Kenenth Gainwell officially inked his deal with the Buccaneers on Thursday, adding juice to the running back room alongside Bucky Irving. Throughout his career, Gainwell has appeared in 83 career games between the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers, making six starts and accumulating 394 career rushes for 1,722 yards (4.4 yards per carry) and 17 rushing touchdowns while bringing in 175 career receptions for 1,207 receiving yards and four receiving touchdowns. Like Irving, Gainwell has a pass-catching upside with pacing and timing in an advanced route tree.
"I take great pride in it," said Gainwell of his pass-catching upside. "I work on it a lot. I work on what I can do with my hands and feet and I am just very appreciative that the Lord gave me these great hands to go out there and do what I do."
After signing with the Steelers in 2025, Gainwell accumulated career highs in rush attempts (114), rushing yards (537), receptions (73), receiving yards (486) and receiving touchdowns (three), while tying his career high in rushing touchdowns (five). He was 1-of-5 running backs in the NFL to record at least 500 rushing yards and 450 receiving yards in the 2025 season, joining De'Von Achane, Jahmyr Gibbs, Christian McCaffrey and Bijan Robinson. Prior to his lone season with the Steelers, Gainwell was a key contributor on the Eagles during their two Super Bowl appearances in 2022 and 2024, helping them to a Super Bowl LIX victory. The versatile back will bring his skillset to Tampa Bay, helping to ignite the ground attack in 2026 under Zac Robinson.
"A true threat," Gainwell remarked on his skillset. "A team would have to gameplan really good to go against a true threat like me…I have that winning mentality and love football."