Inside The Huskies

Myles Gaskin Is Living The Life Of Human Ping Pong Ball

The former Huskies stalwart was out of an NFL job for all of 24 hours before he got it back.
Dan Raley|
Myles Gaskin goes through 2018 senior day festivities with then UW coach Chris Petersen.
Myles Gaskin goes through 2018 senior day festivities with then UW coach Chris Petersen. | Jennifer Buchanan-Imagn Images

Myles Gaskin always has been an elusive running back, whenever choosing which hole to run through to get ahead, but he's never had to deal with anything quite like this before.

Fourteen miles from where he played University of Washington football and became the school's all-time leading rusher, Gaskin was served his walking papers on Wednesday, released from the Seattle Seahawks practice squad to make room for somebody else.

On Thursday, Gaskin was re-signed to replace that somebody else, who apparently didn't work out at all.

One might think his record 5,323 rushing yards accumulated for the UW, most of them generated inside the Seattle city limits, would afford him a little more local football respect than that.

Yet as a seven-year NFL player who's bounced around a bit from roster to roster, Gaskin by now knows how the pro game is played. It's a cold environment that doesn't care what you've done elsewhere.

The Seahawks originally signed him on Oct. 1 to come home and be a safety valve in case any of their main backs went down with an injury.

He brought 1,354 NFL rushing yards on 314 carries with him, plus 102 receptions for 712 yards and 13 overall touchdowns, from prior stops in Miami, Los Angeles and Minnesota.

Gaskin was let go on Wednesday to make a practice roster spot available for running back Velus Jones Jr., who also doubled as a receiver and a kick returner, only to rejoin the Seahawks at Jones' expense a day later.

Did the latter player fail a physical? Or did the local NFL franchise miss Gaskin too much to permanently part ways?

It's not clear other than Gaskin got his job back, the franchise revealed at mid day. The running back seems to enjoy being home in the Seattle area, even if he's not carrying the football in real games for the Seahawks.

Gaskin has attended at least one UW football game as a spectator and mixed with team staffers and fans while in Husky Stadium, dressed in full purple regalia, signing autographs and mugging for cameras focused on him.

While the job uncertainty can weigh on a person's psyche, Gaskin does have the great benefit of originally signing a $2.6 million rookie contract that should offset and supplant any employment intrusions that come his way and permit him to live comfortably for some time.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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