Philadelphia Eagles: The running backs market is drying up fast
With Le’Veon Bell, Tevin Coleman, Adrian Peterson, Mark Ingram, and Latavius Murray off the board, the Philadelphia Eagles running back prospects are getting dangerously thin.
If the Philadelphia Eagles intend to secure a running back in free agency, they’d better pick one up soon, as the market is drying up.
It all started when Le’Veon Bell signed his four-year, $52.5 million deal to join the New York Jets.
On the surface, this move wasn’t particularly important for fans in the 215, as Bell appeared to be an uber longshot to actually sign with the Eagles, even if Bryce Harper campaigned for the do-it-all-rusher.
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However, Bell’s signing set into motion a dangerous series of events that could leave the Eagles with a big old egg on their face.
From there, the New Orleans Saints signed ex-Viking Latavius Murray, which caused Mark Ingram to sign with the Baltimore Ravens. A little further west, the Washington Redskins re-upped Adrian Peterson for two-years, $8 million, $2 million less than the deal everyone’s favorite Philly target Tevin Coleman signed to join the San Francisco 49ers.
Even Jay Ajayi is getting in on the fun, as he’s visiting Indianapolis to potentially join Marlon Mack in the Colts‘ backfield pending a physical of course.
Right now (as I’m typing this) the only running backs still on the open market according to NFL.com’s Top 101 free agents is T.J. Yeldon, a former Alabama second-round pick who was insanely inconsistent over his four-year tenure in Jacksonville.
Ouch.
Digging a little deeper into market, there are still a few players who could provide value on the right contract, like Spencer Ware, C.J. Anderson, and ‘Roll that’ LeGarrette Blount, but it’s hard to imagine any of these players earning 1000 yards from scrimmage next season.
And really, if one of those running backs were to be the Eagles’ next lead rusher, the Eagles would be in some serious trouble.
Last season, the Eagles earned 1,551 yards on the ground, the 26th best mark in the league.
Their lead rusher? Josh Adams, who only earned 511 yards on 120 carries. In some games, Adams looked great, like his two-game stretch from November to December when he ran the ball 42 times for 169, but he was ultimately benched for the Birds’ playoff bout against the Saints, a horrible sign for his future prospects.
Sure, they still have Corey Clement, and a hero from the team’s Super Bowl run, but he was injured for much of the 2018 season and looked much less promising than his rookie tape initially suggested.
No matter how you slice it, the Eagles need help on the ground to even out their run-to-pass ratio and field a more balanced attack.
That, unfortunately, probably isn’t going to happen in this free agency period.
Next. Zach Brown could perfectly fill Jordan Hicks’ shoes. dark
Unless a player like Ware or Yeldon can somehow put it all together and develop into a starter, it looks like the Eagles will have to turn to the draft to find their next LeSean Mccoy, Duce Staley, or Brian Westbrook, that is, unless they can somehow secure a player like Jordan Howard or Duke Johnson in a trade.