Tampa Bay's Peyton Barber will keep his job despite stolen tablet

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Peyton Barber, a running back for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, found his team-issued tablet stolen from his car while visiting a friend in Atlanta on Saturday. The tablet was not worth much but it contained the team's playbook.

Barber also lost his passport, sunglasses and some of his clothes. He had every reason to worry about what impact the theft might have on his football career. Four years ago, a cornerback for New York Jets, Josh Thomas, also lost a tablet with the team's playbook on it. Days later, he was released by the Jets because he did not "engage" enough with his teammates.

Though New York gave a lousy excuse for what they did to Thomas, it was indeed understandable because the playbook contained too much valuable information that no team wanted anyone else to know about.

Bruce Arians is the new head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. /VCG Photo

Fortunately for Barber, he should be able to keep his job with the Buccaneers because the team managed to delete the data contained on Barber's tablet via remote control, according to a team official who also denied any playbook was on the device.

As an undrafted player, Barber joined the Buccaneers in 2016. Last season, Barber totaled 871 rushing yards on 234 carries plus five touchdowns. Though the team had been struggling for years, their new head coach Bruce Arians might be able to improve their offense.

Barber's incident was one of many for NFL players recently. Former Houston Texans receiver Demaryius Thomas suffered a horrible car accident in which his automobile was launched into the air, and “rolled three times before finally landing in a grassy median.”