2021 Dynasty Prospect: RB Kenneth Gainwell, Memphis
Kenneth Gainwell, Memphis 5’11” 191 LBS
Strengths
- Great pass catcher/ route runner
- Doesn’t go down on the first contact often
- Excellent East to West movement
- Great second gear
- Good in the open field
Weaknesses
NFL Player Comparison | Giovani Bernard
- Needs to improve running in between the tackles
- Needs to wait for his blocks to develop at the line of scrimmage
- Struggles at pass protection
2021 Dynasty Rookie Draft Projection | Late 1st/Early 2nd (assume 12-team league)
Bottom Line
Kenneth Gainwell is one of the most intriguing running back prospects in the 2021 draft class. After only having four carries his first season at Memphis, he was given a redshirt year. When he arrived in Memphis, he was initially part of a backfield that included multiples players currently in the NFL, including Tony Pollard and Darrell Henderson. In 2019 Gainwell took control of the Memphis backfield. In 2019 he accounted for a total of 71% of the teams running backs total yards. He had 1459 yards rushing on 256 carries. While watching his film, I was very impressed with his acceleration and speed burst after exiting the line of scrimmage. Once he gets to the edge and gets a step on the defender, he is hard to tackle and loves using his spin move to break free from defenders. Unfortunately, that is also a downside to his game because, at times, he relies on getting to the edge too much. Instead of taking the open hole between the tackles, he tries to get to the outside. In his film, I also many times where he uses his pad level to his advantage. When he runs with a low pad level, he is usually never tackled on the first contact. He needs to use that to his advantage a little more often when he gets to the NFL. One thing that is questioned is his size of 191 pounds. However, he weighed in at 201 pounds at his pro day, which proves that he spent his time in his opt-out preparing for the draft wisely.
Gainwell is one of the best receiving running backs in this draft class. In 2019 he had 610 yards on 51 receptions which is an impressive 12 yards per reception. Yes, he is good out of the backfield, but he is also very good at running routes out of the slot. Out of the backfield, his best route to me is the angle route. He uses his leverage and hips well enough to get the defender off balance and creates separation. He makes plays on deep balls better than some wide receivers. Another important thing I noticed while watching his film is that he has excellent hands and does not drop very many passes. But he does have one glaring weakness in the passing game. His pass blocking must improve to be a good running back in the NFL. At times he lowers his head when picking up a blitzer which causes him to become off-balanced and miss his block. Hopefully, this is something that his coaches can fix in the NFL. His stock has been rising quickly, so it will be interesting to see what team drafts him and where he ends up going in rookie drafts for fantasy football.
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