Philadelphia Eagles: Darren Sproles is underappreciated

While Darren Sproles’ farewell tour lasted a lot longer than expected, the do-it-all offensive weapon deserves a special place in Philadelphia Eagles’ lore.

Had Darren Sproles retired at the end of the 2017 season, fresh off the heels of being named a Super Bowl champion, he would have gone down as one of the most universally beloved players in Philadelphia Eagles‘ history.

Arguably the best trade acquisition of the Howie Roseman-era, Sproles played three very productive seasons of Eagles football from 2014-16. Still, for whatever reason, the 5-foot-6, 190 borderline-Hall of Famer has fallen out of favor with some of the Philly faithful, and his legacy has talent a hit through no fault of his own.

Okay, maybe a little bit of the apathy some fans feel towards Sproles is his own fault.

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You see, from 2005 to 2016, Sproles was a certified ironman. Outside of a lost season in 2006, Sproles played at least 13 or more games in each of his first 10 seasons in the league, including five seasons where he played in all 16. Granted, Sproles never recorded more than 100 carries in any given season, and only passed the century mark twice as a receiver, but for 40-50 percent of his team’s offensive snaps, few players could reliably jump-start an offense quite like the player affectionately known as the ‘Lightning Bug’.

But then, as these things so often go, Sproles’ body started to break down with age.

Fresh off the heels of his third straight Pro Bowl appearance, Sproles declared that the 2017 NFL season would be his last. While the news was a bit of a bummer, as the then-34-year-old was far and away the Eagles’ most explosive offensive (and special teams) option over his three-year tenure with the team, it made sense: Sproles was getting up there in age, and simply couldn’t maintain his usual level of production forever.

Things started off well enough, as through two weeks, Sproles had amassed 123 all-purpose yards on 19 total touches, but that all changed in Week 3, when Sproles suffered a torn ACL and broken arm five offensive snaps into an eventual walk-off win over the New York Giants. While this game will be fondly remembered for Jake Elliott‘s last-second field goal that put the G-Men away once and for all, it also served as the final time fans would see Sproles on a football field until August of 2018 – at least wearing pads.

Sproles remained a steady presence on the team’s sidelines and celebrated just as hard when his brothers in arms ultimately came away the victors in Super Bowl LII, but after a decade-plus of working towards that goal, riding into the sunset a spectator must have rubbed the uber-competitive rusher the wrong way.

2018 rolled around, and Sproles was back for a second retirement tour, however, his season was limited yet again, this time by a Week 2 hamstring injury that kept him out until Week 13. While he didn’t end up on IR for the second season in a row, Sproles looked like a shell of his former self and only surpassed 500 all-purpose yards once, in the team’s Week 16 32-30 win over the Houston Texans.

Surely this was it for Sproles. After suffering through two straight injury-hampered seasons, there was no way he’d risk going for the trifecta, right? *sigh* I think you know what happened next.

For the third straight season, Sproles opted to have one more dance around the NFL, and finish out his career on his own terms, and you’ll never guess what happened: Sproles appeared in six-games, yet again, had his fewest rushing and passing attempts since his rookie season, and finished out the year on – you guessed it – IR, again.

How long would this go on? Was Sproles planning on playing forever, or just until he beat Adam Vinatieri‘s record for the oldest NFL player? Well, it turns out, none of the above, as the third time really was the charm. Sproles was given a front office role alongside his former teammates Brent Celek and Connor Barwin.

Just for context, Sproles had more all-purpose yards in 2016 than he did from 2017-19, which is a pretty crummy way to close out an all-time great career.

But just because the ending of Sproles’ story wasn’t befitting of a legend doesn’t make his career accomplishments any less impressive. Far from it.

As you may recall, it was a play by Sproles that jettisoned the Eagles from the playoffs in 2013 and led to the first two positive moves of the Chip Kelly-era: Trading for Sproles and signing his ex-New Orleans teammate Malcolm Jenkins in the spring of 2014. This one-two-punch helped to shape the Eagles’ roster through the middle 2010s and eased the transition from Kelly to Doug Pederson when the former was ultimately fired 16 weeks into the 2015 season.

I mean, how often does a 30-year-old running back lead a team in total offensive touches with a rookie quarterback and rookie head coach running the show? Sproles kept the Eagles’ offensive alive and thriving in what could have been the start of a rebuilding process, and helped lay the groundwork for an eventual Super Bowl victory.

Sproles was one of only four Eagles players represented on the NFL’s All-Decade Team for the 2010s, and the only player to make the team at two different positions, as an offensive flex and a punt returner. That doesn’t just happen accidentally.

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When Darren Sproles was drafted in the fourth round of the 2004 NFL Draft, few expected him to make it through his rookie contract, let alone develop into one of the NFL’s premier offensive weapons. While he played well for the then-San Diego Chargers and established himself as a legitimate offensive weapon in New Orleans, Sproles became a star, a three-time Pro Bowler, and a Super Bowl champion with the Philadelphia Eagles.

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