Some RB Talk

Posted: February 28th, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | Comments Off on Some RB Talk

The Eagles were not a good running team in 2018. They were 20th in attempts, but only 28th in yards. They were 30th in yards at attempt, at just 3.9 ypa.

Not good.

The projected backfield of Jay Ajayi, Darren Sproles and Corey Clement combined to play in 21 of 48 potential games. Even when healthy, that group was hardly dynamic.

The Eagles must get better at RB in 2019.

The first question…what about the 2018 guys? Ajayi and Clement are coming off injury. Ajayi and Sproles are free agents. You can’t count on any of them being significant players. Clement should be able to be part of a RB group, but you can’t expect him to be a difference-maker.

I wrote about the RB situation for PE.com.

Doug Pederson and Howie Roseman said nice things about Sproles on Wednesday at the Combine. I hope that was just them being nice. Bringing Sproles back would be a mistake. He’s been hurt the past two years and will be 36 in June. It is time to move on.

It sounds like the Eagles may be talking to Ajayi.

If he’s willing to come back for a cheap, short-term deal, that would make some sense for both sides. Ajayi won’t get a big deal from anyone since he’s coming off a torn ACL. If he stays in Philly, he knows the offense and knows they will spread the ball around. He could then try to hit the market in March of 2020 and land a big deal from someone at that point. Ajayi will turn 26 in June and he’s only had 562 career carries. Zeke Elliott has 868 carries (and more than 1,000 touches!). Ajayi has a lot of tread left on the tire.

The flip side of that is that Ajayi has knee issues. That will limit his value, with the Eagles and other teams. Regardless of whether Ajayi comes back, the Eagles need to see about adding young talent at the position.

There were a lot of reports like this out of Indy today. The Eagles are talking to a lot of RBs. They know this is a position of need.

There are two really interesting names on that list. Josh Jacobs will be a first round RB. If the Eagles want him, they’d likely have to move up from 25. That isn’t likely, but it is interesting that they are checking Jacobs out.

Rodney Anderson would be an ideal fit in the Eagles offense. The problem is that he’s got major injury issues. He could turn out to be a great pro or he could be someone that struggles to stay on the field. His medical exams will be critical.

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I heard some guy named Bryce is moving to Philly. Does anyone know if he can run the ball?

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