Kenneth Gainwell — Week 3: Five Targets, the Last One Picked
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 28
Gainwell caught 2 of 5 targets for 14 yards and carried 3 times for minus 4. Baker Mayfield's fourth-and-13 throw to him at the Tampa Bay 39 with 1:54 left, down 20–16, was intercepted by Andrew Van Ginkel. He also returned six kickoffs, the longest for 40 yards, in a 23–16 loss to the Vikings.
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20 to 16, Vikings, a minute 54 left in the fourth quarter, fourth and 13 at the Tampa Bay 39. Baker Mayfield threw short right for Kenneth Gainwell, two yards in the air, and Andrew Van Ginkel intercepted it at the 41; Gainwell made the tackle. −2.1 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and −13.2 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it, the largest drop on any Tampa Bay pass or run. Mayfield was hurt on the play, and Minnesota kicked a field goal to make it 23 to 16. Gainwell's last target, from Jalon Daniels with 14 seconds left, fell incomplete.
The line: five targets, two catches, 14 yards, one first down, −3.0 expected points on the targets; three carries, −4 yards, −2.4. The catches both came on the drive that ended in the interception: 13 yards on first and 10 from his own 29 with three oh five left, out of bounds at the 42, and one yard on second and 14. Between them, a carry around right end lost four. The other two carries were six yards on third and 36 from his own eight in the third quarter, the snap after a Chris Godwin touchdown came back on holding, and −6 up the middle on first and 10 at the Minnesota 39 in the fourth, three snaps before a 54-yard field goal. His first target was third and 10 at the Minnesota 10 in the second quarter, incomplete, and Tampa Bay kicked a field goal. He returned all six Minnesota kickoffs: 40, 12, 33, 27, 23 32 yards, with a holding penalty on the 33-yarder that cost Tampa Bay 10.
Five targets were third on the team behind Emeka Egbuka's nine and Cade Otton's six, and four of them came on the last two Tampa Bay drives. Bucky Irving had 15 of the 18 designed runs.
Back in June the preview read a 73-catch career year in Pittsburgh shrinking to a third-down, pass-catching role behind Irving in Tampa Bay, with the receiving usage as the thing to watch. Week 1 was one target. Week 2 was four, for five yards. Sunday was five for 14, his most targets of the season, and the fourth-down throw with the game on it went his way. Three games: 10 targets, six catches, 22 yards. The passing-down role exists; the yards have not come with it. Tampa Bay is home to the Packers on Sunday the fourth.
_Data via nflverse._
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