NFL folks like to say the biggest jump in play a player makes is from his rookie season to his second season. If that holds true for Bucky Irving, could the Bucs be looking at an all-time great?
The Bucs’ budding star running back’s numbers as a rookie were really staggering. His production had him right up there with some of the game’s greatest, including current running back studs, as pointed out by Brianna Dix of Buccaneers.com.
Irving’s franchise record 5.4 yards per rush attempt average is the third-highest mark in NFL history among rookies with 200-plus rush attempts in a season, trailing only Adrian Peterson (5.6 in 2007) and Clinton Portis (5.5 in 2002). His 1,514 yards from scrimmage is the second-most by a rookie in team history, trailing only Doug Martin (1,926 in 2012).
Irving gained an additional 609 yards after forcing missed tackles in 2024, second-most in the league behind only Derrick Henry (753) per Next Gen Stats. He averaged 5.5 yards per carry on rushes outside the tackles (fifth-most among running backs, minimum of 50 such carries) and 5.3 yards per carry on rushes inside the tackles (second-most among running backs) this season. Irving, Saquon Barkley, and Jahmyr Gibbs were the only running backs in the NFL to average over 5.0 yards per carry on rushes to each direction in 2024 (minimum of 50 rushes each direction).
OK, so Bucky is up there with Adrian Peterson and Clinton Portis in rookie production. Peterson, we should all know about. Portis for a while there was a damn good running back. His problem was he was a running back, and like so many, they burn out after four or five years.
Joe hopes new Bucs offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard uses Bucky in the very same way his predecessor Liam Coen did.
Coen, smartly, ran a lot of counter-gaps for Bucky in which offensive lineman pulled to bulldoze an easier path. That what Bucky was used to at Oregon. The strategy worked beautifully.
How Grizzard builds his offense and uses Bucky is a blank canvas.
Joe will remind fans that the last awesome Bucs rookie running back, Doug Martin, who ran for a stunning 1,454 yards as a rookie in 2012, wasn’t the same player in his second season.
