Free Agent Focus with Insider insight: RB LeGarrette Blount

Calling Blount a "bruiser" nearly requires a "no pun intended" to follow. Mainly because of the infamous face punch on a Boise State player who got in his face after a game. It got him suspended most of his senior season and resulted in his falling out of the draft the following year.

Blount rebounded from the incident and what looked to have ruined a promising NFL career when as an undrafted rookie, he ran for 1007 yards in Tampa Bay. The Bucs were just taking a chance on him and he made the most of it.

What's interesting from the Raiders' perspective is his offensive coordinator that season was none other than Raiders new offensive coordinator, Greg Olson. Blount ran for 871 yards the following season under Olson as well. It was last season with Olson gone and the Bucs with rookie phenom, Doug Martin that Blount fell off. Now he needs a fresh start and a reunion with his former OC could be just the ticket.

Here is what Sander Philipse of Buccaneers Blog, Bucs Nation had to say:

'Inconsistent' is probably the best word to describe Legarrette Blount. He's big, but he doesn't consistently run with power because he doesn't lower his pads often enough. He's inconsistent with his vision, which leads to a lot of missed opportunities. He has games where he goes off on a defense, plays well and gets multiple long runs -- and then he'll have games where he runs 20 times for 50 yards. He has the physical ability to pass-block, but he's not consistent enough in reading his keys and occasionally whiffs on a block. He's done nothing as a receiver out of the backfield, although his hands appear to be fine. It's more that he's slow to change direction and struggles to make people miss, which is not a good trait in a back.

Overall he's mostly a two-down back who is very talented, very tough to tackle, but maddeningly inconsistent. Given the fact that he only saw a handful of snaps last season it seems likely the Buccaneers will let him test the market, rather than hitting him with a restricted free agent tag.