Brian Leonard Scouts Brian Leonard
June 18th, 2013
Joe’s written quite a bit about new Bucs running back/fullback Brian Leonard because Joe’s confident fans will see a lot of Leonard if he stays healthy. The Bucs haven’t launched a season with a third-down back with this much experience in a long time.
After being a featured back at Rutgers, Leonard backed up Ray Rice during his senior season and was drafted by the Rams in the second round. He spent the past four seasons as the Bengals’ third-down back.
Joe asked Leonard to describe his game to Bucs fans.
“I think I have great hands, great hands out of the backfield. That’s one of my best attributes,” Leonard said. “I’m great at picking up protections, and I feel like I’m a smart player, too. You know, seeing the field and seeing the rotation of the safeties and picking up blitzes. If I get the opportunity to run the ball, I feel like I’m really successful at that, too.”
Joe doesn’t expect Leonard to set the league on fire, but he should be an upgrade over D.J. Ware, another bonus for Josh Freeman.
An interesting Buccaneer Man stat on Leonard, he’s got one fumble in 288 NFL regular season touches.
June 18th, 2013 at 10:20 am
I just hope we don’t get rid of Lorig and keep Leonard. Not that Lorig has done anything special, just like the dude.
But at the same time I think Leonard will be a good addition to the backfield in that tweener role Byner mentioned. He will probably swing out to H-back / TE in some situations I am sure. With him I think we have the option of having three running backs on the field at the same time which offers some interesting motion / mismatch opportunities, even in a two receiver set.
June 18th, 2013 at 10:31 am
The no fumbles is “fear of Schiano” working!!!
June 18th, 2013 at 10:37 am
The “Leonard Leap!”
June 18th, 2013 at 10:52 am
D.J. who?
June 18th, 2013 at 10:56 am
I like Schiano, and we need a true power back. I think this was a great pickup.
June 18th, 2013 at 11:29 am
Is it me or does that look like A-train reincarnated? ..even has #40. Not here though, that number is immortalized. I think Leonards jersey number is 30.
June 18th, 2013 at 11:29 am
Another bonus for Freeman but we will still need excuses for him.
June 18th, 2013 at 11:50 am
PFT says the Bucs are feeling confident on the offense. Maybe this is the year!
June 18th, 2013 at 11:56 am
Leonard is much like the Allstate “good hands” commercial. Excellent role model for the young RB’s too.
I see no reason why the Bucs would part with Lorig. He had some devastating blocks last year which is no small part of the power running scheme. Love to punish the LB’s and safeties and see how well they chase Martin late in the game.
June 18th, 2013 at 12:00 pm
I really hope we don’t suffer yet another season of watching our premier back come off the field so a “third down back” can come in and block. There is nothing good that can come from taking Doug off the field in the most crucial situations. I absolutely hated that D.J. Ware came in on third downs most of time last year.
All I kept hearing about Doug Martin was that he was a “complete back” or an “every down back” only to pull him out on most third downs. This was so frustrating for me to watch last year. I mean, surely, Doug Martin couldn’t be so bad at blocking it warrants taking him off the field on third down. It means the opposing defense doesn’t even have to worry about the check down pass.
I sincerely hope pulling Doug off the field on third downs is a thing of the past. (Although, sadly, I fear it is not.) The guy can catch, he can block. Please STOP taking him off the field when we need him most.
As for Leonard, I like the pickup. I agree with The 300’s in that I hope this doesn’t mean the end of Lorig. The guy showed a lot last year as a full time full back. I imagine Lorig is only going to improve with another year in the system and another year at FB. I would like to see Leonard in the Ernest Graham type roll of a “back up everything”, full back and half back.
June 18th, 2013 at 12:34 pm
“LL Power Package” (Leonard and Lorig) for goal line and short yardage, at least we don’t have to worry about beating Doug up one short yardage situation all the time. I like Blount, but he needs momentum to get going so goal line and short yard pick wasn’t good for him.
June 18th, 2013 at 3:57 pm
“An interesting Buccaneer Man stat on Leonard, he’s got one fumble in 288 NFL regular season touches”
Great, Joe, now the first thing he’s gonna do is fumble…LOL