Philadelphia Eagles: Keep Boston Scott away from the New York Giants!

Day 1 of free agency has been… kind of a bummer for fans of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Sure, the team officially announced the addition of “The Owl” himself, Haason Reddick, which suddenly looks like a bargain when you consider the deal Von Miller just signed, but other than retaining a few low-priced pending free agents in Nate Herbig, Greg Ward, and Andre Chachere, the Eagles have watched as many of their preferred players have slowly but surely come off the board.

Could a move or two still come down the pipeline? You bet, as I, for one, will be on JuJu watch until the USC product officially signs elsewhere, but in the meantime, the Eagles do have a few of their own free agents who could sign elsewhere either as “natural” unrestricted free agents or as surprise free agents because Howie Roseman didn’t issue a tender while under restricted team control.

One of those players is Boston Scott, the Birds’ on-again, off-again contributor who will go from zero touches to a 100-piece over the span of a week for no rhyme or reason. While his market probably won’t be expansive, as we are talking about a player who only recorded 456 combined yards from the line of scrimmage, there’s one team the Philadelphia Eagles should do everything in their power to keep Scott away from; a team who would be quite literally unstoppable with 35 as their RB1.

Don’t let Boston Scott get into a New York Groove, the Philadelphia Eagles.

There’s something about the phrase “New York Giants” that drives Boston Scott crazy.

Maybe the 11th state and its eponymously named city is like red to a bull and puts the pride of LA Tech in a different headspace, or maybe it’s that salty, sweet Taylor Ham served outside of Metlife Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey that gets the one-time Saints draftee in a football playin’ mood, but whatever the reason, when Scott takes the field against the New York Giants, he has a tendency to go off.

In only six games of action versus the G-Men, Scott has put up 545 yards from scrimmage. He’s run for 327 yards on 71 attempts, caught 16 passes for 218 yards, and scored eight total touchdowns. Factor in 67 yards as a return man, and Scott has averaged more overall yards per game against the Giants than the rest of the NFC East combined, which is both encouraging when New York is on the schedule and alarming when they are not.

If Scott were to sign with an AFC team, say the Buffalo Bills, who just lost J.D. McKissic after agreeing to a deal earlier this week, this fun fact would be just that, a fun fact. Unless Scott’s New York performance enhancement also translates to the New York Jets – which, according to Statmuse, it hasn’t – his status as a certified Giant Killer will simply fade into South Philly lore, a few tiers below Vince Papale, the TO driveway presser, and Jason Kelce’s Mummers costume. But if, however, Buffalo’s former offensive coordinator, Brian Daboll, decides he wants to add a diminutive rusher to his running backs stable, then, well, we might all be screwed, as the 5-foot-6 Giant might just overtake Saquon Barkley as New York’s RB1.

Why? Well, 545 divided by six times 17 is 1,544.16, which is more yards from scrimmage than Barkley has put up since his rookie season, which, by Draftsharks’ count, was four ankle injuries and a trip to IR ago.

Howie Roseman, do you see what you’ve done? By not tendering Boston Scott for a few million dollars, you just unleashed an unstoppable force on the NFC East that could run the division for years to come if newly minded New York Giants GM Joe Schoen is deep enough in the statistical weeds to get a deal done. It doesn’t matter if the Philadelphia Eagles sign Haason Reddick, J.J. Redick, or noted character actor Lance Reddick; it’s a wrap until Scott makes his way from East Rutherford to Canton, Ohio.

… all jokes aside, if Boston Scott does opt to leave the Philadelphia Eagles in free agency, it’ll be a bummer. Signing the diminutive rusher off of the New Orleans Saints practice squad was one of Howie Roseman’s better decisions of the 2018 season, and he’s been good for a half dozen good contests in every year since. While his role in Philly could diminish significantly between the emergence of Kenneth Gainwell and the addition of another young rusher in the draft, the Eagles are just more fun to watch when Scott is on the field, especially when it’s Giants week.