Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Lovie Smith calls Doug Martin the lead running back in Tampa Bay

Published Aug. 5, 2015 5:55 p.m. ET

foxsports

There's been a whole lot of back and forth about who will start for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at running back in 2015. According to Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com though, the decision has been made.

Rosenthal reports that head coach Lovie Smith recently spoke out about the running back battle, calling Doug Martin the "lead guy."

"We talked about being able to establish the run. Doug will be the lead guy doing that, so it's very important that we open up some holes and let him do his thing," Smith said via the Tampa Bay Times.

Well, the comment almost flew under the radar, but now the world knows. Doug Martin is the lead back in Tampa Bay. This means that he'll get one more season to prove himself in a contract year, while Charles Sims will be taking a back seat once again.

How long will this last? That will remain the real question heading into 2015.

(h/t NFL.com and Tampa Bay Times)