Bucky Irving
vs TreVeyon Henderson

“Bucky Irving has been Tampa Bay’s clear RB1 to start the season, out-carrying Kenny Gainwell by 15 carries last week and running 10 more routes.”

“The results have been just OK, but Bucky Irving’s usage has been incredibly exciting so far this season. He has played 71% of Tampa Bay’s snaps, handled 78% of their running back carries and seen an 18% target share on a 57% route participation rate. Kenneth Gainwell is barely relevant, and Sean Tucker didn’t play a single snap in his season debut on Sunday.”

“Minnesota Vikings Bucky Irving has played well through two games, averaging 5.36 yards per carry. He’s got a little extra pep in his step, ranking eighth in explosive yards, 11th in yards after contact per attempt and 17th in missed tackles per attempt, according to the Fantasy Points Data Suite. The Vikings pose the stiffest test for Irving, as they have yet to allow a rushing touchdown and have allowed only 14.2 fantasy points per game to running backs.”

“Looking at the Buccaneers backfield, Bucky Irving was not usurped by any means by Kenneth Gainwell . In fact, Bucky saw 32% of Tampa Bay’s total rush attempts and targets on the day. Anything above 30% is an elite workload according to our “work” metrics on our site.”

“Bucky Irving finished the game with 35 snaps to 26 for Gainwell, but that wasn’t all; every other opportunity metric tilted towards Irving, including one surprising one. Bucky finished with 22 routes, seven targets, and eight carries, while Gainwell ran only thirteen routes and finished with one target and five carries. The routes are a huge development for Bucky Irving, because those routes were where Gainwell was supposed to make hay this season, and where he was supposed to take from Irving.”

“Bucky Irving has dealt with a number of injuries in his short career with a foot sprain and a shoulder/ AC joint sprain last year.”

“It was only one of two games where Rice failed to score double-digit fantasy points in 2025.” – Mike Fanelli ( FantasyPros ) Bucky Irving (RB – TB) “ Bucky Irving is a good player, but the opener on the road in Cincinnati seems daunting.”

“Bucky Irving had a sophomore season to forget.”

“Henderson played 13 more snaps and had 10 more carries than Rhamondre Stevenson , possibly because Stevenson lost a fumble on New England’s first possession of the game. But Stevenson is regarded as the far better pass blocker, and the Patriots’ offensive line has not done a great job of handling pressure this season. It’s going to be very hard to predict the workload split between Henderson and Stevenson.”

“According to Nathan Jahnke , Stevenson played on New England’s first four snaps of their opening drive before losing a fumble, and TreVeyon Henderson played 21 out of 25 snaps across five subsequent drives while Stevenson recorded just six snaps during that stretch. Stevenson wasn’t completely mothballed, but he opened the door for Henderson, and the speedy second-year pro took advantage of the opportunity. Henderson played 33 snaps, ran 12 routes and carried the ball 16 times for 76 yards and a touchdown.”

“Henderson played 60% of the snaps and received 61.5% of the backfield opportunities on his way to 13.6 PPR points. Stevenson, on the other hand, scored only 4.3 PPR points while getting 30.8% of the backfield opportunities on 36.4% of the snaps. Stevenson is a solid back, but Henderson has the higher ceiling; it shouldn’t surprise anyone if he commands the majority of the backfield for the rest of the season.”

“More importantly, Henderson is an injury to Stevenson away from being a league winner and a top-10 running back.”

“According to Fantasy Points Data, his 5.6% explosive run rate last season was higher than Saquon Barkley (4.6%) and Travis Etienne Jr. (3.5%). More importantly, Henderson is an injury to Stevenson away from being a league winner and a top-10 running back.”

“TreVeyon Henderson finished his rookie season as the RB24 in fantasy points per game, but it wasn’t nearly that productive for fantasy managers when you look at the full breakdown of how it unfolded. In Weeks 10-11, Rhamondre Stevenson wasn’t active, and Henderson feasted with 60.3 combined PPR points, which accounted for 29.2% of his overall fantasy production for the season.”

“TreVeyon Henderson (RB – NE) All offseason, TreVeyon Henderson was drafted several spots ahead of Rhamondre Stevenson , but the gap has narrowed significantly.”

“” – Ryan Linkletter ( Blitz Sports Media ) TreVeyon Henderson (RB – NE) “I didn’t think I would be taking much TreVeyon Henderson , but at an RB26 ranking, it’s hard to find more talented players or those with more upside. Henderson is being called by many the bust of the year already, and he does have some risk, but so do Tuten, Warren, and Price, who may be bench players at the end of the year.”

“While fantasy players had high hopes for him as a rookie, Henderson was unstartable for most of the year, finishing as the RB21. His 12.1 PPR fantasy points per game average was lower than Kenneth Gainwell’ s (13) and Rhamondre Stevenson ‘s (12.8).”

“Including the playoffs, Treveyon Henderson scored no more than 8.2 PPR points in six of his last seven games.”

“Henderson could eat into Stevenson’s workload more in 2026 if he can take another step and payoff as an RB2, but he ‘s best viewed as an upside RB3.”

“TreVeyon Henderson (RB – NE) Henderson is currently going 58th overall, a full 20 picks ahead of his own backfield mate in the rankings. Last year’s split tells the story: while his teammate was healthy, Henderson managed just 6.6 fantasy points per game across the first eight weeks.”