FAB 3. Big Back Barber Looking For Bigger Role In 2017

One thing is for certain. Doug Martin won’t get a carry or a catch until October thanks to a well-publicized three-game suspension to start the 2017 season.

What is not for certain is which running back will be starting in his place at Miami, at home versus Chicago and at Minnesota until Martin returns to face the New York Giants in Week 4.

Jacquizz Rodgers, Tampa Bay’s leading rusher last year with a career-high 560 yards and two touchdowns, is the current leader for the starting job. He has the most experience and had the Bucs’ only two 100-yard games last year, while averaging a respectable 4.3 yards per carry.

Bucs RB Peyton Barber – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

But Rodgers isn’t a lock for that position. He’s got plenty of competition with veteran Charles Sims, who is entering a contract year, rookie Jeremy McNichols, who was this year’s fifth-round pick, Peyton Barber, Russell Hansbrough and Blake Sims. Hansbrough and Blake Sims aren’t even likely to make the 53-man roster at this stage, so that leaves Charles Sims, McNichols and Barber as the main contestants to challenge Rodgers for the Weeks 1-3 gig.

Keep an eye on Barber. The team really likes the undrafted free agent out of Auburn, who made the team a year ago and rushed for 223 yards on 55 carries (4.1 avg.), including a 44-yard touchdown at San Francisco. In an effort to find a starting running back and an alternate back to get carries in September, the Bucs have been giving Rodgers, Barber and McNichols opportunities to carry the ball and catch the ball with the starting offense.

Barber is taking the chance and running with it – literally.

“You always have to set your goals high and my goal is that I want to be the starting running back on this team,” Barber said. “I’m going to do whatever I can. I’ll stay in my playbook and keep improving. I’m working on everything. I’ve put a little more weight on. I’m about 235 pounds now. I’m working on my speed, pass protections, and my overall craft. I’m quicker than I am fast and I think people don’t really expect that. I consider myself to be a chain mover, but I’ve got a little bit of wiggle to me also, and people don’t really notice that. That’s just more for me to show.”

Barber is more of a banger than he is a speedster. In his lone year as Auburn’s starter in 2015, his longest carry was a 36-yarder in the Tigers’ 35-21 win over San Jose State in which he rushed for a career-high 147 yards and five touchdowns on 27 carries. Barber rushed for 1,017 yards and 13 touchdowns on 238 carries (4.3 avg.), but only had two carries of 20 yards or more that year.

Bucs RB Peyton Barber – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

What made him attractive to the Bucs was his size and ability to pick up tough yards in short yardage situations. Barber is eager to show that he’s more of a complete back this year.

“I consider myself to be physical, but I have a little bit of wiggle to me,” Barber said. “I consider myself to be smart. I watched Marshawn Lynch and a lot of Doug Martin, to be honest, when I was in college. There’s LaDanian Tomlinson and then Walter Payton, who is my all-time favorite running back. Those were all-around backs and that’s what I want to become.

“Catching the ball is one of my high points. I’m pretty good at catching the ball. I’m looking forward to August and the start of some of the preseason games. I’m playing a couple of my old college teammates and even a high school teammate, Carl Lawson, with the Bengals in Week One.”

Barber had 39 carries for 99 yards (2.5 avg.) last year in the preseason and figures to get a similar workload this year where he’s hoping to show how he’s improved after one year in the NFL.

“His football knowledge and knowing his assignments is where he’s improved the most,” Bucs running backs coach Tim Spencer said. “Last year was probably a little overwhelming for him. He’s getting comfortable at being able to see beyond just what is in front of him. He’s able to make the read and look downfield and see what the backfield is looking like. He is able to do that and process things a lot faster.

“I like Peyton’s work ethic and I love Peyton as a young man. He works his butt off. He is bigger than you think he is. He is a 230-pound, low-running, power-cut shifting, tough and physical back. He is everything you want in your running back. He’s a young guy and he is going to get nothing but better. He’ll show that this year.”

Barber is hoping for another game like the one he had against the 49ers when he rushed for 84 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries (7.0 avg.). Ripping off that 44-yard scoring jaunt proved to him that he belonged as an NFL running back. Barber had only carried three times for six yards against Carolina prior to the increased workload in the second half at San Francisco.

“The touchdown against San Francisco and getting looks on offense meant a lot to me,” Barber said. “It gave me the security that I can play with these guys. It gave me even more confidence than I had.”

Bucs RB Peyton Barber – Photo by: Getty Images

Spencer laughed as he recalled Barber’s long touchdown run.

“We told him he damn near tried to run out of bounds,” Spencer said. “I don’t know why he was flirting around with the sideline. It was good to see. Good to see a young man work his tail off and then have some success.”

Barber knows that in order for him to have the opportunity to get some looks on offense early in the season he needs to continue to shine on special teams in order to make the team first.

“I’m starting on all special teams,” Barber said. “I know that’s where I’m going to make my money at right now. I just have to keep doing that. I need to keep improving until I get my shot. I’m a good tackler. I felt like I’ve done a pretty good job. I haven’t had a lot of runs go my way. I had one tackle last year. I played defense all the way up until high school, so I still got a little bit of tackling ability still in me.”

Of all of Barber’s qualities as an NFL running back, Spencer appreciates his toughness the most.

“I think Peyton’s a tough individual,” Spencer said. “Peyton is a football player. A football player tries to get on the field, and special teams is your ticket to get on the field and show people what you can do. We could see right away that he could run the football, but we knew it would be tight for him last year. We knew he would have to be a teams player. You see right away how tough he is. You watch some of the drills, the linebacker drills, and you can tell right away. He’ll put his hands in there and get right in the mix.”

As for being in the mix for opportunities to touch the ball in Miami in Tampa Bay’s 2017 season opener?

“Well, I’ll just say it’s maybe a little early to define anybody’s role,” Bucs head coach Dirk Koetter said. “If I stood up here today and said, ‘I’m going to skinny this guy into this tiny role right here’ – these guys, they want to be on the field every play and right now that’s what competing is. That’s what training camp’s about. The role-play thing will work itself out … Right now we’re just worried about getting to Miami on September 10. We have good depth at running back. It’s going to be fine, it’s going to work out.

“I think we have good depth still. We’re not going live tackling right now, we’re doing ‘thud’ tackling. We quick-whistle everything. It’s sometimes hard to tell if a guy would’ve been taken down or if he would have spun out of it. I like our depth. Those guys are working hard in pass-pro, they’re working hard catching the ball. Except for Doug, all the other guys play on special teams, which they’re going to have to do. When you get down to 46 on game day, those running backs, if you’re not the starter, you’ve got to help out on teams. Like everything else, they’re doing fine.”

Bucs RB Peyton Barber and QB Jameis Winston – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Barber is thankful to get as many opportunities with the starters as he’s gotten already in camp. Over the past year he’s heard from several former NFL running backs out of Auburn, offering their words of wisdom.

“I’ve talked with Cadillac Williams quite a bit,” Barber said. “Not this last season, but coming into the draft I talked to him a lot. I also talked to Ronnie Brown. I talked to Ronnie Brown more than Cadillac. I also talked to [former Bucs running back] Warrick Dunn a lot. We went to a rookie meeting and had lunch together just he and I.

“I’ve been doing this all my life – just competing. That is one thing that Brandon Jacobs taught me. The cream always rises to the top. You just have to keep faith. I know God didn’t bring me this far just to drop me off now.”