The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have at least one area to focus on this offseason: getting Doug Martin the ball in the passing game. According to Dan Pompei of Bleacher Report, the Buccaneers will try to improve the running back's route running and "receiving skills" this offseason.A point of emphasis in OTAs, minicamp and training camp for the Bucs is going to be improving Doug Martin's ability to impact the offense as a receiver, according to a source at One Buc Place. The Bucs would like to work Martin into the passing game more, but the third-year running back needs work on his route running and receiving skills.Doug Martin had a surprisingly large amount of drops last year, after being a very productive receiving back in his rookie season. Then again, all of last season was a disaster on offense, and Martin had a poor season on the ground as well.Martin's receiving work as a rookie was impressive, as he produced 49 catches for 472 yards and one touchdown, but most of that production came on dumpoffs and screen passes, not with him running routes down the field. The Bucs tried to incorporate that into their playbook a little more last year, targeting him on a couple of sideline routes with limited success. In fact, he suffered his season-ending shoulder injury on one of those sideline routes.Because Doug Martin is so short, his catching radius is very small, which means that the quarterback's ball placement has to be outstanding for Martin to make the catch, especially on routes down the sideline, where there's less room to work with than in the middle of the field. Shocking opinion: accurate quarterbacks help receivers produce.The fact that Jeff Tedford wants to get Martin involved in the passing game is no surprise, though. His offense revolves around "speed in space": getting the ball to your playmakers, and letting them do their thing. He was very creative in finding ways for his running backs to be productive over the years, with Jahvid Best being the most obvious example of that.Tedford loves to toy with formations and alignments. You'll likely see Martin lined up at receiver positions more often, and he'll run more routes within the context of a downfield passing offense, rather than simply sitting down as a checkdown. To do that, though, Martin will have to improve his versatility -- and that's what the offseason is for.
http://www.bucsnation.com/2014/2/22/5436630/doug-martin-will-get-opportunities-as-a-receiver
He had a bit of a problem with drops so far. Hopefully he can fix that.
I figured tedford would use him in a "westbrook" type role.
I think Martin is going to be a beast in Tedfords O, this guy has an unreal track record of working with rb's and Martin is more than just a runner, improve his hands a little an he can be dynamic beast out of the back field.
the last regime said the same thing. one of their primary goals was to get dougie the ball more b/c of his production the year prior. there was a concerted effort to give the ball to doug in the running and passing game early in the year last year and in those games we hardly saw the backup RBs...
Let's send the midget running back with a propensity for drops on EASY throws, on wheel routes down the sideline and lob him jump balls that expose his center of gravity for all to target! Including the ground!Thank gawd Sillyvan's "offense" is alpha mike foxtrot!And screw Schiano too. Piss on his time here!!
That cardinals game made me sick, pounding Martin up the middle time and time and no where to go what so ever. In a way it's good Martin got hurt so he can rest up, Schiano was running him into the ground in only his second year.
Schiano sucked. Joseph sucked. Penn stunk. Zoot Skoot Boogie sucked. Larsen is a commode gone wild, and Nicks is a lumbering thief. Not willing to comment on the opposing teams offense after getting paid a ton of cash is absurd! I loved it when he was signed. Now? It disgusts me. What a giant turd Nicks has been.
As someone who watched Darren Sproles through college and into the NFL, he had very sketchy hands. Even in his first couple seasons in the league. He made himself into a reliable pass receiver and there is no reason to believe Doug can't do much of the same. Doug seems to have that same seriousness about his craft. Regardless of our offense, it would be a great benefit for Doug to progress at least a bit past the los with his receiving ability. Agree with MH's initial comment, thus far I have been less then impressed with that facet of his game.
Schiano sucked. Joseph sucked. Penn stunk. Zoot Skoot Boogie sucked. Larsen is a commode gone wild, and Nicks is a lumbering thief. Not willing to comment on the opposing teams offense after getting paid a ton of cash is absurd! I loved it when he was signed. Now? It disgusts me. What a giant turd Nicks has been.
Not that I could put it more eloquently, but yeah, the whole line underperformed (If you could call it "performing").And nicks is an albatross that never gave up his loyalties to our team. I was excited for him to have joined the bucs ranks, but now I cannot wait to see him go. The minute he stated to the media he would NOT give info on his former team, I knew he wasn't going to earn his check.
Thats a complete joke, MRSA caused NIcks to have issues and your gonna sit here and say he didn't give it his all? Some of our fans are a complete joke sometimes, not every FA signing works out and Nicks was the best guard in the league before he had an injury than had the MRSA, wouldn't say the guy didn't care and didn't want to perform for the team.
Can't wait to see his chubby hamster face squished in these helmets, running all over the place behind an upgraded O-line and much improved scheme! He is a great weapon in the passing game and always has been, even in college.Bobby Rainey is a great receiving RB also. So is Lonnie Pryor.So is Mike James. Excited to see our new offense. Hopefully whoever ends up being under center can hit the road running and execute well.
Thats a complete joke, MRSA caused NIcks to have issues and your gonna sit here and say he didn't give it his all? Some of our fans are a complete joke sometimes, not every FA signing works out and Nicks was the best guard in the league before he had an injury than had the MRSA, wouldn't say the guy didn't care and didn't want to perform for the team.
Nicks had issues before MRSA.
That cardinals game made me sick, pounding Martin up the middle time and time and no where to go what so ever. In a way it's good Martin got hurt so he can rest up, Schiano was running him into the ground in only his second year.
I hope we draft Carlos Hyde.I dont like the fact that we have nobody we can put into a game like that who can run over a DL and make something happen.JamesMartinRainey All are midgets.
Lol. I couldn't disagree with you more. Martin can be very effective as a short yardage guy. He showed it in 2012 and in college. Mike James can be that guy too. Lonnie Pryor was born for short yardage situations and can be our Mike Tolbert if we give him the chance. Carlos Hyde would be a monumental waste of a draft pick....and I like Carlos Hyde. *editAlso.....how do me have midgets and Hyde isn't when they are all almost identical in size?Mike James 5'10" 223lbsDoug Martin 5'9" 223lbsLonnie Pryor 5'11" 227lbsCarlos Hyde 5'11" 230lbs
