{"id":747895,"date":"2026-02-12T22:28:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T22:28:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/747895\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T22:28:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T22:28:21","slug":"analyst-highlights-kenneth-gainwell-as-free-agent-steelers-need-to-keep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/747895\/","title":{"rendered":"Analyst Highlights Kenneth Gainwell As Free Agent Steelers Need To Keep"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Steelers\u2019 list of impending free agents<\/a> includes CBs James Pierre and Asante Samuel Jr., OG Isaac Seumalo, QB Aaron Rodgers, WR Calvin Austin III, and a host of other names. But it\u2019s 2025 free agent acquisition Kenneth Gainwell, whom CBS Sports\u2019 Zachary Perales believes the team needs to keep<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cKenneth Gainwell had 1,023 yards from scrimmage in 2025, nearly 500 yards more than his previous career high. A big part of that was his 73 receptions, fourth-most among running backs behind Christian McCaffrey, Bijan Robinson, and Jahmyr Gibbs. When asked to handle a bigger load with Jaylen Warren out, he excelled: 256 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns in two starts,\u201d Perales wrote.<\/p>\n

Gainwell played a big role in Pittsburgh\u2019s offense last year, quickly becoming one of Rodgers\u2019 favorite targets despite working behind Jaylen Warren in the team\u2019s running backs rotation. He handled the third-down back role and, as Perales noted, had over 1,000 yards from scrimmage. In every game where Gainwell had 10 or more carries, he had at least 80 rushing yards.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s an interesting case as a free agent, though. He\u2019ll likely cash in on his big year, and it\u2019s unclear if the Steelers are willing to pay him around $6 million a year when they already have Warren under contract. Bringing back Gainwell also calls into question the future of RB Kaleb Johnson, Pittsburgh\u2019s third-round pick last season. I\u2019m in favor of bringing Gainwell back, as he played a key role for the Steelers. If Rodgers returns, Gainwell is likely someone he\u2019d prefer on the team.<\/p>\n

But when it comes down to one free agent the team has to keep, I\u2019d be more inclined to argue that it\u2019s Pierre, who had a career season after starting the season as a reserve, or Samuel Jr., due to the team\u2019s lack of cornerback depth. If both walk, the team would only have Joey Porter Jr. and Brandin Echols under contract as cornerbacks who actually played a role for the team. This assumes they opt to keep Jalen Ramsey at safety.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m certainly not arguing against re-signing Gainwell, though he would be wise to test the market first. I moreso disagree that he\u2019s the No. 1 free agent they should look to bring back, given their lack of depth at cornerback. Receiver is also a thin position, though the team can look at a deep draft class and also try to add in free agency to bolster the position. I think Gainwell should be a higher priority than Calvin Austin III.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s going to be interesting to see what ultimately happens with Gainwell, though I certainly wouldn\u2019t be surprised to see him back in the Black and Gold next season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Steelers\u2019 list of impending free agents includes CBs James Pierre and Asante Samuel Jr., OG Isaac…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":747896,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[1586,8483,8741,3244,7,5856,1736,14451,6,520,57,2360,426,107391],"class_list":{"0":"post-747895","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-aaron-rodgers","9":"tag-asante-samuel-jr","10":"tag-calvin-austin-iii","11":"tag-cbs-sports","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-james-pierre","14":"tag-jaylen-warren","15":"tag-kenneth-gainwell","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-pittsburgh","18":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","19":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","20":"tag-steelers","21":"tag-zachary-perales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116060022974269349","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747895","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=747895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/747896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}