Surprising Favorite Emerges As Potential Starting Running Back

It looks like a surprising favorite is emerging as the potential lead back for the Philadelphia Eagles.

As the Eagles prepare to wrap up their preseason schedule with a home matchup against the Indianapolis Colts on Thursday, one veteran has the inside track to play the most out of the group. That particular veteran is none other than Kenneth Gainwell.

Despite making high-profile offseason additions in signing former Seattle Seahawks starting running back Rashaad Penny and making a draft day trade for former Detroit Lions back D’Andre Swift, the favorite is the holdover, Gainwell.

As Bo Wulf of The Athletic detailed during an appearance on The Athletic Football Show podcast, he mentions that while Philadelphia would like for Swift to emerge as the featured back, it appears that Gainwell is going to play the most.

“What’s going to happen is that in the end, Gainwell is going to play the most of these guys because he’s the most reliable and doesn’t get injured [as much as the other two],” says Wulf.

The 24-year-old Gainwell has never served as a full-time featured back. In fact, he’s only started just one game through the first two seasons of his career. However, he’s played a featured role alongside Miles Sanders and Boston Scott over the past couple of seasons, rushing for 531 yards and nine touchdowns to go along with 56 catches for 422 yards and a receiving touchdown.

Most notably, Gainwell emerged as the go-to back for the Eagles during their postseason run to the Super Bowl last year. Despite Sanders rushing for a career-high 1,269 yards and 11 touchdowns en route to his first Pro Bowl bid, Gainwell paced the team in rushing yards during the playoffs.

Gainwell gained 181 yards on 33 carries in comparison to Sanders’ 35 carries for 148 yards during the postseason. Furthermore, Gainwell led Eagles running backs in touches during Super Bowl LVII, posting seven carries and four receptions in comparison to Sanders’ seven total touches.

While Gainwell’s ability certainly isn’t in question, the fact that he’s leaped over Swift and Penny as the favorite is.

However, for those that have been focusing on training camp rather than name recognition, it actually isn’t surprising that Gainwell is the favorite. According to Eliot Shorr-Parks of 94 WIP
WIP
, Gainwell has far outpaced the other Eagles backs in carries with the first team offense.

Swift is a former second-round draft pick of the Lions who is one of the more versatile backs in the league. Not only did Swift average 5.5 yards per carry last season — for perspective, Khalil Herbert led the NFL with 5.7 yards per carry — his 6.3 yards per touch ranked 10th overall in the league last season.

Furthermore, Swift caught 62 balls during the 2021 season despite appearing in just 67% of the offensive snaps (560 snaps) in 13 games played. That total ranked fourth in the league among all running backs. By comparison, the backs in front of him, Najee Harris (980 snaps), Austin Ekeler (731 snaps) and Leonard Fournette (623 snaps) all played far more snaps than Swift.

Meanwhile, Penny has struggled with injuries during his entire career, but he’s statistically the most efficient running back in the NFL when healthy. Penny’s 5.7 average yards per carry would rank as the highest among all active players and he served as the Seahawks’ starting running back over the past two seasons when he was on the field.

Due to Gainwell’s familiarity with the offensive system and his ability to stay healthy — he’s missed just one game during his two-year career — it looks like he may have the inside track to be Philadelphia’s No. 1 running back.