Doug Martin, Peyton Barber, or Neither?
Doug Martin, Peyton Barber, or Neither?
It wasn’t that long ago that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers thought they had their running back of the future in Doug Martin. After watching him carry the ball 288 times for 1,402 yards during the 2015 season, they gave him a nice five-year, $35.75 million contract.
He followed that up with a poor showing when he did play last season, and he really hasn’t done that well this season. But his recent concussion may have opened the door for someone else—Peyton Barber.
The case for Peyton Barber
Barber has not played in many games during his two seasons in the NFL. When he has played, he hasn’t done anything impressive— until last week. He got the start against Green Bay and carried the ball 23 times for 102 yards to go with four receptions for 41 yards.
At Auburn, Barber was a beast of a running back. In the NFL, he hasn’t been. But to be fair, he got a chance to prove himself in college. Up until last week, he hadn’t really had much of a chance at the NFL level.
Could it be he just needed one game as the feature back to show what he is capable of doing?
The case for Doug Martin
Martin has not had a good year. Starting the season serving a suspension didn’t help. But then he got off to a decent start in his first game back against the Patriots (13 carries for 74 yards and a touchdown). His daily fantasy production was not impressive, but his per carry average was (5.7 yards).
If he could keep that up, he’d be a good fantasy running back– but he hasn’t. Following that game, he has averaged less than four yards a carry in every game but one and less than three in four games. But for some reason, they keep giving him carries.
So….
After what he did last week, it would appear that starting Barber would be a solid option. It certainly doesn’t hurt that the Buccaneers are playing a team with a poor run defense this week in the Detroit Lions.
But Martin is now out of the league’s concussion protocol. If the Buccaneers do like they typically do, they’ll give him a good number of carries this week. If they do, they’ll have to take away from Barber. Should that happen, Barber’s value will plummet.
So, when considering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers running backs this week, do yourself a favor. Unless the Buccaneers say Martin is not playing, go with neither.
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