“You Bucs Fans Are Going To Love His Ability”
March 16th, 2026
Upgrade.
For the first couple of years Rachaad White was with the Bucs, it drove Joe bananas how White had terrible vision.
There would be a hole, sometimes rather large, to both his right and his left and instead, White would run right into a defender. Drove Joe crazy.
Most of Joe’s readers blamed Robert Hainsey. And Joe was raked over the coals for pointing this out regularly that White couldn’t read blocks.
That should not be an issue with new Bucs running back Kenneth Gainwell. The free agent signee from Pittsburgh has no such issues.
In fact, Gainwell is excellent at smelling daylight and running to it.
Former NFL offensive linemen Brian Baldinger took to Twitter for a film breakdown of Gainwell. It just jumped off the screen how Gainwell had a sixth sense for where daylight is, and he often darted to it.
This man has vision.
“Two foot stop — like presses the hole and then he finds the daylight,” Baldinger yelped on Gainwell. “His ability to change direction — bam! — and quickly finds the daylight … where you want.”
Baldinger also raved about Gainwell’s special teams skills, specifically his kickoff coverage skills.
“You Bucs fans are going to love his ability to play the game at every phase,” Baldinger said.
While White may not have been much of a runner — he was actually an underrated runner inside the tackles on short-yardage plays — Gainwell is a better running than White and might be his equal in the passing game (Joe was a huge believer of White in the passing game and it was borderline irresponsible how little Josh Grizzard used White there).
Maybe the Bucs upgraded at backup running back and special teams with the signing of Gainwell in an otherwise awful week when they clearly took a step backwards.
.@steelers @Buccaneers @KENNETHGAINWEL was the #herewego TEAM MVP; and for good reason…He is a true triple threat …. The Bucs just became more difficult to defend. #BaldysBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/Z2iXu3kGGV
— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) March 14, 2026
March 16th, 2026 at 12:18 am
He and Bucky seem like twins and should be pretty interchangeable = Both smaller/shorter, both quick but not very fast, both are willing blockers (although size limits their effectiveness)and best of all both are EXCELLENT pass catchers.
There should be no “tells” when either he or Bucky are in and it will be fun to see if Zac puts them in together. He (Zac) was pretty creative with Bijon as a runner and especially as a pass catcher…..Wonder if we’re going to try and run a lot of wide zone again
March 16th, 2026 at 1:16 am
White drove me nuts for dancing around in the backfield Joe. He was not quick enough to do the Barry Sanders impression back there. When there were blocks in front of him he refused to just lower his shoulder and get what yardage he could. I think if you asked his coaches, including Bowles what frustrated them the most? That would be a comon thread. White had enough size to get tough yards but refused.
Go Bucs!
March 16th, 2026 at 1:20 am
This one excites me!
March 16th, 2026 at 2:03 am
I love Baldy videos. I think he uses his phone to video the highlights off his TV. He’s the best.
March 16th, 2026 at 2:35 am
Rashad White was improperly used by the mental midget coaching staff. Say what you want but the guy recently led the NFL in RB completion percentage- he was an unused weapon.
March 16th, 2026 at 5:27 am
Crown the guy already! All I’m seeing is how great he is. If he was so good why did Pittsburgh let him get away? I miss the old days with the two headed running monsters known as WD-40. Warrick Dunn and Mike Alstott. Sounds like we still have a couple WD’s but no 40 to punish and tire the defense and get us the must need yards in tight situations.
March 16th, 2026 at 5:48 am
Joe .. ‘It seems, maybe, the Bucs upgraded at backup running back and special teams with the signing of Gainwell in an otherwise awful week when they clearly took a step backwards.’
Love what you wrote about Gainwell, but I don’t understand the ‘otherwise awful week when they clearly took a step backwards’ comment Joe. I wanted them to be more aggressive in free agency, but for the salary CAP $$$ we have available, I think they did exceedingly well. I’m a lot more optimistic about this season now than I was when free agency started.
One Joe thinks the team took a step backwards. The other Joe likes the additions very much and isn’t sure about the overall status direction with the Mike Evans loss. –Joe
Yes our FA signings are clearly older than what most of us would prefer, but that’s not necessarily bad because all of them have had excellent durability for the most part. We’ve added 9 FAs I believe who can help us this season (age in Sep when season starts):
o RB Kenny Gainwell (27)
o QB Jake Browning (30)
o TE Cade Otton (27)
o TE Ko Kieft (28)
o OL Dan Feeney (32)
o ILB Alex Anzalone (32)
o DL A’Shawn Robinson (31)
o Edge Al’Quadin Muhammad (31)
o Safety Miles Killebrew (33)
Our starting defense in particular stayed about the same age-wise with Anzalone replacing LVD & a rookie replacing SVD, Robinson replacing Logan Hall, and HOPEFULLY a rookie replacing Gaines, plus Muhammad replacing Reddick. More important though, we got bigger & meaner and that’s exactly what this defense needs.
Bucs have got to draft smart though to make it all pay off. Hopefully we grab (in the Top-4 Rnds) a beastly NT/DT, 2 ILBs & 1 CB. Would love to add a high Rnd Edge, but would rather have the beastly NT/DT, an ILB and a CB before that (would do us more good this year). With a strong, targeted draft this Bucs’ defense could potentially finish in the Top-10 IMO IF it can stay reasonably healthy.
March 16th, 2026 at 6:06 am
Defense Rules
I agree with you 100% I truly believe we upgraded.
One of the joes is always negative.
March 16th, 2026 at 6:41 am
@ Garro: I agree, it was my only complaint about him. Foward, stop, shift and run into the lineman’s a$$.
March 16th, 2026 at 6:42 am
Better go find an Alstott to go with the new Dunn.
March 16th, 2026 at 6:48 am
Gainwell is clearly an upgrade over R. White. Bringing back Tucker is a solid move as well. Hopefully Bucky is healthy and returns to form, although I was spooked by his depression – headcase? I like the attitude we’ve brought in, 🤞🏻for production. I also like the guys we didn’t bring back.
Agree with D Rules the draft has to focus on DL/NT, ILB, but we still need Edge talent. Maybe, 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻 Jason is still working other deals. So many holes to fill.
March 16th, 2026 at 7:20 am
I think the loss of Dean is the biggest buggaboo as far as free agency goes. He was oft hurt and had hands of stone, but he could cover when he could play. Will McCollum bounce back? Will Morrison amount to anything? This is exactly why I don’t want to trade for Crosby. That said, I like the Gainwell signing. But I think we overpaid.
March 16th, 2026 at 7:52 am
Robinson is going to make the RB room the engine of this offense. All that RB 1-3 stuff isn’t going to matter, we’re right back in the same position of having 3 uniquely talented RBs who can act as the foundation of the run & pass game.
Involving Gainwell into passing concepts to have him serve as a catalyst to either phase sounds like the move to make, especially with what we’re paying he & Tucker. No way we’re not putting both RBs to use and playing to their strengths as players, which both have in common when you think about getting them the ball in space, handoff/pass.
March 16th, 2026 at 8:23 am
ModHairKen … ‘Better go find an Alstott to go with the new Dunn.’
Yea verily. I still like AJ Dillon (6′ & 247 lbs). He’s only 27 & really doesn’t have that many miles on the tires. His 609 carries in 5 years isn’t that much, but his 4.1 YPC career average is quite decent considering that he’s been used a LOT in very short yardage situations where gaining 2 yards can mean the difference between winning 7 losing. And he only made $1.3 mil last year with the Eagles, so we could probably sign him very reasonably as our 4th RB.
March 16th, 2026 at 8:40 am
Defense Rules Says: “With a strong, targeted draft, this Bucs’ defense could potentially finish in the Top-10 IMO IF it can stay reasonably healthy.”
————————————————————————————-
I thought I was the only one here in this comments section who believed that, but I do agree.
Given the hot seat that Bowles (and maybe Licht) seem to be on, I wouldn’t be surprised if they restructure another contract to make one or more additional moves in free agency.
March 16th, 2026 at 8:57 am
“And he only made $1.3 mil last year with the Eagles, so we could probably sign him very reasonably as our 4th RB.”
Outside of Gainwell, Tucker, & Bucky we have Josh Williams, Owen Wright, & Michael Wiley in the building. I’d say we’re done throwing money outside of UDFA spending at the position.
March 16th, 2026 at 10:20 am
Why’d the Steelers let him walk, then?
March 16th, 2026 at 10:32 am
Halaluya, watch Brian’s video and he definitely is a big improvement over white on offense and special teams.
March 16th, 2026 at 1:48 pm
I like the Gainwell pick up – seemed a bit pricey though for a ‘back-up’.
Just stop with the Warrick Dunn comparisons…. Geez
Dunn had 64 TDs and 15,655 career yards. 26th most out of all players in NFL history….
No player on this roster will even sniff half those #s….
March 16th, 2026 at 2:41 pm
For the first couple of years Rachaad White was with the Bucs, it drove Joe bananas how White had terrible vision.
————–
Literally no true.
The issue was playcalling – the fact Leftwich was a complete moron that called the same plays over and over and over again in the same situations and defenses sat on the play.
White is a patient runner, meaning he reads and reacts, waits for holes to open then bursts through. But guess what, there were no holes since the defenses knew what was coming. What people thought was White hesitating, or not having vision, was him wait for blocks to develop that never did – or the defenses having an extra guy always where the Bucs were running the ball since the defenses knew what was coming. The same thing was mostly true with Canales, just not to the same degree as with Leftwich.
A guy doesn’t suddenly develop vision. Once Coen showed up, the run game went from ultra predictable to actually being creative, and defense couldn’t sit on the plays, and suddenly White looked good. Amazing how that happens when you don’t tell the defense what you’re going to run on every play.
March 16th, 2026 at 2:42 pm
Or Vita Vea…the biggest baddest fullback is already on roster.
March 16th, 2026 at 5:37 pm
Joe was a huge believer of White in the passing game and it was borderline irresponsible how little Josh Grizzard used White there).
Amen to that!
March 16th, 2026 at 5:59 pm
If you need 1 yard on 1st and 10 White is your man.