Beat reporters tried to warn us that the Steelers would use Kenneth Gainwell a lot, but he out-snapped Jaylen Warren Sunday against the Jets. Considering they just signed Warren to an extension, and are paying Gainwell $1,790,000, it’s hard to reconcile the snap distribution. But according to Mark Kaboly, it’s not something we should get used to seeing.
“I think that was game plan specific just to the Jets for some reason. They must have saw something there”, he said Monday on 93.7 The Fan. “I was talking to Gainwell after; he sounded like a guy that knew that he was gonna get some added numbers this week. I don’t know if that’s gonna be moving forward at all”.
Although they didn’t play wildly disparate amounts, Kenneth Gainwell did log 30 snaps, while Warren logged 25. Despite playing a handful less snaps, Warren recorded more touches.
With seven carries and three receptions, Gainwell recorded 10 touches in his Steelers debut. For context, that’s tied for the ninth-most touches he’s ever had in an NFL game. He did have as many at 18, with a career high of 14 carries. But he has never recorded 75-plus rushing yards and only topped 60 twice. And in fact, he was hardly efficient. On seven carries, he produced 19 yards. On three receptions, just four. All told, on his 10 touches, he accounted for 23 yards of offense. Not that Warren did astronomically better, but he did produce 59 yards on 13 touches.
“Most of Jaylen Warren’s stuff came later, too. It’s not like it was early. It was mostly Gainwell”, Kaboly observed of the Steelers’ usage at running back. “I don’t know if I want him to be my bell-cow back right now, but he’s very good at what he’s able to do there. I just wouldn’t anticipate that moving forward that that number would be like that”.
With the Steelers relying heavily on screens and other short-range passes, they seemed to favor Kenneth Gainwell for those purposes. They couldn’t get the run game going, so they may have leaned into Gainwell even more than they had planned for.
Although he wasn’t very efficient with the ball in his hands, Gainwell made arguably the play of the day by taking the ball out of someone else’s. On a kick return to start the fourth quarter, he forced a fumble on returner Xavier Gipson, the Steelers recovering. Of course, Gainwell himself fumbled on offense earlier in the game, though he recovered it.
Although Gainwell has an intriguing skill set, I remain skeptical about the Steelers’ infatuation with him. I also remain unconvinced that his contributions demand a larger role, but time will tell. For all we know, he will hardly play next week, and Kaleb Johnson, the rookie third-round pick, will begin his ascent up the depth chart.
