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<b>SteemSports Presenter: @johnnypaycheck</b>
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<b>SteemSports Editor: @theprophet0</b>
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2011… The Tampa Bay Buccaneers opponents outscore them by over 200 points and outrush them by over 1,000 yards on the season.  They finish 4-12.  Their feature back is LeGarrette Blunt. 
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2012… Enter Doug Martin… The Bucs finish the season +3 wins and outrush their opponents by +500 yards on the season after trading up to select Martin at the end of the First Round of the 2012 Draft.  
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I know that correlation is not causation.  The Bucs also rushed the ball 50 more times AND improved their rush defense significantly that offseason and allowed 1200 fewer rushing yards in 2012.  He only averaged 0.4 yards per carry more than his year earlier counterpart.
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Stats are weird.  I don’t mean to discount Doug Martin’s production… it was phenomenal… it was record breaking.  Martin was electric in his rookie season… ripping off nearly 2,000 all-purpose yards and 12 TDs while tearing through rushing defenses for 4.6 yards per carry.   
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2013… A few weeks into the season, Martin suffered a torn labrum and was placed on season-ending injured reserve.  To that point, he’d averaged an abysmal 3.6 YPC.  Bucs finish 4-12 again.
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2014… Martin, once again hampered by injury, averages 3.7 YPC and totals fewer than 500 yards rushing for the second year in a row.  The Bucs finish 2-14.
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This is a crossroads event.  They’ve clearly tasted the potential of the still young athlete, but… What have you done for me lately?  The Bucs decline to pick up the 5th year option on his rookie contract and roll the dice on Martin as a feature back again… and he goes HAM.
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2015… 4.9 YPC… 1400 rushing yards… At 26, the Muscle Hamster showed that he was still capable of laying down elite numbers in a pro backfield.  Bucs finish 6-10.
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2016… In March, Martin signs a 5-year, $35.75 million contract extension… 9 months later, he is suspended 4 games for substance abuse, violating NFL policy.  He averaged 2.9 YPC on 144 carries, totaling fewer than 500 yards yet again. Despite his absence, the Bucs finish 9-7. 
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2017… After serving his suspension, Martin returns to the field where he deals with injury again and averages 2.9 YPC yet again and totals 406 yards on 138 attempts… Career lows.  February 20th, 2018, he is released.  Bucs finish 5-11.
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Even in the years that he was dominant, he was hardly MVP worthy on his team, let alone the league.  In cutting Martin, the Bucs are rumored to save $6.75 million.  Add to that the deluge of talented rookie backs entering the draft in April (something that has worked for Tampa Bay in the past,) and you can see why cutting Martin isn’t controversial.  
A true feast or famine player with behavioral red flags, Martin is (was?) a talented athlete, but at a position that gets younger and cheaper by the minute, $6.75 million can be much better spent in free agency.

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