Philadelphia Eagles: You snooze, you lose on Jordan Howard

As you may or may not know, the Philadelphia Eagles have yet to sign Jordan Howard, their second-leading rusher in 2021, to a new contract.

No, they didn’t lose out on Howard to another team or opt to replace him with another performer in free agency; no, the Eagles just sort of… didn’t sign Howard to another deal after employing him on and off for the better part of the last three seasons.

March turned to April, April to May, and here were are in July, at the dawn of training camp, and Howard is sitting at home doing nothing.

… actually, that isn’t true. No, after spending the better part of four months sitting at home doing nothing – or, more realistically, working out and doing other professional athlete things – Jordan Howard will spend his Tuesday working out for the New Orleans Saints, where he could sign to serve as a powerful foil for one-time Heisman winner Mark Ingram. If the Philadelphia Eagles want to get off of the proverbial pot and guarantee they don’t let Howard go, then now would be the time to give his agent a call – otherwise, you snooze, you (probably) lose.

Jordan Howard was a valuable cog in the Philadelphia Eagles’ offense in 2021.

For the second time in three years, Jordan Howard finished out the regular season with the second-most rushing yards of any running back on the Philadelphia Eagles in 2021.

All in all, not too surprising, right? I mean, Howard had the fourth-most rushing attempts on the team behind Jalen Hurts, Miles Sanders, and Boston Scott – by one measly carry – and his yards per carry, 4.7, was .3 more than the pride of LA Tech, so yeah, why wouldn’t he be second on the team – that’s just math, folks.

What does make it surprising, however, is that Howard did all of that damage in just seven games and wasn’t even on the team as a full-time member of the 53-man roster until November 10th, once his practice squad call-up eligibility was fully expended.

And yet, when Howard was called up to the active roster, his on-field production was far more reminiscent of his 2019 output than his disastrous run in Miami to start the 2020 NFL season, in which his offensive coordinator openly asked why they signed him in the first place. He was all-effort every time he took the field, pushed the ball north/south in his signature style, and performed well both as a starter and as a change of pace performer.

Really, the only thing Howard didn’t do well was catch the ball but hey, when you only get targeted five times, what is a back supposed to do?

Could Jordan Howard ultimately tank his tryout with the New Orleans Saints? Sure. Could Howard make the team but end up released before Week 1? That’s possible, too, but hey, it’s also possible that the 27-year-old ultimately sticks with his new team, and the Philadelphia Eagles are kicking themselves for not signing him to a one-year deal when they had the chance.