After spending the first four seasons of his NFL career with the Philadelphia Eagles, Kenneth Gainwell moved to the other side of Pennsylvania in 2025 and had a breakout campaign with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Although he spent most of his tenure in Philly as a sparsely-utilized change-of-pace option, Gainwell thrived in a larger role for the Steelers. He finished the season with 1,023 yards from scrimmage (almost double his previous best) and eight touchdowns while logging a career-high 50 percent offensive snap share.
Gainwell showed he could make an impact as a critical part of a backfield platoon, working as a dynamic pass-catching complement to starter Jaylen Warren’s hard-charging style.
While Gainwell will be hitting free agency on the heels of a personal-best season, his timing is a touch unfortunate with so many other skilled running backs also in the market for new deals. There’s a good chance he’ll be overlooked due to the logjam of available backfield talent, but any team that signs him to a cheap deal will get a huge bang for their buck.
