It’s early. No reason to panic. But the Eagles have ruled out Miles Sanders for the rest of their minicamp with a hamstring injury.
This isn’t necessarily a big deal. If Sanders is healthy and he’s really good, I’m sure he’ll get on the field plenty, being given ample opportunity to show what he can do. And I would expect Sanders will be 100 percent when training camp opens.
Odell Beckham a few years back, I recall, frustrated the Giants by missing a lot of time in the offseason with a hamstring injury. Beckham didn’t play at all in the preseason and I’m not sure he practiced at all either. When Beckham finally got in the starting lineup, about a month into the season, he cut it up pretty good.
But the Eagles have plenty of running backs, and I would expect they’ll wind up employing some kind of committee approach. I think Jordan Howard and Sanders will be their top rushers, but neither is very good as a pass catcher, so a third back should also have a meaningful role.
An article in the speculates that Howard is the top running back on the team’s depth chart right now.
That article also suggest that either Wendell Smallwood or Josh Adams (their top 2 rushers last year) won’t even make the team. On their depth chart, they have Corey Clement higher than those guys. Clement catches the ball a lot better than Howard and Sanders.
(In my opinion, Adams looks like a particularly poor fit on their roster right now. A big back with no receiving ability, he looks too much like Howard.)
In the article, Duce Staley (the team’s running backs coach) suggests the Eagles most likely will use a committee approach.
"We haven't had that one guy since Shady (LeSean McCoy)," said Staley. "And, with the type of backfield we have now, we're going to share the ball. And these guys understand that ... If you're going out there, and your number is called, you just go out there and do the best you can during that play. Don't worry about the course of game or how often your number is going to be called. Just take advantage of your number being called during that time."
Where I’m seeing Sanders go in auctions and drafts is a lot earlier than where I even be starting to thinking about him. We’ll see what they look like in August, but I’m thinking Howard will finish 2019 with better numbers.
—Ian Allan