Eagles RB Kenny Gainwell Expects Bigger Role Despite New Additions
PHILADELPHIA – Shiny and new always gets the headlines, so it was that the Philadelphia Eagles’ signing of Rashaad Penny and trading for D’Andre Swift had both running backs shimmering in the bright lights of the offseason.
Kenny Gainwell was once in that category as a fifth-round draft pick in 2021.
He had slipped through the cracks a bit after taking 2020 off due to COVID-19, but his 2019 season at Memphis was off-the-charts good with 1,459 yards, 13 touchdowns, and a 6.3 yards per carry average.
He came on strong as a rookie, running for five touchdowns and added another in the passing attack.
The luster has worn off a bit, though last year he emerged late in the season as the coaching staff gave him more opportunities, either because he deserved them or because they knew Miles Sanders wasn’t coming back. Probably both.
In the Eagles' final three regular-season games, he had 12 rushes for 57 yards and seven receptions for 65 yards.
Once the playoffs arrived, Gainwell became a workhorse, carrying the ball 26 times for 160 yards and a touchdown in the first two postseason wins before adding another seven runs for 21 yards and four catches for 20 yards in the Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Still, he wears the labels of “third-down back,” and it’s difficult sometimes to shed tags once attached.
Gainwell feels this will be the year that he regains some of the headlines, regardless of the presence of two proven backs like Penny and Swift, gets rid of the third-down label, and makes the leap many thought he would make from Year 1 to Year 2.
“Man, I'm very excited to have these guys (Penny and Swift) in the room,” he said on Tuesday afternoon as the Eagles’ OTA sessions wrap up at the end of the week. “They give a lot of competition and to have new competition in the room and new guys, It's great to have.
"Nothing different you know, just to go off of everything, just to be stronger, be faster, be a smarter player, help out team go back to the goal that we had got to last year. Continue to do whatever my role is and just be excited just to have extra guys in the room.”
Gainwell is undaunted by the competition.
He believes he will have a role, an even bigger one than a season ago.
“I'm expecting a very high role, you know, just gonna continue to improve my game still on top of everything that I have done,” he said, “but I'm expecting a high role this year.”
Competition is something players do every year in the NFL, even dating back to college and high school. It’s not unfamiliar territory.
For Gainwell, he competed with current Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Pollard for carries and catches.
“I've been in this position before and its' just nothing,” he said. “But just having D'Andre here at the same time, that's gonna help make me better and him better.
"We can both come in after practice and talk about what we did wrong what we did right and put our brains together and work.”
Ed Kracz covers the Philadelphia Eagles for SI's EaglesToday.
Please follow him and our Eagles coverage on Twitter at @kracze.
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