TAMPA, Fla. — Bad back, bad hip and all, Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie running back Bucky Irving needed only 15 carries to rush for 117 yards in the Bucs’ 40-17 victory at the Los Angeles Chargers, the league’s top-ranked scoring defense.

For fellow rookie Jalen McMillan, a wide receiver, it was needing to hit the reset button after the Week 11 bye, and it has culminated in three touchdowns over the past two weeks, including the leadoff score against the Chargers.

Of course both of them can thank rookie center Graham Barton — the 26th overall pick in this year’s draft for his blocking efforts. He took New York Giants defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence II to the ground three weeks ago and gave up only two total quarterback pressures against the Chargers’ vaunted defensive front Sunday.

And then there’s rookie nickelback Tykee Smith, who, after sitting out three games because of a knee injury, punctuated his return with an interception against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 14.

Safe to say, the Bucs are getting a ton of production out of their 2024 draft class, and at a time when it matters most: in their push for a fifth consecutive playoff berth and fourth straight division title. Tampa Bay is on a four-game win streak with a road game at the Dallas Cowboys up next Sunday (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC).

“They’ve matured and grown up,” coach Todd Bowles said of his rookie class. “Through injury or otherwise, those guys got to play a lot more and their confidence has grown and they’re really fitting in and finding their roles within the team right now and they’re settling in playing good football.”

McMillan, one of two third-round picks by the Bucs, has been the latest breakout performer, at a time when the Bucs have desperately needed a second wide receiver to step up in Chris Godwin’s absence.

“Ever since that bye week, I’ve just been on a different level, different mindset, and just ready to help this team in any way I can,” McMillan said.

His first-quarter touchdown against the Chargers set the stage for Mike Evans to register a season-high 159 receiving yards and two touchdowns.

“He got hurt, and then he came back, and he had to catch up on the offense a little bit,” Bowles said of McMillan. “He had to get comfortable. Right now, he’s come along, we’ve put him in some important roles, and he’s come through for us. You can see the confidence [growing].”

Offensive coordinator Liam Coen added, “That’s the guy we’ve wanted to be out there, and he’s starting to prove it. He’s starting to show it. Sometimes it takes a little bit longer or a different timeline, but I’ve been really happy with his energy, his level of focus, and concentration throughout practices and walkthroughs.”

For Irving, he hasn’t even been considered RB1 except for the Bucs’ Week 6 victory at the New Orleans Saints, and yet he has become arguably the most electrifying player on the team this season.

“Bucky is definitely taking advantage of his opportunities,” quarterback Baker Mayfield said. “He’s another guy that we try to get the ball in his hands as quickly as possible because he’s done a great job. Obviously, the guys up front, everybody involved in the blocking scheme, have opened holes up for him. But there’s a different level with some of these explosive plays that he’s created on his own. That’s a special player that we have.”

His 1,148 scrimmage yards are the most on the team and the most of any rookie. His forced missed tackle rate of 36.8% on touches is the highest in the NFL and the seventh highest by any player in a season since 2018 (minimum 150 touches), according to NFL Next Gen Stats. He also has gained 498 yards after missed tackles, tied for the third most in the league behind Derrick Henry (612) and Saquon Barkley (534).

Bowles sees their success in part because of the rising expectations now put on rookies. For instance, Barton, McMillan and Smith were immediate factors in the game plan in Week 1.

“The way the league is going right now, coming out of college you don’t get the luxury of sitting everybody for a year or two behind somebody else,” Bowles said. “You have to kind of draft guys where if you’re drafting seven guys, at least four of them better be significant players right now, and the other three better have a skill set for the near future or something down the line.

“We start training them from day one — how to be professional, for their moment not to be too big for them during the season, put them in different situations at practice all day long.”

But it also has to do with the predicament the Bucs have been in financially, prioritizing re-signing their free agents such as Evans, Mayfield, left tackle Tristan Wirfs and safety Antoine Winfield Jr. It has meant needing to count on rookies, while utilizing the leadership of those veterans.

The youngsters are rising to the occasion.

“The way we practice so hard and so detailed and everybody’s on their stuff every week, so we just got to continue doing this intensity and harping on the details really,” McMillan said. “At the end of the day, we just want to continue winning and every game we want to continue winning. We don’t want to get comfortable.”