Buccaneers Bucky Irving Has Earned a Promotion

After three weeks one thing remains clear to Buccaneers fans. Bucky Irving should be running back number one. He posses more capability, has the ability to break for big yardage, and is very elusive. Additionally, at this point, Rachaad White is still struggling and hampering the offense when asked to run the ball. Here’s a quick comparison.

After three games White has carried the ball 33 times for a total of 66 yards. The result has been zero touchdowns and two first downs. He’s averaging 2.1 yards a carry, a number lower than his averages in 2023 and 2022. Though he’s been effective catching the ball out of the back field his utility has not meet expectations. Irving  has put together 154 yards on 25 carries for five first downs and zero touchdowns. Irving has a much better 6.2 yards a carry average that’s driving the desire that fans see him as the true number one quarterback.

An argument has been made that Irving’s stats are padded by big plays that he has broken out for huge gains. Not sure why you wouldn’t want to have an opportunities for more of those? Though this does skew his run stats he still providing a better option than White. Take the Broncos gam for example. Irving had a blistering 32 yard run that surly skews his yards per carry number. But, even if you remove this large run he still averaged 4.75 yards a carry this week. Irving ran for 1, 32, 13, 4, 6, 0, 2, 9 , and 3 yards throughout the game. White ran for 0, 4, 4, 0, 9, and another zero yards. That’s only 2.8 yards a carry and it only gets worse if you remove the largest run he had.

Furthermore, in Pro Football Reference you will find rushing success percentage. Essentially a measurement of  successful rush gains of least 40% of yards required on 1st down, 60% of yards required on 2nd down, and 100% on 3rd or 4th down. Denominator is rushing attempts. Irving’s success rate is 48% and White’s is 35.5% and clearly shows the difference between the two running backs.

For now, the easiest answer is to feed the ball to the running back with the best potential. Right now that’s Irving. increase his work load and see if the stats remain the same. Additionally, the addition of more two running back sets that sees both remain lined up in the back field will require an additional linebacker to cover White in case of passing situations. Mixing and matching run and pass and the intended runner/receiver could be a creative way to generate momentum and keep the defense guessing.

There is very little in the way of free agency help that could be brought in. Aging vets with lots of treed on their tires is the only remaining players of significance. Marlon Mack is still available but his injury history is a huge concern and he has not seen the field since 2022.

Some players of intrigue sit on practice squads though. The Detroit Lions have a deep running back room already and one victim of that is Jermar Jefferson. In very limited use in 2021 he say 15 attempts go for 74 yards with two touchdowns and four first downs with an average of 4.9 yards a rush.

Another intriguing option is the Ravens Chris Collier. A small school star from Lock Haven College, Collier amassed 1,393 rushing yards on 236 attempts for an average of 5.9 yards a carry. He also contributed in the passing game with 22 catches for 238 yards. In all he 15 touchdowns. Now Baltimore activated him for week three but if he moves back to the practice squad he could be a good target.

No matter what though, this run game needs to improve and quickly. The offensive line struggle are not helping ether.