Doug Martin's Fantasy Value Remains Stunted with RB Staying in Tampa

Doug Martin's staying with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and as a result, he's likely stuck in fantasy purgatory from now until the end of the season.

The 4 p.m. NFL trade deadline has come and gone, and the Bucs failed to deal the 25-year-old running back. As a result, fantasy owners who hoped for a second-half resurgence from Martin may be out of luck completely.

There's no getting around how big of a disappointment Martin's been. Some labeled him as a potential sleeper for this year after his injury-ravaged 2013. On average, he was drafted around 17th on ESPN.com's fantasy leagues, making him the eighth running back selected.

In 2012, Martin was one of the best RBs in fantasy football, amassing nearly 2,000 yards of offense and 12 touchdowns.

Now, he's only a shell of that player. In five games this year, the Tampa Bay running back has 166 yards and a touchdown on the ground, in addition to 54 receiving yards. That's good enough for Martin to be the 60th-best fantasy RB on NFL.com and ESPN.com.

At this point, fantasy owners should remain pessimistic rather than optimistic for any chance of a turnaround.

For one, it doesn't say a lot about the team's confidence in him if it was open to trading him. This isn't the case of an aging veteran being caught in a rebuild. Martin's still relatively young and not close to the danger zone age-wise for running backs.

CBS Sports' Jason La Canfora called him "out-of-favor-but-inexpensive":

That tweet raises a few red flags in that Martin may be viewed as "out of favor" among the Buccaneers brass and that either the team or others in the league had so little faith in Martin that his price tag was relatively low.

It would be unfair to call Martin a complete lost cause—he's still only 25—but his numbers are far from encouraging. His yards-per-carry average dropped from 4.6 in 2012 to 3.6 in '13 and then 2.9 this year. Rotoworld's Adam Levitan didn't mince words when describing Martin's troubles over the last two years:

Simply put, it will be extremely difficult for Martin to improve upon his numbers this year when looking at the Buccaneers offense. The offensive line is ranked 30th in run blocking, according to Football Outsiders. Compare that to 13th in 2012, when Martin had his breakout season.

The two teams ranked below Tampa are the Philadelphia Eagles, who have LeSean McCoy, and the San Diego Chargers, who rank 31st in yards per carry and 28th in rushing yards as a team. Any Buccaneers running back will struggle without quality blocking in front of him.

But that may not be a problem for Martin in the near future because he may not even be on the field at all. Third-round draft pick Charles Sims looks to be over his ankle injury and ready to contribute.

Head coach Lovie Smith plans on integrating the rookie into the running game, per Scott Smith of Buccaneers.com:

"

Smith said he was 'very' excited to be getting Sims into the mix.

'As I talk about not being able to get more from our running game, of course it’s just not on the front—we say it starts up front. A lot of the big plays you see happening in the league in the running game is based on yards after contact—making someone miss in the open field. That’s all a part of it also.'

"

ESPN.com's Matt Williamson (ESPN Insider subscription required) intimated that Sims could supplant Martin in the depth chart:

"

Tampa Bay cannot run the football, and the Bucs could be looking for a change at the running back position. While Doug Martin was banged up in Week 8 with an ankle injury, Sims is due to return soon. This current regime inherited Martin, but used the fifth pick in the third round on Sims, a dual-threat running back.

"

There's no telling whether a trade would've helped Martin regain his old self. However, it seems clear now that he's still a Buccaneer that his fantasy stock won't be trending upward in 2014.

Fantasy owners may want to act accordingly.