Running back Kenny Gainwell is the latest in the parade of Eagles leaving via free agency after helping the team win a Super Bowl.
Gainwell has agreed to contract terms with the Steelers, ESPN reported Wednesday morning. Fox Sports reported Tuesday night Gainwell and the Steelers were “finalizing” a deal, but it’s now done.
Gainwell, who turns 26 on Friday, will likely join Darius Slay, who is also expected to sign with the Steelers.
It’s a significant loss for the Eagles, who have relied heavily on Gainwell as a backup to three Pro Bowl running backs since they drafted him in the fifth round in 2021 – Miles Sanders in 2021 and 2022, D’Andre Swift last year and Saquon Barkley this year.
In 66 games over four seasons, he has 1,185 rushing yards, 12 touchdowns and a 4.2 average along with 102 catches for 721 yards and another touchdown. He’s added 232 yards in nine postseason games along with 17 catches for 140 yards and two more TDs.
With Barkley getting the bulk of the carries, Gainwell was never going to be more than a backup here, and he’s always believed he could flourish in a larger role. With four-time 1,000-yard rusher Najee Harris leaving the Steelers to sign with the Chargers, the Steelers’ only running back who was in the rotation last year is Jaylen Warren, who has 1,674 yards and a 4.8 average in three seasons in Pittsburgh.
Gainwell is one of only four running backs drafted in the fifth round or later in the last 25 years with at least 200 rushing yards and 15 receptions in each of his first four seasons.
Although he’s been mainly a backup, he’s had some very impressive performances, notably 112 rushing yards in the 2022 playoff win over the Giants and six other games with at least 74 scrimmage yards. In 12 career games where he got at least 10 touches, he averaged 62 scrimmage yards.
Gainwell’s 372 career postseason scrimmage yards are 6th-most in franchise history among running backs.
Gainwell is the fifth key member of the 2024 Super Bowl champions to leave before the official start of free agency. The Eagles have also lost Josh Sweat, Milton Williams, Oren Burks and Isaiah Rodgers in free agency, released Darius Slay and traded Chauncey Gardner-Johnson and Kenny Pickett.
Gainwell’s 1,906 career scrimmage yards are 2nd-most among active running backs with five or fewer career starts behind only Warren’s 2,568.
With Gainwell no longer in the picture, Will Shipley becomes Barkley’s backup, at least for the time being. Shipley averaged just 2.7 yards on 30 carries in mop-up duty as a rookie 4th-round pick out of Clemson during the regular season, but he did uncork a 57-yard run from scrimmage and then a touchdown in the final minutes of the NFC Championship Game vs. the Commanders.
The 57-yarder is the fifth-longest run from scrimmage in Eagles postseason history and was the longest run by a rookie in the postseason in 29 years.
Other than Barkley and Shipley, the only other running backs currently on the roster are futures contract signees Tyrion Davis-Price, a one-time 49ers 3rd-round pick, and Lew Nichols, a one-time Packers 7th-round pick. Both spent time on the Eagles’ practice squad last year.
Davis-Price has 43 career carries for 127 yards – he played in the second Dallas game last year and was 3-for-7 rushing – and Nichols has never played in an NFL game.
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