Tampa Bay Buccaneers star running back Bucky Irving, hasn't been able to take the field in nearly two months, as he last played in a game on Sept. 28, a tough defeat to the defending Super Bowl champions the Philadelphia Eagles.
Irving has been slow to heal from a shoulder issue that won't allow him to absorb hits, and while this injury was initially, like so many others, holding back the Baker Mayfield led Buccaneers offense from being at its best, the long term reality of the injury may not be bleak at all.
Although Irving is a solid NFL running back who had 1,100 rushing yards and eight touchdowns as a rookie in 2024 on a whopping 5.4 yards per carry, there's always room for more talent in a backfield. And the Buccaneers No. 2 guy, Rachaad White, hasn't exactly been a huge threat on the ground with a career average of 3.8 yards per carry in four wholly underwhelming seasons for the Buccaneers.
Bucky Irving isn't the only star in the Bucs backfield
Irving's injury has helped give more opportunities to the third back on the Buccaneers roster, Sean Tucker, and after putting up 50 yards on an amazing New England Patriots defense that didn't even give up 50 to players like Bijan Robinson this season, he followed that up with an even bigger game against a ripe Buffalo Bills defense.
Tucker had 106 yards and two touchdowns on just 19 carries in a losing effort to the Bills, standing out as the star of the Bucs offense in what was otherwise a mildly disappointing day. That makes it two in two weeks in which Tucker has been a standout, and he has fully taken over from White as the No. 2 guy and might even be coming after Irving's carries once he comes back from the injury, too.
It's easy to overlook, but Tucker, in just 50 carries last season, showed real promise in his second season as a Buccaneer. The Syracuse product averaged a jaw dropping 6.2 yards per carry for the Bucs last season, so he was averaging 0.8 yards per carry more than Irving and is currently averaging more yards per carry than Irving (4.6 vs. 3.3) this season.
Having two great running backs in Irving and Tucker on the roster would be incredible news for the Bucs, and since we all know the postseason matters more than the regular season, the Bucs losing Irving in the middle of the regular season and unearthing a gem like Tucker before the playoffs could wind up being more of a positive than negative in the end.