The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made a couple of big additions on the offensive side of the ball that have only gone under the radar to the blissfully uninformed, because the Buccaneers faithful are very excited for the debut of rookie wide receiver Ted Hurst, the potential role of tight end Bauer Sharp, and, of course, former Pittsburgh Steelers ace Kenny Gainwell.
Possibly the most underrated running back in the NFL, Gainwell is a perfect modern day weapon out of the backfield, and it says a lot that the Buccaneers targeted him early in free agency and landed him as the ideal replacement for free agency departure Rachaad White, who does not have half of the juice or pure rushing ability of Gainwell, who is such a great athlete he even had one of the best catches of the 2025 NFL regular season.
Of course, the Buccaneers already have a great running back in the backfield in Bucky Irivng, who is still young and not far removed from easily clearing the 1,000-yard barrier. The only thing holding Irving back last season was injury.
Bucky Irving has to watch out for Kenny Gainwell
Still, Irving has to watch out a bit, because the Buccaneers are very, very high on what Kenny Gainwell brings to this team. Bucs general manager Jason Licht stated on the Sports Day Tampa Bay podcast that he doesn't think of Gainwell as necessarily being Bucky Irving's backup running back; he sees this partnership as more of a 1a and 1b type of deal.
Licht said, “Bucky and Gainwell, I mean, you use the word ‘complementary’ and that sometimes that means ‘thunder and lightning'. But in this case it means something different in a good way, 1a/1b-types that can do the same things so you don’t have to change things up if one can’t go.”
That does not sound like lip service either, because Licht did bring up Sean Tucker, the underrated more traditional Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back, but made it clear that he is the third fiddle to those two.
While Irving is going to be the No. 1 running back and already proved to the Bucs that he can be a feature back in the NFL, it sounds like Licht and Todd Bowles are planning on a big, big role for Gainwell - and not just on passing downs either. It sounds like Gainwell is a bona fide feature back, too, just right behind Irving in terms of stature. For now.
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