It wasn’t so long ago that Gerry Dulac predicted a high market cost for Kenneth Gainwell for the Steelers. Now he says otherwise. After indicating another team might pay “two or three times” what Pittsburgh would be willing to, he seemed to strike a different tone in his latest chat session for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Asked if the Steelers would make a concerted effort to keep Gainwell or if the market would price them out, Dulac wrote, “I don’t think the market cost will be that high for Gainwell.” He did add the caveat that you can “never underestimate the desperation of an NFL GM,” citing Justin Fields. A year ago, the Jets paid the former Steelers quarterback $40 million over two years with $30 million guaranteed.
Still, that’s a far cry from what he said just weeks ago. In fact, he said twice that the threat of the Steelers losing Kenneth Gainwell was very real. Now, he’s not guaranteeing that Gainwell returns, either. But the tone has clearly shifted — and probably into the realm of reason.
Make no mistake, Kenneth Gainwell had a fine season with 1,023 yards from scrimmage and 8 touchdowns. But the fact that the Steelers elected him their team MVP says more about what the rest of the roster accomplished than what he did. Some things the Steelers did not have last season: a 4,000-yard passer; a 1,000-yard rusher; a 1,000-yard receiver; a 10-sack defender; a 3-interception defender; a 90-percent-accurate kicker.
Without any of these things, who were they supposed to vote as their MVP? Would any team other than the Steelers have had Kenneth Gainwell as their best player on the entire team last season? Maybe a team that would be desperate to sign a player like him this offseason. Which is not what you want to be.
The Steelers signed Kenneth Gainwell on a one-year, $1.79 million contract last season. While he comfortably outperformed that, bear in mind Jaylen Warren signed a contract worth roughly $6 million APY. Do we really think Gainwell will see more than that?
That is, I’m sure, a more than reasonable value for Gainwell, and a hefty pay raise. It’s more than he has earned in his entire career to date, and it isn’t unreasonable in his circumstances. While the Steelers provided him with a greater opportunity, we are talking about a player who’s nearly a one-year wonder.
There are certainly some outlets that will list Gainwell among the top 50 available free agents. And perhaps he should be, but value is relative. It’s relative to position, and it’s relative to workload. It’s also relative to how one distributes that workload. And when it comes to a player like Kenneth Gainwell, you have to have a clear plan about how to deploy him to get your money’s worth out of him. The Steelers should absolutely do what they can to re-sign him, but it shouldn’t break the bank to do so.
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