The Buccaneers’ backfield is one of the more interesting spots on the roster heading into the season, and it starts with a simple question: how healthy is Bucky Irving?
Irving’s rookie year in 2024 had the look of a breakout, but last season knocked him off course. Tampa Bay’s offensive line was a mess, with injuries and constant shuffling dragging down the entire offense and making life especially hard on the run game. Irving was getting hit behind the line of scrimmage at a near league-high rate, which left him with almost no room to work before he could get to the second level - an area where he had already shown he could be one of the NFL’s best.
Then came the shoulder and knee injuries that cost him 7 games. Even after he came back, he was still clearly dealing with the effects. He had offseason shoulder surgery to fully fix the issue, and the expectation is that he’ll be ready for the regular season, though he might miss training camp.
If Irving gets back to full strength, Tampa Bay’s ground game looks a lot more dangerous, and that would help Baker Mayfield as well.
The other major piece is Kenny Gainwell, who arrives after a career year with the Pittsburgh Steelers. By the end of 2025, it was basically an open secret that Rachaad White was on his way out, and he ended up in Washington, where he’ll play with close friend Jayden Daniels.
That opened the door for the Bucs to move quickly in free agency and bring in Gainwell as a true 1b behind Irving. He’s coming off a season in which he looked like one of the better receiving backs in football, finishing with 73 catches for 486 yards and 3 touchdowns. Tampa Bay has long leaned on its running backs in the passing game, and that should continue under Zac Robinson, who fed Bijan Robinson an obscene amount - 79 catches, 820 yards, 4 touchdowns.
Gainwell also brings more than just receiving chops. He averaged 4.7 yards per carry and finished with 537 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns, so if he keeps producing as both a runner and a pass catcher, he could end up taking a big chunk of the workload, especially if Irving isn’t fully right early on.
Then there’s Sean Tucker, who is somehow still on the roster and still very much part of the conversation. The Bucs waited until the last possible moment to tender the restricted free agent for one year at $3.52 million, which is no small number - nearly the value of Irving’s entire 4-year rookie deal.
Tucker was Tampa Bay’s most effective runner last season. He led the team with 7 rushing touchdowns and added another score as a receiver while piling up 354 total yards.
The Syracuse back has always had a mix of big-play juice and short-yardage usefulness, two traits the Bucs have often lacked on the ground. The issue has been consistency.
He hasn’t always been able to stay on the field enough, and in 2025 he finished with less than 4 yards per carry.
So the Bucs have options, but the shape of this backfield still depends on a few moving parts. Irving’s recovery, Gainwell’s role, and Tucker’s continued presence all matter, and how those pieces fit together will go a long way toward deciding what Tampa Bay gets from its run game.
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Bucky Irving Just Got The Disrespect Buccaneers Fans Will Hate
Bucky Irvings rise in Tampa Bay was one of the brighter storylines of his rookie year, when he gave the Buccaneers a dynamic presence in the backfield and quickly looked like a player the offense could build around. Even with injuries interrupting his second season, there was still enough of a track record to expect his name to show up when ESPNs Jeremy Fowler asked NFL personnel types to sort out the leagues best running backs.
Instead, Irving was left on the outside of the conversation entirely, not even landing in the honorable-mention tier as other backs such as Breece Hall, Quinshon Judkins, Travis Etienne Jr. and Alvin Kamara drew support. For a player who flashed like a future centerpiece in Tampa Bay, the omission is the kind of slight that tends to linger, especially when the Buccaneers are still trying to figure out just how high Irvings ceiling can be once hes healthy again. [Read more 🡒]