Philadelphia Eagles: Can Kenneth Gainwell recapture his offensive role?

Once upon a time, Kenneth Gainwell looked like an absolute steal for the Philadelphia Eagles.

The 150th overall pick out of Memphis, Gainwell was contributing as a rusher, contributing as a receiver, and even carved out a nice role as the Eagles’ featured back in their two-minute, no-huddle attack.

Life was good for Fletcher Cox‘s cousin, and he looked primed to push for an even biggest role as the season went on.

Keyword? Looked, past tense.

For one reason or another – see the return of Miles Sanders in Week 9 – Gainwell fell out of Nick Sirianni‘s rotation and even earned a DNP in Week 11. His short-yardage offensive snaps were snatched up by Jordan Howard, his change-of-pace role was sniped by Boston Scott, and the Birds just sort of stopped targeting running backs in the receiving game for… some reason.

But, in a very advantageous opportunity for the rookie rusher, that all could change in Week 13. Jalen Hurts and Jordan Howard are out, Boston Scott is questionable after not practicing all week, and the Philadelphia Eagles will surely lean the brunt of their weight on their Week 1 rushing attack once more.

Can Kenneth Gainwell recapture his role with the Philadelphia Eagles?

Over the past two seasons, the Jacksonville Jaguars threw the ball to running backs 243 times; 130 in 2019 and 113 in 2020.

Were all of those passes thrown by Gardner Minshew? No. Did Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone run the same scheme as Nick Sirianni? Not particularly. But did giving 20 percent of the Jags’ receiving snaps to running backs have an impact on the now-third year quarterback?

Well, let’s just say Minshew didn’t finish fourth in the running for PFF’s Captain Checkdown award in 2020 for nothing.

Sidebar: According to that very same article, Minshew had the second-longest average time per snap of any of the 10 quarterbacks in the running for Captain Checkdown. On one hand, that’s good, as Minshew went through his progressions before checking it down, but at the same time, it also signifies a quarterback who maybe needs to speed up his processing, as his 7.0 sack percentage reinforces.

Do I personally expect Minshew to solely dink and dunk his way up the field in his first start of the season – or ever, for that matter – as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles? No. I would imagine Sirianni will pepper quite a few deep shots down the field on a New York Jets secondary that’s both not very good and missing their best player. But between those go and post routes – hopefully, thrown to Quez Watkins and Quez Watkins alone – I would imagine Sirianni will play the time-of-possession game, keep the chains moving via North-South runs, and target players like Miles Sanders and Kenneth Gainwell in the check-down game.

While I wouldn’t go so far as to suggest that either Sanders or Gainwell is a must-start for fantasy football players, I do think Minshew is a viable Plan B if you’re looking for someone to pick up the slack in place of Jalen Hurts.

If the Eagles push the tempo, expect Gainwell to be the guy on the field. Gainwell has been targeted 10 more times than Sanders in the passing game and touches the ball at basically the same touch-to-snap ratio as the team’s top starter. Similarly, if the game gets close and the Eagles want to keep the clock moving to close out a game with a lead, think Week 5 versus the Carolina Panthers, I’d expect Gainwell to get that nod too, especially after watching Sanders run the ball out of bounds in a similar situation earlier this season.

Throw that all together with a few short-yardage runs between the tackles – which doesn’t make a ton of sense, considering Gainwell is the lightest back on the Eagles’ roster but did happen often back in September – and what do you get? An opportunity for Gainwell to prove his worth moving forward and maybe kick Boston Scott to the bench once and for all.

Whether Kenneth Gainwell plays one, 10, or every single snap for the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 13, it’s clear he isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. He’s under contract through the 2024 season, and will eventually earn the confidence of his coaching staff enough to become a featured player for the offense, instead of a garnish. But wouldn’t it be nice to add Gainwell to the list of 2021 draftees with established roles on the offense right now, right up there with DeVonta Smith and Landon Dickerson? If Gainwell plays well in Week 13, we might just be able to do so before the calendar turns over to 2022.