Charles Sims Challenging Doug Martin in the Bucs' Backfield

Heading into the 2015 NFL season, everyone knew Doug Martin was a risky fantasy football draft pick. But as the preseason played out, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers convinced many people that Martin was undoubtedly going to be the team's feature back. Well, that only seemed to last two weeks into the regular season.

In week 3 against the Houston Texans, Martin played only 31-of-61 offensive snaps. Meanwhile, backup Charles Sims played 30 snaps, which seems to indicate that Martin is no longer the team's feature back. Instead, there seems to be a close to 50/50 timeshare in the Bucs' backfield.

It's not like either back did much of anything against the Texans though. Martin did receive the most carries with 14, but he only recorded 46 yards (3.3 YPC). Sims somehow managed to play even worse than Martin with only 11 yards on six carries (1.8 YPC). However, Sims did see a lot of time in passing situations. He caught two balls for 41 yards and a touchdown.

In defense of these two running backs, the Bucs do not have a very good offensive line and the Texans do have one of the best defensive lines in all of football. Unfortunately, it's not going to get any easier for either guy next week when Tampa Bay takes on the Carolina Panthers. For the time being, Martin is still the safer play of the two backs. However, it'd be smart to bench both guys if possible.