Philadelphia Eagles claim speed demon RB Jason Huntley off waivers

The Philadelphia Eagles have claimed RB Jason Huntley.

When it was revealed that the Philadelphia Eagles were only keeping three running backs on their initial 53-man roster (Miles Sanders, Boston Scott, Corey Clement), it seemed like it was only going to be a matter of time before the team dipped into free agency/the waiver wire to add a fourth back. The Eagles have always carried four backs during the Howie Roseman/Doug Pederson era, and it took them less than 24 hours to address the need.

The former New Mexico State RB was selected by the Detroit Lions in the fifth round of this year’s draft, and was viewed as a pretty surprising cut by most people within the Detroit media sphere. Jason Huntley stands at 5-9, 193lbs and ran a blistering fast 40 yard dash of 4.37s. He flashed heavily as a potential good special teamer in the pre-draft process, averaging 25.8 yards per kick return in college while also scoring five kick return TDs.

The Eagles had brought in a handful of UDFA and practice squad caliber RBs earlier in the offseason, with the hope that one of them would stick during camp as the team’s fourth back heading into the season. Guys like Elijah Holyfield, Adrian Killins, and Michael Warren all got their shot at the role, but it appears the team preferred a slightly more established name like Huntley.

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In all honesty, Huntley appears to be a juiced up version of Killins, who had emerged as a fan favorite during camp. Huntley is just as fast, has a similar amount of experience in the return game, but had a better overall grade heading in the draft.

Huntley will likely start the season off as solely a special teams guy, but could rotate into the backfield on occasion should need be. The Philadelphia Eagles seem insistent on making Sanders their every down back, with Scott and Clement operating as the primary backups.

In other Eagles-related waiver wire news, the following transactions took place as well:

• CB Rasul Douglas claimed by the Carolina Panthers
• DE Shareef Miller claimed by the Carolina Panthers
• TE Noah Togiai claimed by the Indianapolis Colts
• CB Sidney Jones went unclaimed

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