I'm mildly surprised to see there was minimal love for my selection of Bucky Irving in our ongoing dynasty startup draft, written about elsewhere on this page. He's a smaller guy and just a fourth-round pick, but he sure was good last season.
Irving finished as the 15th-best running back in PPR leagues last year, and that was with the team taking half a season to decide he was a lot better than Rachaad White. Had he been used all year as he was the second half of the season, he'd have been better than that.
From Weeks 10-18, which for Tampa Bay constituted 8 games, Irving averaged 18.3 points in PPR leagues. That was 6th among all running backs to play at least five games the second half of the season. Table shows the top 40, sorted by fantasy points per game.
| RUNNING BACKS, 2024 (LAST NINE WEEKS) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | G | Run | No | Rec | TD | Pts/G |
| Jahmyr Gibbs, Det. | 9 | 756 | 32 | 352 | 12 | 23.9 |
| Bijan Robinson, Atl. | 8 | 824 | 23 | 128 | 10 | 22.3 |
| Saquon Barkley, Phil. | 8 | 1080 | 13 | 132 | 7 | 22.0 |
| Josh Jacobs, G.B. | 8 | 567 | 17 | 214 | 12 | 20.9 |
| Chase Brown, Cin. | 7 | 511 | 33 | 262 | 5 | 20.0 |
| Bucky Irving, T.B. | 8 | 703 | 24 | 218 | 5 | 18.3 |
| Jonathan Taylor, Ind. | 8 | 929 | 8 | 36 | 7 | 18.3 |
| James Conner, Ari. | 7 | 430 | 28 | 247 | 5 | 18.0 |
| De'Von Achane, Mia. | 9 | 487 | 41 | 290 | 7 | 17.9 |
| Chuba Hubbard, Car. | 6 | 530 | 17 | 63 | 5 | 17.7 |
| Derrick Henry, Balt. | 8 | 869 | 10 | 100 | 5 | 17.1 |
| James Cook, Buff. | 8 | 513 | 13 | 88 | 10 | 16.6 |
| David Montgomery, Det. | 6 | 287 | 19 | 180 | 5 | 16.0 |
| Kyren Williams, LAR | 8 | 697 | 14 | 66 | 6 | 15.8 |
| Alvin Kamara, N.O. | 5 | 290 | 22 | 176 | 1 | 14.9 |
| Breece Hall, NYJ | 7 | 374 | 22 | 156 | 4 | 14.1 |
| Joe Mixon, Hou. | 8 | 407 | 22 | 194 | 5 | 14.0 |
| Aaron Jones, Min. | 9 | 573 | 25 | 163 | 4 | 13.6 |
| Ameer Abdullah, L.V. | 7 | 230 | 26 | 201 | 4 | 13.3 |
| Rico Dowdle, Dall. | 9 | 758 | 18 | 86 | 2 | 12.7 |
| Tyrone Tracy, NYG | 8 | 397 | 21 | 168 | 4 | 12.7 |
| J.K. Dobbins, LAC | 5 | 285 | 11 | 46 | 3 | 12.4 |
| Rachaad White, T.B. | 8 | 338 | 20 | 141 | 5 | 12.2 |
| Zach Charbonnet, Sea. | 8 | 356 | 17 | 151 | 4 | 11.5 |
| Najee Harris, Pitt. | 9 | 451 | 19 | 131 | 4 | 11.2 |
| Tyjae Spears, Ten. | 7 | 198 | 18 | 148 | 4 | 10.9 |
| Tony Pollard, Ten. | 8 | 457 | 17 | 103 | 2 | 10.6 |
| Jaylen Warren, Pitt. | 9 | 360 | 26 | 243 | 1 | 10.3 |
| Jerome Ford, Cle. | 7 | 296 | 16 | 136 | 2 | 10.2 |
| D'Andre Swift, Chi. | 9 | 454 | 17 | 162 | 2 | 10.1 |
| Brian Robinson, Was. | 7 | 338 | 11 | 80 | 2 | 9.3 |
| Nick Chubb, Cle. | 5 | 219 | 3 | 25 | 3 | 9.1 |
| Kareem Hunt, K.C. | 8 | 314 | 16 | 125 | 2 | 9.0 |
| Justice Hill, Balt. | 6 | 109 | 17 | 111 | 2 | 8.5 |
| Rhamondre Stevenson, N.E. | 7 | 363 | 10 | 69 | 1 | 8.5 |
| Travis Etienne, Jac. | 8 | 304 | 21 | 157 | 0 | 8.4 |
| Alexander Mattison, L.V. | 5 | 119 | 14 | 99 | 1 | 8.4 |
| Isaac Guerendo, S.F. | 8 | 193 | 11 | 130 | 3 | 7.7 |
| Javonte Williams, Den. | 8 | 126 | 23 | 130 | 2 | 7.6 |
It's a new year, and Tampa Bay coordinator Liam Coen is gone to Jacksonville. The Bucs have some questions on the offensive line, and other capable running backs in Rachaad White and Sean Tucker.
But Irving looks good to me. I expect his second-half usage will carry over to 2025, and that he'll be very good again. And if we're talking dynasty, really good chance he's putting up good numbers well after 2-3 guys ahead of him on the above table have ceased to be factors.
--Andy Richardson