The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost arguably their two best offensive players to significant injuries during Monday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens, as Chris Godwin suffered a season-ending ankle injury and Mike Evans tweaked his hamstring.
Unfortunately, Buccaneers running back Bucky Irving also sustained an injury, as he popped up on the team’s practice report on Wednesday. What happened to Irving, and will he play in Week 8 against the Atlanta Falcons?
Will Bucky Irving Play in Week 8?
Irving was listed as a DNP on Wednesday due to a toe injury. It’s worth noting that this was just an estimation since the Bucs held a walkthrough rather than an actual practice, but Irving’s status is still concerning.
If the Bucs are without Irving, this would be a huge blow, as they are expected to lean on the running game with Godwin and Evans sidelined.
Irving has been the team’s best running back this season, as he leads the team in rushing yards (351) and rushing touchdowns (three) while also contributing 13 receptions for 124 yards.
Bucky Irving pic.twitter.com/Jdx4dAOHch
— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz)
Irving is part of the Buccaneers’ “three-headed monster” at running back, splitting the workload with veteran Rachaad White and sophomore Sean Tucker.
Keep an eye on whether Irving is able to practice on Thursday and Friday, and then check the Buccaneers’ injury report at the end of the week to see if he has an injury designation for Sunday’s game against the Falcons.
Fantasy Outlook for Irving and the Buccaneers’ Backfield
In Week 5, Tampa Bay ran for 160 yards on the Falcons with White, Irving, and Baker Mayfield all having a run that picked up at least 15 yards.
We didn’t learn much from the Week 7 blowout, but it would appear that the Buccaneers are looking to deploy a committee, something that could render all involved useless.
To my eye (and spreadsheet), Irving has the most juice of the bunch and is the most valuable back to roster for the remainder of the season. But it doesn’t matter what I think. I’m not comfortable in projecting any of these backs for RB2 production in this matchup against the third-best defense in terms of running back touchdown rate.
White led this backfield in snap share last week in the one-sided loss to the Ravens, though the Bucs did deploy the “three-headed monster” that head coach Todd Bowles mentioned following the big Week 6 win against the New Orleans Saints.
Week 7 snap shares:
- Rachaad White:Â 47.4%
- Bucky Irving:Â 35.9%
- Sean Tucker:Â 19.2%
Irving held the slight edge in the first quarter, and the first half — before Tampa Bay was scripted out of balance — was about as even as you’ll see in a three-way split (White: 44.1%, Irving: 32.4%, and Tucker: 26.5%).
With the snaps being divided like this in an offense that projects to have far less success this week than the first seven due to their injuries at receiver, I don’t know how you can feel great about playing any of them.
White sits outside of my top 30 this week in the same tier as Tyler Allgeier and Nick Chubb.
