More on Jordan Howard

Posted: March 30th, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | Comments Off on More on Jordan Howard

The Eagles traded for RB Jordan Howard on Thursday. Some people loved the move.

Some did not.

You have to understand the Howard deal to appreciate it. Jordan Howard isn’t here to be the next Brian Westbrook or Shady McCoy. This isn’t a RB you build an offense around. That’s part of the reason the Eagles were able to get him for a sixth round pick.

Howard was brought in to be part of the offense. He’s not the answer, but is part of the solution.

We’d all love to see an elite RB paired with Carson Wentz for the next five years, but that doesn’t have to happen. Tom Brady has had a slew of RBs to feed the ball to. None of them were elite players. The Eagles offense in 2017 didn’t have an elite RB.

This can work if you have a smart, creative coaching staff and a talented, versatile offense. I think the Eagles are good in both of those areas.

Think of Howard as a less explosive, but more durable version of Jay Ajayi. There is absolutely value in a RB like that. The Eagles only ran for 100 or more yards in a game in consecutive weeks twice last year. And both times it was just two games. The 2017 team ran for 100 or more yards 10 weeks in a row. There is more to that than the play of the RBs, but consistency was a big issue in 2018.

Sheil Kapadia wrote a fantastic piece focusing on the numbers for Howard, both good and bad.

One of the confusing aspects to the trade is the Matt Nagy angle. Nagy worked with Doug Pederson and Andy Reid in KC. Nagy’s offense is going to be similar to Pederson’s. But Nagy never saw Howard as a fit for his offense. Why would Pederson?

Pederson seems to like big, physical players. Start with RB. In 2016, the feature runner was 220-pound Ryan Mathews. The Eagles then signed 250-pound LeGarrette Blount prior to 2017. They traded for 225-pound Jay Ajayi. Now they’ve traded for 225-pound Howard.

The Eagles signed Brandon Brooks in 2016 (340). They drafted Big V (320) in 2017. Last year they drafted Jordan Mailata (346) and Matt Pryor (329).

The Eagles added Dorial Green-Beckham (225) in 2016. They signed Alshon Jeffery (218) in 2017. They drafted Mack Hollins (221).

With a trio of Carson Wentz, Nick Foles and Nate Sudfeld, the Eagles had one of the biggest QBs rooms you’ll find. All of them were at least 6-5, 230.

Doug Pederson and Howie Roseman like big players. Jordan Howard fits what they want to do. They don’t’ think he’s going to come in and magically turn into Jim Brown. The Eagles see a RB who can help their offense. For the cost of a sixth round pick and $2M in salary, that’s a good deal.

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Some of you have asked about Howard as a pass blocker.

I have no idea if that stat is accurate.

I did watch Howard as a pass protector in multiple games and thought he did a good job. I just can’t vouch for those specific stats.

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The more I look at the RBs in this draft class, the more I like them.

With Howard in place, I hope the Eagles focus on finding someone with speed and pass-catching ability.

Texas A&M star Trayveon Williams says the Eagles are showing a lot of interest. And they should. He only ran 4.50 at the Combine, but put on the tape and you see an explosive player.

https://twitter.com/fanaticsview/status/1079944788282089472

I’d love to add someone with that kind of burst and big-play ability.

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