Kenneth Gainwell needs to be more involved in Eagles offense

The Philadelphia Eagles might have lost to the Kansas City Chiefs but it wasn’t all bad. Rookie running back Kenneth Gainwell made his mark known and emerged as one of the brightest spots from the 42-30 defeat against the reigning AFC champions.

After much concern about him being phased out of the offense after a =n impressive debut in the regular-season opener, the fifth-rounder out of Memphis was given more touches in Week 4 and exploded, racking up 31 yards on the ground and 58 yards through the air while recording a rushing touchdown as well.

It was a magnificent performance by the rookie. Hopefully, this is only the beginning as we’re beginning to see how valuable Gainwell can be in this offense.

As we all know, the Eagles running backs have been pretty hit and miss over the past few years, outside of Miles Sanders, but Gainwell put together one of the best performances in quite some time (Sanders’ 88 scrimmage yards in Week 14 was the last truly solid outing from an Eagles running back). The rookie has proven to be a reliable pass-catcher for Jalen Hurts.

Gainwell’s biggest value in the loss was as a check-down piece for Hurts, which worked more often than not.

The Eagles need to incorporate Kenneth Gainwell into their offense more.

While Gainwell was wheeling and dealing on offense, Miles Sanders struggled to do much of anything despite appearing in 18 more snaps than his rookie counterpart. This isn’t necessarily to say that Gainwell should take over the starting duties but he has proven himself to be a better pass catcher and it’s clear that Hurts trusts the guy.

Time and time again on third or fourth down, Hurts was looking Kenneth Gainwell’s way, and it worked out pretty well for the Eagles. Had the team somehow pulled out a victory over KC, Gainwell would have received a lot of the credit but even with a loss, he deserves praise and Philly needs to get him more involved.