Fantasy Football 2012: Is Tampa Bay Buccaneers RB Doug Martin Overhyped?

Ryan Lester

Jun 7, 2018

Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie running back Doug Martin has a Mock Draft Central average draft position (ADP) of 22. He is the 15th running back to come off the board, according to their tallies.

Yahoo! is a little more cautious, but they still have him at 36 overall—15th among running backs.

Is he being ranked too high?

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Rookie running backs have not exactly been tearing up the league in recent years. There is a lot for the rookies to learn, specifically in pass protection. Asking a rookie to come in and learn their position at the highest level as well as learn complex blocking assignments can be a tall task.

So far, Martin has excelled in organized team activities (OTAs), but that is different than real-game action.

There is also the case of an incumbent standing in the way. In Martin’s case, it is LeGarrette Blount. While he is about the least-exciting running back in the league, he did manage to run for 1,007 yards at 5.0 yards per carry as a rookie and 781 yards at a 4.2 clip in his second year.

At 6’0″, 247 lbs, he won’t simply go away, especially near the stripe.

The Bucs figure to run a lot, though, so both runners should see plenty of use. Martin will absolutely be the choice in third-down situations and could wind up being the favorite in early down situations as well. At the end of the game is when Tampa could turn to Blount’s size.

While I think Martin will have a nice season, I’m thinking he’s more of a low-end RB2 than an high-end one like he’s being treated as.

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