Buccaneers run game: Doomed to fail or just mismanaged?

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have enough capital invested in their run game to see an improvement finally, but will it be enough?

Tampa Bay’s run game has been lackluster since 2015. After Doug Martin‘s second season running all over the NFL with the Buccaneers, the playbook shifted from a run-first offense to one that is almost exclusively based around the pass.

Establishing the run is an outdated tactic in the modern NFL. What was once the basis for the entire offensive side of the game, running the football on early downs could be a thing of the past for most teams very soon.

Running backs are starting to change too. Derrick Henry is a great back and will probably continue to eclipse that 1,000-yard rushing mark for the foreseeable future. Still, very few people would consider Henry the best running back in the NFL.

Younger players like Alvin Kamara and Christian McCaffrey are surging to the preeminent positions in the league. What these players have in common is their great hands and their ability to run routes, which allow a team to get much more use out of a single player.

Prowess in the passing game is quickly becoming an essential trait that a back possesses. Clyde Edwards-Helaire was the first of his position off the board in the 2020 NFL draft, and this was almost exclusively due to his ability as a receiver.

Unfortunately for the Buccaneers, the organization has been setting the players up to fail ever since Doug Martin departed. The Tampa Bay running backs have been incorrectly utilized, and the Bucs will have to rectify this problem if they want to see an improvement.

So far, the damage is not beyond fixing, but improving the run game will be vital for any Buccaneer success in 2020.