NFL Analysis
4/27/24
5 min read
Bucky Irving NFL Draft 2024: Combine Results, Scouting Report For Tampa Bay Buccaneers RB
The 2024 NFL Draft is getting close, making it an excellent time to highlight some of the class' best players with scouting reports. Each report will include strengths, weaknesses and background information.
Here's our report on Bucky Irving.
Bucky Irving 2024 NFL Combine Results
- Height: 5-foot-9
- Weight: 192
- 40-yard dash: 4.55
- 10-yard split: 1.54
- Vertical jump: 29.5"
- Broad jump: 9-7
Bucky Irving 2024 NFL Draft Scouting Report
Strengths
- Featured predominantly as shotgun back with some snaps in pistol formation; ran both zone and gap scheme
- Quick feet with a sudden change of direction and a natural burst to re-accelerate; stop-and-start quickness
- Subtle shiftiness to make defenders miss in space, lateral quickness and balance to make multiple moves
- Run-to-daylight feel to his running; looked for space rather than following the run's designed path
- Has a playmaking dimension, ran like an improvisational jazz musician feeling it more than following scripted notes
- Competitive and physically tough as a blocker; attacked corners when used as a lead blocker on jet sweeps
- Location versatility as a receiver, lined up offset in the backfield and detached from formation split and slot
- Ran wheel routes and angle routes; excellent hands to catch the ball easily on the move with run-after-catch
- His 2023 tape showed quick feet to make decisive cuts in the backfield and at the first level of defense, a snap to his movement
- Built low to the ground with lateral quickness to stop-and-start and change direction instantly, makes multiple moves
- Showed spatial awareness and an innate natural feel for where defenders were at the defense's second and third levels
- Despite a smaller frame, ran hard inside to get every yard out of each run, competitive and physical
Weaknesses
- Strong tendency to freelance looking for the big play, too often did not stay with the integrity of the run design
- More quick than straight-line fast, does not possess true breakaway speed nor acceleration
- The 2023 tape showed he needs to develop more patience in zone and gap scheme concepts, must develop pace and tempo
- May not have the accelerating burst and speed to bounce outside and outrun defense
NFL Transition
Irving was a shotgun runner at Oregon with 91 percent of his carries in the 2022 and 2023 seasons coming as an offset back in the shotgun. He ran both zone and gap scheme concepts, and same-side power was a featured concept.
Irving lacks ideal size and mass but he is built low to the ground and runs with a low center of gravity that allows him to make quick, sharp, darting cuts — at times several within the same run — with an elusive, flexible and springy feel to his running.
What consistently stood out watching Irving’s tape was that he was an urgent, tenacious, spontaneous, impulsive, instinctive, anticipatory and competitive runner who ran with physicality, toughness and contact balance to work through tackles at the second and third levels of the defense that belied his size and weight. At times there looked to be a sudden, twitchy feel to his running with his one-cut downhill change of direction and his outstanding short-area quickness and burst showing the lateral juice to make defenders miss in space.
There is an offensive weapon element to Irving’s game due to his ability to detach from the formation as a receiver and run multiple routes and his deployment on jet sweeps to get him the ball in space and on the move.
The main question with Irving as you project and transition him to the next level is what is he and how can he be deployed within the context of an NFL offense. Irving has feature-back running traits and competitiveness but at 5-foot-9 and 192 pounds without ideal explosiveness, he becomes team and scheme-specific. Think Kyren Williams with the Los Angeles Rams, and Irving is a quicker more elusive runner than Williams. Irving would fit well as the primary back in the Miami Dolphins offense.
Other Notes
Irving came out of the Chicago area as a top-10 national running back prospect and began his college career at Minnesota, He transferred after one year to Oregon, where he led the team in rushing in his first season of 2022. In 2023, Irving rushed 186 times for 1,180 yards (6.3 average) and 11 TDs and caught 56 passes for 413 yards and two more TDs.
In 2022, Irving ran almost exclusively out of the shotgun: 141 of his 156 carries for 6.85 yards per rush. Some of his longest runs were schemed runs that featured misdirection. As 2022 progressed, Irving was much more disciplined as a runner and stayed with the integrity of the runs. He generated more velocity at the POA, resulting in better contact balance at the second and third levels of the defense.
In 2023, Irving again ran almost exclusively out of the shotgun: 170 of his 186 carries for 6.7 yards per rush. Irving was featured at times on jet sweeps to get him the ball on the move. He continued to become more disciplined and patient.
