Could Kenneth Gainwell Step Over Bucky Irving
June 27th, 2026
How secure is Bucky Irving?
As good as the Bucs offense was in 2024, Joe’s not sure the Bucs come close to being as explosive an offense under Liam Coen without then-rookie running back Bucky Irving bursting onto the scene.
Bucky was simply electric. And you better believe once defenses realized they had to stop him, that opened up the passing game. The 2024 season was clearly the best the Bucs offense looked and played since Bucco Bruce Arians prowled the sideline.
Last year, for a variety of reasons, watching Bucky was almost like watching another running back. It was both sad and frustrating.
And unless Bucky recaptures that 2024 magic, folicly-challenged Billy Barnwell of BSPN doesn’t think it is ridiculous to wonder if free agent pickup Kenneth Gainwell might step over Bucky as the Bucs’ No. 1 running back.
Bucky Irving was also sidelined for two months by foot and shoulder injuries, and across his two stretches of active play, he averaged just 3.4 yards per carry. Irving turned only 6.4% of his designed rush attempts into 10-plus yard gains, down from 13% as a rookie. The Bucs swapped out Rachaad White for Kenny Gainwell, who was wildly productive for the Steelers in a situational role, and there’s a chance that he is Tampa’s best back.
Joe first read this and thought, “No way. Gainwell is a little guy. He can’t handle 25-30 carries.” Then Joe realized, hey, Bucky isn’t exactly Mike Alstott, either.
The Bucs will give Bucky every chance to cement himself as the top dog in the Bucs’ backfield, Joe believes.
But you know what? At the end of the day, the Bucs aren’t paying Gainwell $7 million a year just so he has easier access to the beach on his days off.
June 27th, 2026 at 8:16 am
Love this 1-2 punch with Tucker filling in the gaps. All three are interchangeable which is often overlooked when building a roster. The whole playbook is available for each down. No more tipping off your opponent with personnel groupings.
June 27th, 2026 at 8:17 am
I get you guys at JBF hang on every word spoken by Bucs officials, and understandably, some of what you pick up comes to fruition, so if you think it’s a story, it’s worth printing…not sure your hit % on what you read into actually happens. But I think you give too much credit to how either careful they are with their words and/or how not so careful they are. These aren’t polished politicians or lawyers, yes, they’ve been doing this awhile but asking the same question over and over again, with slightly varied responses doesn’t necessarily lend itself into a hint of truth that no one is picking up on.
Personally, I think the Bucky Irving storyline has to be the most over blown discussion topic of the offseason. Bucky will be fine and will assume a starters role. Then why pay Gainwell that much money for a backup/secondary role? Licht most likely overpaid him a little in order to get first dibs, that’s the way it goes with first tier free agents. But Licht knew that he needed a White replacement, and he needed to be as good, if not better than White. What I hope our new OC has figured out and I’m assuming Bucs brass figured out last season is Bucky is not a bell-cow. His undersized and not incredibly fast, but he’s got a step and very good vision, but the reality is some of his best/most productive work was behind White has a change of pace in Coen’s offense. Hopefully Robinson can get him back to that place.
June 27th, 2026 at 8:25 am
Disagree with the line “the Bucs will give Bucky every chance to cement himself as the top dog”.
I believe they want a Gainwwll Bucky (both smaller backs and both highly capable) to be a 1-2 punch and Tucker to be mixed in a bit more as well.
The Bucs are in great shape at RB. Most importantly they have a healthy oline and a creative run game OC.
June 27th, 2026 at 8:29 am
Both Running 🏃♀️ Backs including Tucker are not big and will not stand up well to constantly pounding the line. There will probably need monitoring to keep them fresh. How about Vita pounding the goal line. He was a Running back in High School. Can’t imagine a corner stopping him. That would be Highlight filming and fun to watch.
June 27th, 2026 at 8:36 am
Where’s the guy who equated Ted Hurst to Randy Moss?
How about Bucky Irving to a “little known guy out of Syracuse,” Jim Brown?
I view this site as informative, but mostly as a source of entertainment from unearthly thinkers. And I was definitely entertained.
I want to hear more from him!
June 27th, 2026 at 8:53 am
Zoocomics. Bucky and Gainwell are both 5’9”. Both are 195 pounds. I don’t know if you would call Barry Sanders a bell-cow back but he was 5’7 and 195 pounds. Of course, he ran a 4.37. As far as Joe’s story goes, there’s not a doubt in my mind that Gainwell is already our first team running back. And I think Tucker is the backup. Bucky has to play his way back. We’ll find out soon enough whether he’s got that in him.
June 27th, 2026 at 8:57 am
Yes and he should as it will extend Buckys’ career.
June 27th, 2026 at 9:08 am
Do what Grizz didn’t do. Don’t show the same, blatant favoritism and run them ALL because you can’t tell who’s got the hot hand if you’re feeding 1 guy. If ZRob can show me a commitment to that, the run game via our RBs should take care of itself and our offense as a whole.
June 27th, 2026 at 9:09 am
Inexplicable why Bucky was continuously plowing into the line for 2 yards when White was clearly more effective
June 27th, 2026 at 9:18 am
There must be something really weird going on with Bucky. Bringing in essentially the same guy for $7M snacks of an insurance policy against Bucky flaking.
June 27th, 2026 at 9:37 am
Again…the OL was injured. Of course his production dipped.
June 27th, 2026 at 9:39 am
Run the wishbone!
June 27th, 2026 at 10:02 am
Warrick Dunn did pretty well for himself in his 12 year career. 5’9, 187 pounds.
June 27th, 2026 at 10:02 am
@JA: I remember the post where someone compared Hurst to Moss. I don’t recall who posted it though. My impression about that post wasn’t that Hurst is considered as good as Moss was. My impression was that Hurst is a tall, lean, fast receiver just like Moss was. And that Hurst is coming from a small college just like Moss did. And I do know that Moss was originally going to go to Notre Dame and did go to Florida State for a year. He ultimately ended up at Marshall. No – I don’t think the poster was saying Hurst is Randy Moss skill wise. Just my two cents.
June 27th, 2026 at 10:09 am
People laugh at an NFL wishbone, but I think Steve V is on to something. Baker is the perfect QB for a wishbone and Coen showed us how he excelled in dinking and dunking. Bucky and Kenneth can be “The Diminutive Duo,” add Baker and you got “The Tiny Triplets”
June 27th, 2026 at 10:34 am
None of these backs will get 25-30 carries per game. Gain Well and Bucky are likely to rotate by series with Tuck getting some wide toss plays.
June 27th, 2026 at 10:35 am
Billy Barnwell … ‘Irving turned only 6.4% of his designed rush attempts into 10-plus yard gains, down from 13% as a rookie.’
That’s THE most telling stat about 2024 Bucky versus 2025 Bucky … his explosiveness imploded. And without that explosiveness, he’s ‘just another running back’. I’m still convinced that there must’ve been something else going on with Bucky though, besides his injuries that is.
Jmarkbuc … ‘There must be something really weird going on with Bucky. Bringing in essentially the same guy for $7M snacks of an insurance policy against Bucky flaking.’
The ‘flaking’ caught my attention Jmarkbuc. Not sure that word means the same to both of us, but Bucky lost a lot of his confidence during his injury spell & that it threw him for a loop. No way for us to know obviously, but it sure looks like a smart move for the Bucs to add a near-twin ‘insurance policy’ in Kenny Gainwell. Wish they’d also added a bruiser though (Mike Alstott type). Don’t like seeing diminutive RBs blasting into the goal line & getting nowhere.
June 27th, 2026 at 10:44 am
Only in here will you get a 3rd round rookie compared to Randy Moss and someone seriously suggesting the wishbone as an option in the NFL.
What a site for pure comedic entertainment value.
I also love the absolute clowns that Joe like to get quotes from.
Good stuff
June 27th, 2026 at 11:20 am
Gainwell will be the #1 running back on the 4-13 Bucs of 2026. The head case will pout and go on IR for a sprained eyebrow.
June 27th, 2026 at 12:18 pm
“Again…the OL was injured. Of course his production dipped.“
Part not all, OL health has nothing to do with using an RB that missed a chunk of time with 2 injuries, just to get him back at the end of the season and keep trying to force him to thrive in a zone run. No logical way to explain Bucky missing games and still leading in carries for us last year, who finished better on a per touch basis. Injuries didn’t stop the Sean Tucker hat-trick in Buffalo, nor Rachaad White from matching his 2024 rate of production as a runner.
Chaad had 6 games he finished averaging 4 yards a pop, Tucker had 4, and Bucky had 2.
Beating the OL excuse like a rug to cover everything that went wrong for our offense. There were a lot of bad decisions/application of our offense to pair with the bad play. We got Bucky back Grizz started running him into stacked boxes, because teams know that Bucky isn’t going to beat them to the edge nor clear a 7-8 man box, because he doesn’t have homerun speed.
June 27th, 2026 at 12:46 pm
He already has taken over for him…..
June 27th, 2026 at 12:55 pm
Steve V Says:
June 27th, 2026 at 9:39 am
“Run the wishbone!”
————
Hell yeah – back to my bama roots 😎
June 27th, 2026 at 2:27 pm
Lots of imbecillin ingested by the Pom Pom squad.
June 27th, 2026 at 2:31 pm
Joe my ex tried to use the word folicly-challenged once in describing someone and said phallicly-challenged as I just kinda grinned. She stammered all over herself trying to explain and that was a bullet in my holster for a long time anytime I said something wrong.
June 27th, 2026 at 2:59 pm
Yes.
Bucky is Cadillac Revisited. Great start and then faded away.
June 27th, 2026 at 4:11 pm
I see an even split to start and the better man leans toward 70 – 30
June 27th, 2026 at 5:22 pm
328 go eat a booger
June 27th, 2026 at 5:25 pm
Its a game! It’s meant to be fun!
June 27th, 2026 at 6:19 pm
Everyone here must agree … Last season Bucky was weird!!! No real explanation. When he came back from the missed time, he didn’t produce much. Having a scotch tape repaired O line opening holes for him didn’t help. Having an OC who seemingly had no answers to the adjustments made by the opposing defense didn’t help either.
New season new talent. Bucky has an opportunity to be the starter… So does KG and for that matter so does ST. Rise up, learn the new playbook, practice like it really means something, make plays, make plays , make plays, may the best man rise to the top!!!
June 27th, 2026 at 6:21 pm
Bucky is going the same route as Muscle Hamster. Off the rails.
June 27th, 2026 at 7:21 pm
If you want to know who the lead back is, look no further than Kenny’s contract. Usually the player making the most money is the guy.
June 28th, 2026 at 6:33 am
Still need to add a big back when roster cuts happen. Hope Bucky gets back to form but Gainwell is the lead back till Bucky shows otherwise.
Remember 2 years ago when Lions were lambasted for picking Gibbs so high in the draft? And no one said Hurst is Moss, the poster was making a point of saying just because Hust was a mid round pick from a small school doesn’t mean he cannot eventually be a great player.
June 28th, 2026 at 1:02 pm
I’m not worried about Irving, the offensive line was in shambles and grizzard wasnt exactly a wizard eirher. Everyone suffered last year as a result. Baker had a down year, Irving, the WR corps wasnt consistent the whole year. Time will tell what happens but you cant just point the finger at Bucky, just like you cant just point it at Baker.
June 28th, 2026 at 3:34 pm
“Everyone suffered last year as a result.“
Everybody except for Rachaad White, who had a slightly better year running the ball in ‘25 than he did in ‘24
June 28th, 2026 at 6:25 pm
His salary says so.