Mike James gained muscle, recovering well

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers showed off some excellent depth at the running back position last season, as they were able to recover from two season-ending injuries to their top two backs. Doug Martin was the every-down, workhorse back and face of the offense to start the season after his excellent rookie year, but he tore his labrum relatively early in the season and was replaced by rookie Mike James.

The Miami product always looked solid, but now he looks like a guy who could blossom after impressively racking up 295 yards on 60 carries (4.9 YPC) before breaking his ankle in mid-November. Bobby Rainey showed some flashes replacing him and Brian Leonard wasn’t an awful fourth guy on the depth chart overall, so the Buccaneers can definitely feel confident about their RB situation going forward, especially with Martin leading the way and James behind him.

620 WDAE’s Bucs beat writer Tom Krasniqi tweeted that he recently spoke with James, and he added that James “looks bigger” after adding some more muscle. The running back told Krasniqi that “he’s coming along well” from surgery to repair his broken ankle, so it sounds like he’s ready to threaten for some significant snaps behind Martin in a new-look Buccaneers offense that will feature a revamped line, Josh McCown at quarterback, and possibly Mike Evans replacing Mike Williams as the WR opposite of Vincent Jackson.


(nflspinzone.com)