Feb. 23, 2026, 7:40 p.m. ET<\/p>\n
As some teams look to make huge pickups in free agency<\/a>, others lose some of their best playmakers \u2014 which may sadly come to fruition for the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> with 2025 team MVP Kenneth Gainwell<\/a>.<\/p>\n If Gainwell chooses to test free agency and leave Pittsburgh in March, here are three potential landing spots for the versatile running back.<\/p>\n Arizona Cardinals<\/p>\n Injuries left the Cardinals decimated at running back last season, and with James Conner emerging as a potential cut candidate, Arizona could be Gainwell’s best shot at a starting job.<\/p>\n With Kenneth Walker set to hit free agency and Zach Charbonnet recovering from a torn ACL he suffered in January, the Seahawks could offer Gainwell his biggest payday as the reigning Super Bowl champs look to defend their title in 2026.<\/p>\n Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a>Kansas City Chiefs<\/p>\n If there’s any offense that could make the best use of Gainwell’s dual-threat abilities, it would be the Andy Reid-led Chiefs with Patrick Mahomes under center. Oh, and both of their top running backs \u2014 Kareem Hunt and Isiah Pacheco \u2014 are set to hit free agency.<\/p>\n For up-to-date\u00a0Steelers<\/a>\u00a0coverage, including any offseason moves, follow us on X\u00a0@TheSteelersWire<\/a>\u00a0and give our\u00a0Facebook page<\/a>\u00a0a like.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 23, 2026, 7:40 p.m. ET As some teams look to make huge pickups in free agency, others…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":751428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[95878,7,6,520,57,2360,96718,96719,426,95882,95893,102408,101172,102407,107504,98175,95888,95895,95899,97650,96720,95977,96008,95883,100151,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-772606","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-pittsburgh","12":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","13":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","14":"tag-sstssportsnflsteelers","15":"tag-sstsnsteelers","16":"tag-steelers","17":"tag-tagamerican-football","18":"tag-tagfacebook","19":"tag-tagisiah-pacheco","20":"tag-tagjames-conner","21":"tag-tagkareem-hunt","22":"tag-tagkenneth-gainwell","23":"tag-tagkenneth-walker-iii","24":"tag-tagnfl","25":"tag-tagnfl-hub","26":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","27":"tag-tagpatrick-mahomes","28":"tag-tagpittsburgh-steelers","29":"tag-tagseattle-seahawks","30":"tag-tagsmg-listicle","31":"tag-tagsports-news","32":"tag-tagzach-charbonnet","33":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772606","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=772606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/751428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=772606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=772606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=772606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}