“You Don’t Have To Overburden Bucky, But He’s Going To End Up At 300 Carries This Year”
May 24th, 2025
Todd Bowles has been a confusing head coach in some ways.
Bowles says he believes in fighting to the finish. That’s why Bowles leaves starters in games when, in Joe’s opinion, they shouldn’t be on the damn field. See 2024 when Antoine Winfield and Chris Godwin each suffered major injuries.
But Bowles also has passed on being aggressive at times to win games. See trips to Cleveland, Detroit and Kansas City over the past three years.
So Joe has mixed feelings when it comes to chatter at One Buc Palace surrounding keeping a pitch count on Bucky Irving and making sure he stays fresh as the Bucs’ bellcow running back. Last year, Irving had 207 carries and 47 catches.
Yeah, Irving is small, but he’s significantly bigger than Warrick Dunn, the former Bucs great who moved on to Atlanta and had back-to-back seasons of 280-plus carries. One of those Dunn seasons delivered 1,416 yards (2005); the other had 1,140 yards (2006). And Dunn got those accomplished after he turned 30.
Do the Bucs really need to be careful with Irving before clinching this season’s NFC South crown?
For what exactly would they be saving him? Bucky turns 23 in August. The Bucs are in win-now mode.
Bowles’ buddy Pat Kirwan, the former Bucs scout, Jets linebackers coach and Jets personnel chief, is confident Irving bumps his workload up by about 50 percent in 2025.
“You don’t have to overburden Bucky, but he’s going to end up at 300 carries this year,” Kirwan said on SiriusXM NFL Radio during a breakdown of NFC South running backs.
Six running backs hit 300 carries during the 2024 regular season; 12 had 250 or more.
Kirwan marveled at how much Irving accomplished as a rookie while taking only 45 percent of the Bucs’ offensive snaps. Rachaad White was at 51 percent. And Kirwan loved how White and Irving combined for 98 receptions.
Still, he gave Bucs running backs the same overall grade as Atlanta’s RBs, led by Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier. Joe found that offensive.
Managing a running back’s carries is an art form. Hopefully, Bowles proves he has the right feel for that with Irving, a task requiring open communication from the player, the medical staff and good coaching instincts.
If Bowles tries to preserve players for the postseason, Joe would much rather see Lavonte David stop playing 97 percent of the defensive snaps than putting a tight leash on Irving. Or stop letting Baker Mayfield take unnecessary hits in meaningless end-of-game situations.
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May 24th, 2025 at 6:13 pm
300 carries for one back means he is in sync with the o-line.
May 24th, 2025 at 6:25 pm
Need to design some special tear-away jerseys for him.
May 24th, 2025 at 6:40 pm
Coaching matters. These decisions matter. When you’ve only got half the time to devote to two critical jobs, it’s ridiculous to expect both jobs to be done at a superior level.
May 24th, 2025 at 7:01 pm
This article is very focused on Todd Bowles. What percentage of the decision is truly his call? Don’t Licht, Grizzard, Carberry and Pete have a good chunk of the say? I’d assume if anything, and being a defensive coach, Bowles’ decision would be swayed easily by this group.
May 24th, 2025 at 7:45 pm
“Irishmist Says:
May 24th, 2025 at 6:25 pm
Need to design some special tear-away jerseys for him.”
The NFL banned them after Greg Pruitt wore them. He would go thru several each game. In an interview he stated that it got to be annoying because he would have to come off the field to change into a new jersey each time his ripped, thus, missing plays.
May 24th, 2025 at 8:34 pm
It has nothing to do with size imo. That toe injury is bad for RBs and could shorten their career.
May 24th, 2025 at 9:49 pm
He’s not significantly bigger then Dunn. Probably within an inch and 5lbs. Stop living in la la land.
May 24th, 2025 at 11:29 pm
What floored me last season was seeing bucky get the offense into the red zone just for white to come in inside the ten. Mix it up sure…but let the man that gets you there finish the job.
May 24th, 2025 at 11:32 pm
Yeah, I was commenting on here about managing his workload and it’s more about his toe issue as Scott said than his size.
Agree with you Joe about resting David, Mayfield etc end of games that are out of hand.
May 25th, 2025 at 1:48 am
Most running backs are burnt out by their 2nd contract, you should not limit them at all and just get as much as you can out of them while they’re on their rookie deals.
As for Dunn, who is the 24th all-time in rushing, I remember him early on talking about how he avoided big hits when possible – ie, he’d step out of bounds and not take unnecessary hits, and would ball up before hits. Also he played at a time when you could still hit people, and the NFL wasn’t literally embracing flag football, so the fact he held up so well is remarkable.