If Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Bucky Irving didn’t know exactly how “What Have You Done For Me Lately?” the NFL is, his second season in the league has taught him quickly enough.
Irving, who has missed the last 4 games due to a variety of injuries, has already been called out as Tampa Bay’s “Most Disappointing Player” so far this season by Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon.
Irving ran for over 1,000 yards as a rookie in 2024 and took over the starting job from veteran running back Rachaad White but has become an afterthought for the Buccaneers in 2025.
“After averaging 5.4 yards per rush as a rookie, Irving has seen that number decline to 3.3 in 2025,” Gagnon wrote. “Only one qualified back is below that. He’s also yet to score a rushing touchdown.”
Irving Played Best Game Before Injury
What’s been lost in Irving’s absence is that he played his best game of the season in the last game he played in — a 31-25 loss to the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in Week 4.
While Gagnon was right that Irving doesn’t have a rushing touchdown so far, he does have 2 receiving touchdowns. That includes one against the Eagles, when he had a season high 165 yards of total offense — 15 carries for 63 yards and 5 receptions for 102 yards.
The Buccaneers are 6-2 despite seeing their offense decimated by injuries through the first part of the regular season. In Week 3 against the New York Jets, no projected offensive line starter was in the spot they were projected to play and only one of the 5 starters playing — starting center Graham Barton moved to left offensive tackle while NFL All-Pro Tristan Wirfs was out with a knee injury.
Irving Was Bucs Breakout Star as Rookie
The Buccaneers scrapped their way to a 10-7 regular season finish and NFC South Division title in 2024 thanks in large part to Irving, who had 1,514 yards of total offense and 8 touchdowns, which included 1,122 rushing yards.
Bleacher Report’s Gary Davenport called Irving the NFL’s “Most Underrated Player” in the offseason.
“Irving didn’t enter the NFL with a ton of fanfare,” Davenport wrote on May 20. “The 5’10, 195-pounder was the 125th overall pick of the 2024 NFL draft. But by the end of the season, he had established himself as one of the more promising young runners in the league.”
Buccaneers Will Need Irving for Stretch Run
While it’s not totally clear when Irving will return to the lineup, whenever he is healthy to come back it’s hard not to see him stepping in immediately and being asked to be a game changer.
One important thing to remember is that as long as the Buccaneers are winning — they’re currently 6-2 — and as long as they keep winning they don’t have to rush Irving back
“HC Todd Bowles says it’ll be discussed at the end of the week if Luke Goedeke, Bucky Irving and Chris Godwin Jr. whether they could practice for the following week,” Pewter Report wrote on its official X account on October 27. “They might do some stuff, but there’s no timeline.”
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