Strange omission.
Was Bucs running back Bucky Irving dissed?
Last year, Bucky was 10th in yards rushing with 1,122 yards and seventh in the league in yards per carry at 5.4. Bucky was also 11th in the league for running backs with 8.3 yards per catch.
Not good enough for former Jags running back and current NFL Media analyst Maurice Jones-Drew.
In picking his [top 10 running backs](https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-week-1-rb-index-predicting-top-10-leading-rushers-for-2025-season) as the season begins, MJD didn’t list Bucky in his top 10.
Some of MJD’s running backs his ranked in his top 10 are rookie Omarion Hampton of the Chargers, rookie Ashton Jeanty of the Raiders, Kyren Williams of the Rams, whose rushing numbers were less than 200 yards more than Bucky but his average-per-rush and receiving yards were lower than Bucky’s and Christian McCaffery, who only played in four games last year and is nicked up already this season.
Yet Bucky wasn’t better than those guys in MJD’s eyes. How MJD could claim a rookie, who hasn’t touched a ball in a game, is already better than Bucky is beyond Joe.
So, Joe guesses the way Bucky has to earn the respect of a fellow running back is to play so well and help the Bucs win so much that folks can no longer ignore him.
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