Bucky Irving Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Week 4 Projection: Is Buccaneers RB worth a shot? 

The injuries keep piling up as we bid goodbye to Week 3 of football and if you're stressing over how to manage your fantasy roster, we got you covered. We saw more than a few surprises this week, chief among them being the Washington Commanders' upset win over the Cincinnati Bengals where Jayden Daniels put on the ol' razzle-dazzle. With Week 3 done and dusted, it's time to look at the waiver wire for any marginal gains to exploit in the next week of action. One name you should probably chase right from the get-go is Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Bucky Irving who, despite sharing the workload with Rachaad White, impressed in Week 3.

Week 4 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire adds: Bucky Irving

NFL: Denver Broncos at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Image Source: IMAGN)

A disappointing performance at the NFL Combine warded off many a suitor but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers decided to take a punt on Bucky Irving in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL draft. That move has paid off and how.

Despite a Week 3 loss to the Denver Broncos that saw rookie Bo Nix pick up his first win in the National Football League, head coach Todd Bowles told reporters that Irving has earned more offensive snaps going forward.

While RB1 Rachaad White saw 74% of the offensive snaps as compared to Irving's 32%, Bowles put that down to the team needing to protect the ball a bit more.

Despite the lopsided share, Irving outperformed White, rushing nine times 70 yards and catching all three of his targets for 14 yards. White, on the other hand, had six carries for 17 yards. At this point, it appears to be a matter of time before White takes on lead-back duties so expect the share of offensive snaps to be a little more democratized.

At present, Irving is currently rostered in 35% of Yahoo fantasy leagues and 33% in ESPN leagues.

Now, we're not suggesting having Irving start every week but if you're looking at this Tampa Bay backfield, Irving currently has 80 more rushing yards than White despite having six fewer carries so far. Those numbers speak volumes about how effective Irving has been. We're not likely to see lead-back duties shift immediately in Week 4, but expect offensive coordinator Liam Coen to turn to Irving a little more as the weeks go on.