The Bucs have two Boise State draft picks ever, and they will now compete for playing time

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers just drafted running back Jeremy McNichols out of Boise State to compete with their other backs for playing time, in what is likely to be a committee approach to the backfield.

Amusingly, McNichols will have to compete with Doug Martin for playing time which makes for a nice bit of irony: Martin is the team’s only other Boise State draft pick, ever.

The Bucs drafted Martin in the first round in 2012, produce outstanding numbers as a rookie and in 2015 but nothing in 2013 and 2014, signed him to a new contract last year, and then watched him disappoint, enter rehab, and get suspended for four games. Three of those suspended games will be served at the start of this season.

Martin’s place on the roster seems fairly secure now that the Bucs’ only investment at running back is McNichols, but the Bucs still have a pretty deep group of running backs. In addition to Martin and McNichols, they have Jacquizz Rodgers, Charles Sims and Peyton Barber with realistic shots at playing time.

There are more Bucs connections at Boise State, too. Dirk Koetter used to be the head coach at Boise State, and he coached current Boise State head coach Bryan Harsin—which means the team should have some extra insight into McNichols’ makeup.