March 1, 2026, 12:36 p.m. ET<\/p>\n
The 2026 free agency<\/a> period is rapidly approaching, and the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> may be on the verge of losing their top offensive playmaker.<\/p>\n According to a new report from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac<\/a>, the Steelers<\/a> are “expecting” running back Kenneth Gainwell to “explore” signing with another team in free agency.<\/p>\n Dulac added that while Gainwell intends to test the market, it doesn’t necessarily mean the Steelers don’t want him back, and it’s more a matter of price.<\/p>\n Gainwell, who signed with Pittsburgh in free agency last year, produced what many consider a breakout season, recording 1,023 yards from scrimmage and eight touchdowns through 17 games.<\/p>\n With so many questions and concerns looming around the offensive side of the ball, the Steelers cannot afford to lose Gainwell, who provided a spark in both the running and receiving game in 2025.<\/p>\n Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n For up-to-date\u00a0Steelers\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":"March 1, 2026, 12:36 p.m. ET The 2026 free agency period is rapidly approaching, and the Pittsburgh Steelers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":786335,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[95878,7,6,520,57,2360,96718,96719,426,95882,95893,107504,95888,95895,95897,96720,96071,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-786334","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-tagkenneth-gainwell","20":"tag-tagnfl","21":"tag-tagnfl-hub","22":"tag-tagoverall-negative","23":"tag-tagpittsburgh-steelers","24":"tag-tagsmg-timely","25":"tag-tagsports-news","26":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116158806977398351","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786334","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=786334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/786335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}