Tampa Bay didn't sign Gainwell to replace Irving, it signed him to stand next to him. Offensive coordinator Zac Robinson has been lining the two up together in camp, a two-back grouping with Irving working the perimeter and Gainwell staying in as a safety valve out of the backfield. Robinson has called him a great pass protector who tips nothing to the defense when he stays in to block, and Baker Mayfield has raved about a player he didn't even realize came from a receiving background in college until minicamp. Todd Bowles has left the door open to using him on returns too, which is one more way to keep him on the field even on plays that aren't designed for him.
What Gainwell does well is catch the ball out of the backfield and make the first defender miss doing it. Pittsburgh built an entire third-down role around him last year and he answered by finishing third on the team in receiving as a running back, second on the team in rushing, and getting voted team MVP by his own locker room. Aaron Rodgers called him the smartest option-route runner he'd played with; T.J. Watt praised him for showing up in both phases. Robinson's plan leans into exactly that: flat routes to get him in space quickly, enough between-the-tackles work to keep him honest as a runner, and Irving handling the bulk of the outside-zone stuff Gainwell isn't built for.
The honest risk is that his workload lives entirely inside Irving's shadow. Irving is the one Robinson calls the lead back and the explosive-play threat, and he can catch passes too, which means Gainwell isn't the only option on passing downs the way he was in Pittsburgh. Tampa Bay's ground game was middling last season, and if Robinson leans on Irving to fix that on early downs, Gainwell's carries could shrink to almost nothing, leaving him dependent on snap counts a coordinator controls week to week rather than a role that's locked in.
Dowdle is the back who actually walked into the backfield Gainwell just left. Pittsburgh handed the early-down job to Jaylen Warren and slotted Dowdle in behind him, the same muddled timeshare Gainwell spent last year splitting, minus the defined passing-down carve-out that made Gainwell's version of it work. Gainwell traded that ambiguity for clarity: a coordinator who's already shown he'll play him and Irving at the same time rather than choosing between them. Between a back stuck guessing his role in a crowded room and one who already knows exactly when he's on the field, Gainwell is the easier back to trust.
