Philadelphia Eagles shouldn’t take carries away from Josh Adams for Darren Sproles

Even though Darren Sproles hopes to play on Monday against the Washington Redskins, the Philadelphia Eagles can’t allow Josh Adams to lose carries as a result.

When seeing how things played out last year in the injury department, Darren Sproles was excited for what the 2018 season would have in store since the Philadelphia Eagles veteran running back would enter the new year fully healthy.

Unfortunately, things quickly went back to the way they were last season for Sproles when seeing how his only appearance in 2018 was during the opener against the Atlanta Falcons due to a hamstring injury.

While there have been a few times in which it seemed like Sproles would be returning to the lineup, Philadelphia hasn’t been able to get him back on the football field, although that could change come Monday night.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Sproles made it clear in his plan to hopefully play against the Washington Redskins, as it will be interesting to see what kind of impact he can make in the backfield.

The key factor from that statement is how Sproles makes it clear the plan is to play in Week 13, meaning there are no guarantees since plenty could change over the next few days.

However, if Sproles does manage to suit up for the defending champions, Philadelphia needs to make sure the veteran’s presence doesn’t take away from the recent production by rookie running back Josh Adams.

With the Eagles dealing with a few injuries at the running back position highlighted by Sproles and Jay Ajayi this season, the team has spent the last two months trying to get the best out of the former Notre Dame running back.

Similar to the situation last season with Corey Clement, Philadelphia signed Adams as an undrafted free agent back in the offseason to see if he could make a surprise impact on offense during the 2018 season.

It may have taken a little longer to finally get that big game, but the Eagles got a better taste of Adams’ potential last weekend against the New York Giants in which he led the team with 84 rushing yards and a touchdown on 22 carries.

This may have only been one performance, so it’s understandable why Philadelphia doesn’t want to overreact. But when seeing what Adams was able to accomplish after receiving double-digit carries for the first time, now the task becomes to make sure the rookie continues to produce.

Back in the opener against the Falcons, Doug Pederson made it clear early on how desperate he was to get Sproles involved as much as possible, which arguably hurt the offense in the first half.

This time around, as tempting as it may be for Pederson to take a similar approach with Sproles, the last thing he needs to do is hurt the production for Adams by taking away carries from the rookie.

Otherwise, it could end up hurting the chances of Washington taking down Washington, which also could impact the team’s chances in winning the NFC East title.