{"id":659125,"date":"2026-01-06T18:54:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T18:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/659125\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T18:54:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T18:54:13","slug":"kenneth-gainwell-wants-to-be-with-pittsburgh-steelers-for-a-long-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/659125\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenneth Gainwell wants to be with Pittsburgh Steelers for a long time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Pittsburgh Steelers running back Kenneth Gainwell was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.behindthesteelcurtain.com\/pittsburgh-steelers-news\/164676\/steelers-2025-team-mvp-kenneth-gainwell-news-stats-roster-aaron-rodgers-contract-tj-watt-offense\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">named team MVP<\/a> on Friday. Selected by his teammates, Gainwell becomes the first running back to win the award since Le\u2019Veon Bell won it in 2016.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">After etching his name in Steelers history, Gainwell was able to reflect on his season and talk about his potential future with the team during <a href=\"https:\/\/www.steelers.com\/video\/watch-kenneth-gainwell-media-availability-jan-2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">his media availability.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cThis experience has been amazing to me,\u201d Gainwell said Friday. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely something I would love to experience again. But, obviously, you know, the free agency thing \u2014 it\u2019s different. This is exactly something that I would love to come back to and be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Gainwell appears to acknowledge that while free agency is unpredictable and things can change, he wants to be part of the organization for years to come.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The team MVP is only making 1.79 million this season, after signing a one-year deal in March. A clear priority for Pittsburgh this offseason should and will be to ensure Gainwell stays in Pittsburgh for a long time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Gainwell has totaled 537 yards on the ground this season, but his pass-catching is what has made him invaluable to the Steelers\u2019 offense. His 73 catches led the team, with 486 yards and three touchdowns through the air. Gainwell scored a crucial touchdown for the Steelers in the second half as they defeated the Baltimore Ravens and claimed their first AFC North title since the 2020 season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">What do you think a potential Kenneth Gainwell extension could look like for the Steelers? Join the BTSC community and let us know in the comments below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh Steelers running back Kenneth Gainwell was named team MVP on Friday. Selected by his teammates, Gainwell becomes&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":659126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2055],"tags":[7,6,520,57,2374,2360,426],"class_list":{"0":"post-659125","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-nfl","10":"tag-pittsburgh","11":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","12":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers-news","13":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","14":"tag-steelers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115849675819157224","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=659125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}