The Tampa Bay Buccaneers changed up their backfield by signing Pittsburgh Steelers breakout star Kenneth Gainwell to be the new all around guy next to Bucky Irving as the feature back, while they let Rachaad White walk in free agency.
White had already made it abundantly clear during the season that he was going to leave the Bucs to take on a bigger opportunity elsewhere, and he's hoping he can do just that now that he has signed with the Washington Commanders.
Seeing as how he could only land a one-year deal worth $2 million as a prove it type proposition, it looks like the NFL market didn't exactly value White super highly. He could have even gotten a better deal out of the Buccaneers before hitting free agency, though in Gainwell, the Bucs will argue they are getting a much better player.
Rachaad White felt underrated and unappreciated by the Buccaneers
So it is no surprise that Rachaad White feels a little bit disrespected right now. Speaking to the Commanders official YouTube channel, White stated he felt underused by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers:
“Underutilized? We could say, ‘Yeah.’ I feel like I’ve been kind of underrated, too. But it’s why we get to play this game. It’s why God gave me another opportunity to be able to show it. And obviously, during the journey I’ve been through, it ain’t really kind of nothing new to me.”
Last season, White scored four rushing touchdowns, and he had an impressive nine touchdowns through the air and on the ground in each of the previous two seasons. Even though his career average of 3.9 yards per carry seems underwhelming, White improved significantly as a rusher in the past two campaigns with 4.3 yards per carry in both the 2024 and 2025 NFL regular seasons.
So White does have a point that he was underrated in Tampa Bay, and it makes a ton of sense for him to want to take a one year deal with Washington, where he will get more of a workload, to prove himself as a top back in this league.
But Bucky Irving has to be listening to what White is saying and feeling a bit disrespected himself. Because the main reason why White didn't get more touches in Tampa was because the Bucs felt they couldn't take the rock out of Irving's hands.
Irving's numbers over the past two seasons are much more impressive. He had 1,110 rushing yards and eight touchdowns on the ground in 2024 with four combined touchdowns in 2025 despite injury issues. When he was fully healthy in 2024, he averaged 5.4 yards per carry, which is insane production. Irving will be listening to White's comments, ready to prove why he is the No. 1 guy.
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