Bucs 2017 total rushing avg: 3.7
Martin.... 2.9 yds/att
Barber.... 3.9 yds/att
Winston.. 4.1 yds/att
Rodgers ..3.8 yds/att
Sims..... 4.5 yads/att
Fitz......5.2 yds/att
DJax......12.7 yds/att
Wilson.....2.7 yds/att
Humphries....6.0 yards on one attempt
Okay as we can see something stands out like a sore thumb. That sore thumb is Doug Martin. Now, in fairness to Martin the o-line was sub par in 2017 as you can see Barber, Rodgers etc do not have amazing yards per att averages. However, they are all still within the realm of reason.
Hypothetically, would this team do better with a better oline? Yes. But how much better would Rodgers and Barber do with a decent o-line? 4.5 yds/att or higher? If so, then upgrading the o-line should be priority #1.
Martin had 138 att versus Barber with 108 att. At the moment Martin is looking like he held the team back in a bad way looking at these numbers.
Take away Martin's yards per att and the team's total average climbs.
So I am not against seeing Rodgers, Sims and Barber returning in 2018. But Martin has to go and a new stud RB brought in.
So in summary, improve the o-line and draft a stud RB.
The entire RB backfield doesn't need to be revamped because the Bucs have capable RB's when the o-line is decent. Just need to upgrade for that extra half a yard (eg 4.5 yards per att) and also some new blood (drafted RB) to compete with Barber, Rodgers and Sims.
