Charles Sims ‘very likely’ to make debut next week

Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie running back Charles Sims was activated off of the short-term injured reserve on Saturday, but the Bucs decided to hold him out of yesterday’s 22-17 loss to the Cleveland Browns, looking to Bobby Rainey and Mike James instead. Sims, who received comparisons to Chicago Bears star running back Matt Forte during the pre-draft process, has plenty of upside, and the Buccaneers could have a top-notch rushing attack if he’s as good as the organization reportedly thinks he is.

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According to 620 WDAE’s Tom Krasniqi, Buccaneers GM Jason Licht stated that Sims is “very likely” to debut this week against the Atlanta Falcons, and I would honestly assume that Sims is locked in to play. The Bucs should try to get him out there as soon as possible, though they were unsurprisingly not comfortable with throwing him into the fire yesterday against a talented defense. The Falcons defense is anything but talented, giving Sims an easy matchup for his NFL debut, and that’s all the more important given that he’s coming off of a significant injury.

It will be interesting to see if Doug Martin is healthy enough to play by then, but Rainey still looks like the Buccaneers starting running back for now. Sims appears to have the most upside going forward, especially since he can make a sizeable impact on passing downs.