s lap.
March 4th, 2016 at 6:12 am
Seems that everyone forgets how bad this o-line was the two down years, Doug couldn’t even get out the backfield. I understand not paying if we didn’t have the $$, but we got it to spare. The next big contract is Jameis and maybe ME, 3 – 4 years from now. No guarantees for anybody, but you know Doug’s heart toward playing football and for this team, you don’t know the next guys heart and desire.
March 4th, 2016 at 6:58 am
Out of 32 teams only 7 rushed for a 1000 yards.
And everyone claims running backs are so easily replaced and a dime a dozen.
7 out of 32.
And they say we need to build through the draft and then possibly let go a pro bowler that was drafted lmao.
Makes a lot of sense to me lol
March 4th, 2016 at 6:59 am
This is exactly why I tend to drift away from the Bucs until it’s time to watch the draft actually unfolding. The more I read about the Martin’s situation, the angrier I get. I can’t believe that they are okay with risking losing one of the most dominant RBs in the league. If he decides to sign for someone else, how does that help JW? Are they absolutely certain that they can do without Martin? Well, sure hope so he won’t be back. If this is about healthy issue, if they know something we don’t, then I say bull. You have to take a chance on the guy, because he has proven he’s certainly an elite player. And we have plenty of money, so I just don’t understand what’s going on here. We should take care of the players who have proved they can be do well in Tampa. Let’s not throw money at external free agents that could end up being a waste of time and resources, to put it mildly.
March 4th, 2016 at 7:13 am
it just came across twitter, Miller just turned down 5 mil a year from the Dolphins. So he and Doug are looking for that AP, D Murray money.
Which, some team could over pay, gonnna be interesting
March 4th, 2016 at 8:22 am
All of you talkin about a good o-line ca n make any running back look good,……..have you ever heard of the DALLAS COWBOYS, worry about your team, your running back, had the COWBOYS paid their running back, what a big screw-up and all that o-line talent. DOUGI did what he needed to do, and now THE BACK-STABBER wants to play hard ball, if DOUGI walks this team is screwed COWBOY style!!!
March 4th, 2016 at 8:34 am
The people that say Dougy’s incredible season was a product of the O-line don’t know what the hell their talking about. There’s a reason Dougy lead the league in broken tackles, because he was meet at the line of scrimmage by one or two defenders almost every play. If he didn’t break two or three tackles nearly every run he wasn’t going anywhere. So don’t tell me it was the O-line that paved the way for his season. The line was decent but doug made them Look better than they actually were. Almost all his yards came after contact. Very few times did he get a clear path thru the hole. Watch, u guys will find that out if we don’t resign #22 and bring in a tailback that isn’t gonna lead the league in broken tackles.
March 4th, 2016 at 8:39 am
Nice story about the Cowboys. Really. But there is a huge sin of omission to perpetuate the tragic injustice to the backstabbed basement buffoon.
It’s tough to have an effective rushing game without Romo pushing the ball downfield.
March 4th, 2016 at 8:46 am
And one more thing who is Adam Schein, a talking head, that don’t know nothing, I could go on and on but…………
March 4th, 2016 at 9:02 am
The Cowboys points to the “do not overpay” the running back!!! Dallas lost there QB for 12 games and just about beat The Eagles in every rushing category!!! Demarco Murray fell off the face of the earth, while Dallas was almost in the Top 10 in most rushing stats!!!
Darren McFadden 4.6 yard avg 1,089
Demarco Murray 3.6 yard avg 702
And Dallas gets the most Compensatory picks this years as well!!!!
March 4th, 2016 at 9:54 am
The dollar bill is not gaining value, it is losing value. Pay Doug as the proven value he represents. No ifs ands or buts.
March 4th, 2016 at 12:59 pm
Really, ROMO, that’s your take, my take is even with ROMO AND NO RUNNING GAME, they still lose!!
March 4th, 2016 at 1:47 pm
I can see a lot of our..so called Buc fans do not actually watch our Offense, the line blocking and all of its nuances. Martin broke a lot of tackles with no help in many games. HE showed he has both guts and heart. I arguing Doug martin covered up a lot of our offensive line deficiencies this past season. And I’m also arguing not bringing back Martin will be a mistake of mega consequences for this offensive chemistry. The way I see it is..Pay now or..Pay later in the..loser’s column.
March 4th, 2016 at 2:55 pm
^^^
This….
March 4th, 2016 at 3:11 pm
I think this has more to do with the value of Sims than it does the value of Martin. Sims performed just as well as Martin on a per carry basis, and produced 24 broken tackles on 158 touches. Compare that to Martins 57 BT’s on 321 touches and you have them breaking tackles at 15% and 18% with Martin being the better of the 2. So these two guys may not be much different in terms of production (yes, I realize they were used in different situations).
“IF” the Bucs planned on using Martin as the workhorse back, I imagine a deal would be done by now. However, I don’t think the Bucs have any intention of using Martin in the same way next year, which decreases his value to us. He may be worth 6, 7, or even 8 million dollars to a team that needs/wants a featured back, but to a team that doesn’t? No.
BTW, Simms was our second leading receiver last year, which is all the more reason to try and get him on the field more often. That can’t happen with a big money RB ahead of him on the depth chart.