Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ best draft sleeper pick: Bucky Irving, RB, Oregon
Only Christian McCaffrey of the 49ers had more snaps last season than Rachaad White’s 337 among NFL running backs, and you have to include McCaffrey’s snaps through the Super Bowl for that designation. So. it was important for general manager Jason Licht and his staff to get White more rotational assistance, and the Bucs got a good one in Oregon back Bucky Irving with the 125th pick in the fourth round.
Last season, the 5-foot-9, 192-pound Irving ran the ball 186 times, gaining 1.192 yards and scoring 11 touchdowns. Irving may be short, but he’s not small — he forced 69 missed tackles last season, and that was just as much about power as it was about elusiveness. He also had 18 runs of 15-plus yards for 470 yards. In addition, Irving caught 55 passes on 61 targets for 395 yards and two touchdowns, so he can be deployed in a lot of different ways.
“We thought he might go a little bit earlier,” Buccaneers Director of Player Personnel Mike Biehl said of Irving. “He’s a guy we brought in on a ‘Top 30’ visit and spent some time with him. We thought maybe he would be a second-day pick, but he falls to the third day. I think even talking to him, when Jason called him, he had a little bit of a chip on his shoulder, thinking he should have gone earlier. We kind of like that. He’s just another right kind of character guy that we’ve been targeting. He fits that mold.”
Oregon RB Bucky Irving may have dropped in the draft because of size concerns and a 4.55 40, but he's faster than that on the field, especially from cuts to a straight line. Broke 69 tackles and had 18 runs of 15+ yards last season. Nice rotational guy for the @Buccaneers. pic.twitter.com/svpMXyMcKM
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) May 2, 2024
