LeGarrette Blount “Lack Of Commitment” A Concern For The Buccaneers

Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times reports that Tampa Bay Buccaneers RB LeGarrette Blount has a lot to prove to coaches to retain his role as the starter in the Bucs’ backfield.

According to Stroud, ever since Blount was claimed from the Tennessee Titans as an undrafted waiver claim in 2010, he has had numerous issues. Coaches were questioning his commitment, with Blount constantly being late and even falling asleep in team and positional meetings. On the field, Blount has had issues with ball security, as he has nine fumbles in two years and six of them lost. Blount also came off the field on passing downs, as his pass blocking and recieving skills were less than ideal.

These issues came at a time when Blount was the unquestioned starter, partially due to a lack of overwhelming talent at his position other than him. That is no longer the case as the Bucs and new head coach Greg Schiano drafted RB Doug Martin out of Boise State in the first round of this years draft. Martin is seen as the polar opposite of Blount: in shape, a good pass blocker, great receiver, and committed. Martin has already drawn comparisions from Schiano as a bigger version of Baltimore Ravens RB Ray Rice, whom Schiano coached while at Rutgers.

With Martin in tow, the time is now for Blount to step his game up and show the new coaching staff that he is not that player of the last two years. To his credit, he has been working on his well noted fumbling issues.

“It’s become a habit,” he said. “I don’t even notice that I do it most of the time now. Holding the ball down (low) is kind of uncomfortable now. … If that’s all you do every time you are at practice with a ball in your hand, you can’t help but make it a habit.”

We have Blount listed as No. 44 best available free agent in our Top 50 Free Agents list.