Bucs may not pay Doug’s asking price, so he may not be re-signed before free agency opens up in 25 days. Seems Martin will likely go ahead and stick his feet in the Free Agent pool, and Tampa will look for cheaper options. But, should the Buccaneers look for a replacement for Doug Martin? The likes of Chris Ivory and Lamar Miller sound great, but with Charles Sims also being in our backfield last year, shouldn’t we allow him to develop more? I would think so, and I would be surprised if this was not the case, if Doug Martin were to sign, elsewhere.
“The Tampa Bay Buccaneers may not re-sign Doug Martin before the start of free agency next month. Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times claims that the Bucs aren’t likely to meet Martin’s asking price, and may look at cheaper options in free agency to replace Martin.”
“We’ve had great discussions, and I think it’s pretty mutual he’d like to be here and we’d like to have him,” Licht said. “We’ll have to see how it goes.”
But the two sides aren’t really that close in reaching an agreement. There’s no reason to think Martin shouldn’t ask for DeMarco Murray money. The league’s leading rusher in 2014 got $8 million per year from the Eagles to leave the Cowboys.
Fortunately for the Bucs, there are options available in the Dolphins’ Lamar Miller and the Jets Chris Ivory. And Miller is only 24.” -Reported by Sander Philipse
More on this here: Doug Martin will “test the market” in free agency