The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have added their second running back, and second offensive player of the 2012 NFL Draft in the form of Michael Smith. The Utah State product split carries with Robert Turbin throughout his career, who was drafted in the fourth round of this draft. Smith should add competition to a pretty good group of running backs. After selecting Doug Martin in the first round of this draft
Michael Smith is a short but well-built running back who has a low center of gravity and has some speed, but his best aspect may be his versatility: he can run between the tackles, has the speed to get to the edge and can contribute in the passing game as a receiver. He's lacking as a pass blocker, although that's not due to his effort. He should compete with Mossis Madu and Robert Hughes to be the third back on the roster, and his versatility gives him an excellent chance of winning that competition.
Smith has run for 1,313 yards and 15 touchdowns in his career at Utah State, and did so on 184 carries for an average of 7.1 yards per carry. He also added 38 catches for 424 yards and four touchdowns through the air.
Stay with us, as the Bucs have one final pick at the end of the seventh round. They have the 26th pick of this round, which is 233rd overall. Stay with us throughout the rest of the day for analysis, and news on undrafted free agents.