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Tampa Bay Buccaneers star running back Doug Martin enjoyed a fine bounce-back 2015 campaign, where he posted his second 1,400+ rushing yards for the second time in four NFL seasons. As it turns out, he may have played his way out of Florida.
Per reports, the Bucs still have interest in retaining the man known as “The Muscle Hamster”, but plan to be “strategic” in how they go about building out their roster. Considering Tampa Bay just cut ties with head coach Lovie Smith and is more worried about building a deep, balanced team around franchise quarterback Jameis Winston, spending big money on a position as volatile as running back may not be the wisest choice.
It also may not be wise to shove away the team’s best offensive player a year after he rediscovered his elite form. It does sound at the very least that Martin will hit free agency and test the open market, however, while the Buccaneers still have until March 9th to try to hammer out a new deal without outside sources getting involved.
With free agency a very real – if not likely – possibility, the question then arises; where does Martin go from here? Martin certainly has had his hiccups in the NFL, suffering a torn labrum in 2013 and struggling to maintain elite form in both 2013 and 2014. A lack of a commitment from his coaching staff and injuries to his offensive line certainly didn’t help during that stretch, leaving his impressive 2012 and 2015 runs looking more like the player the Bucs drafted four seasons ago. Here are three possible destinations for The Muscle Hamster:
Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys refused to pay up when DeMarco Murray entered free agency last year and it wound up blowing up in their face. Darren McFadden was the unstable lead rusher everyone pegged him as and Joseph Randle has seemingly played his way out of the league. That brings Dallas back to square one and one has to wonder if they just paid Murray the money he was owned in the first place, if 2015 would have gone a lot better. Perhaps they can do it over correctly this off-season by bringing in Martin, who has twice proven he can effectively dominant behind a strong offensive line. He’s had some very nice success in Tampa Bay, so it’s worth wondering how much better he could be behind the Cowboys’ elite o-line.
Tennessee Titans
The Titans have nothing to work with on the ground as it stands. Bishop Sankey has been a bust and the team still can’t be sure what they have in David Cobb. With franchise passer Marcus Mariota needing all the help he can get on offense, the Titans would be wise to bring in a stud rusher who they know can get the job done, rather than merely hope what they have will get them by. Martin could be the answer, and per reports, the Martin to Tennessee talk has already started.
New England Patriots
Martin apparently wants to break the bank in free agency, and who can blame him? The only issue there is few teams love paying up big cash to running backs, as the position grinds to a halt before the age of 30 usually and truly special running backs that are actually worth those massive deals just don’t come around very often. Still, teams that need rushers will consider doing it and if Martin values winning at all, the Patriots could very well factor into the equation. New England had a ton of injuries at running back last year and may want to take the necessary precautions so they don’t endure that again. Bringing in Martin would give them an elite feature back they haven’t had since they had Cory Dillon.
