Bucs running back Bucky Irving spoke to the media for the first time since injuring his foot and shoulder against the Eagles back in Week 4. The team did not put Irving on injured reserve even though he missed more than four games due to the injuries in part because Irving had difficulty dealing with being injured for the first time in his career.

Being away from the team was stressful during his rehab and it took a toll on Irving, who doesn’t have much of a support system outside of his Bucs teammates and members of the organization, which rallied around him.

“It’s tough, man, [especially] your first time being hurt,” Irving said. “When I step out onto that field – like I always say – I don’t take this game for granted. I love what I do every day. I love my teammates. When I go out there, I show them that each and every time I get the ball, I’m trying to make plays and make things happen for this organization and this team to help them in any type of fashion to win football games.

“When God takes something away from you, He’s telling you to get closer to Him and lean on Him. Being down and having something taken away from you… everything was alright because I had the right people around me.”

Bucs GM Jason Licht and RB Bucky Irving – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Living in the training room and missing the camaraderie of being with teammates in the meeting room, in the locker room and on the practice field can be a lonely existence and some players deal with that better than others.

“[It’s] tough,” Irving said. “It’s always tough not being able to be out there and go to war with your guys, but being able to go through that, learn from that and being able to move on – I’m happy to be back with my guys.”

Bucs right tackle Luke Goedeke said that when he was confined to the training room rehabbing a foot injury that cost him five games it was awful.

“Anytime you miss time it [expletive] blows,” Goedeke said. “It’s very annoying. There’s a saying that when you see guys crying because they get injured, it’s not the pain. It’s because of how much time they know they’re going to miss.”

Irving struggled more than most, but the Bucs organization rallied behind him during his grateful, to which he’s grateful.

“This whole organization – I can’t name everybody from this person to this person, but the people who were with me every step of the way know who they are,” Irving said. “I want to give big praise and a shout out to them for helping me throughout this process. They’ve been around and they’ve seen it before, so just being able to trust them, trust their plan and help me get back and be around my teammates. I love being around my teammates.”

Bucs RB Bucky Irving – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Irving ran for 1,122 yards and eight touchdowns as a rookie, but didn’t have the same kind of success at the start of the 2025 season. He ran for just 237 yards, averaging 3.3 yards per carry with no touchdowns through the first four games, but he excelled as a receiver, catching 19 passes for 193 yards (10.0 avg.) and two touchdowns, including a 72-yarder against Philadelphia.

Bucs Plan To Have Bucky Irving On A Pitch Count

Bucky Irving said his shoulder feels great and his foot injury is also behind him. He’s been a participant in practice for the second straight week and is expected to return to action this Sunday at home against the 3-8 Arizona Cardinals.

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles suggested that Irving will be on a pitch count similar to what wide receiver Chris Godwin Jr. was on in his return to action last week against the Rams.

“His will be similar – he’ll probably be on a pitch count,” Bowles said. “We’ll kind of see how he goes, which [running] back does what, and then the timing will be dependent on that.”

Offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard concurred with Bowles.

Bucs RB Bucky Irving – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“I think it’s a lot like we did with Chris, where you can’t expect a guy who hasn’t played in numerous weeks to go out there and get a normal lion’s share of the carries,” Grizzard said. “For Chris, I think Chris played 25, 26 snaps, so, to be able to bring them along, allow them to get their confidence back up, allow them to build their play strength back up.

“Then, as well as the scheme, where you’re not overloading them with too many, ‘This kind of run, that kind of pass,’ things like that…Trying to find that balance between using them and knowing they’re going to help us – but just thinking they’re going to go play 60 snaps off the rip, I think, would be a disservice to those guys.”

Grizzard alluded to the fact that Irving’s recovery from his injury was just as much mental as it was physical.

“I think it is for anybody, especially when you’re away from it and you do get banged up,” Grizzard said. “But I think that’s the ultimate [benefit] of the team [with] the amount of resources we have here and the things we do – whether it’s Bucky or anybody else – on being able to help those guys as much as possible and rehab it and get them back to where they need to be. Ultimately, they want to go out there and compete and have fun and help the team. So, it’s good to see him in a good spot.”