Eagles

NFL Free Agency: Eagles Kenneth Gainwell Headed To Pittsburgh

Paul Bowman Sports Editor

Published11 Mar 2025

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The Eagles are reportedly losing their first player on the offensive side of the ball.

On Tuesday night, Fox Sports’ Jordan Shultz reported that running back Kenneth Gainwell would be crossing the state.

Sources: The #Steelers are finalizing a 1-year with former #Eagles RB Kenneth Gainwell.

Gainwell, who had 1,906 total yards and 13 TDs in four years with Philly, stays in the state of Pennsylvania. pic.twitter.com/PbyHwb9Ctk

— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) March 12, 2025

At this point, reports still indicate that he will join Darius Slay, who is supposedly heading there.

The money on the deal has yet to be reported. That may indicate that it’s not a “substantial” amount (not worthy of a compensatory pick), but it’ll be interesting to see what the contract number comes out to since a low number would seem to indicate that the Eagles could have matched.

Gainwell was a fourth-round pick of the Birds.

Gainwell was an effective change of pace back for the Eagles for four seasons, but he gives way to Will Shipley who basically only ran the ball in garbage time but had some nice runs and comes with a similar skill set on a rookie contract for the next three years.

The Eagles will almost certainly carry three running backs, so it remains to be seen how they fill that third spot. The in-house options don’t seem likely to crack the roster, but a move isn’t necessarily forthcoming – for the level of depth they are looking for, the front office may wait to see if someone falls in the draft before making a move. They could also look to a minimum contract to bring in a vet, with two potential reunions on the free agent market among the options: Boston Scott and Miles Sanders, neither of which would affect the comp pick formula.