Peyton Barber Receives High Praise from Bruce Arians

Peyton Barber came out of Auburn as an early entrant into the 2016 NFL Draft and after going undrafted, he was signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In that season, Barber carried the ball 55 times for 223-yards and one touchdown. He also had five catches for 28-yards and started one game.

In each of the past two seasons, Barber’s stats and workload have gotten bigger. In 2018, he was the starter from start-to-finish as rookie Ronald Jones failed to find his footing under head coach Dirk Koetter and offensive coordinator Todd Monken.

Both men have moved on, and many believe Jones will get to showcase more of his talents under the new coaching staff entrenched at the AdventHealth Training Center.

Even general manager Jason Licht spoke about the possibility of what Jones might accomplish under this new staff.

But if Jones is going to explode on the scene, it’s going to be hard earned and well deserved as the team’s head coach certainly seems to be sold on what he’s already getting in a starting running back.

Answering a question from Casey Phillips at a recent fan event hosted by the team, when asked about who stood out while the staff was evaluating players from 2018, Arians said of Barber,

“After watching him, we have a running back. And we have a big, strong, fast running back.”

The fans in attendance clapped and cheered in agreement with Arians whose voice was audibly excited speaking about the 25-year old back.

And while Arians’ offenses have historically been known for their big plays and ‘no risk it, no biscuit’ mentality, he quickly continued the conversation by talking about how important it was to have a solid running back, saying,

“Everything in our offense starts with the running game. We’re known for throwing it down the field, but you can’t throw it down the field if you’re not running the ball. Man, he is really impressive.”

Reassuring comments for fans of Barber who have likely been anxiously waiting the news of what might happen to the running back.

As a restricted free-agent there has not been much in terms of news about Barber and the deadline for the team to offer even a low-round tender is fast approaching.

If Arians is truly this enamored with Barber as a part of his offense, then it will be up to Jason Licht and Mike Greenberg to figure out the rest.

To hear more about the event, what was said, and reactions to the same, check out the latest from The PewterCast.