Makes defenders miss.
No running back was more difficult to tackle last year than Bucs stud rookie Bucky Irving.
And a veteran NFL humorist/chronicler of the NFL is armed with the data.
Mike Tanier, typing for Aaron Schatz’s _[FTN Football Almanac](https://ftnfantasy.com/almanac)_, had a couple of startling stats. First was, Bucky was one of the better backs in the NFL for broken/missed tackles.
But when Bucky caught balls out of the backfield, he took his elusiveness to another level.
> The newest innovation to Tampa Bay’s offense last year was better-than-replacement-level rushing. Rookie Bucky Irving was eighth among running backs with 60 total broken and missed tackles. He added 19 more avoided tackles on receptions, the most of any running back by FTN Data charting.
That’s just insane. You usually associate so many broken or missed tackles from big running backs like Derrick Henry, not little guys like Bucky.
Now, Bucky is one of Joe’s favorite players, but as tempting as it may be, Joe isn’t too fond of giving Bucky a bigger workload. He doesn’t have the size for so much punishment.
The Bucs are going to need an upright, if not semi-fresh Bucky, in December and January. Bucky doesn’t add much to Bucs’ goals if, in the most important games of the season, he is all beat up and tapped out.