Back in 2014, the Philadelphia Eagles had LeSean McCoy as their starting running back and unquestioned offensive leader. Everything flowed through "Shady" and as he went, so went the Eagles. When McCoy appeared banged up, that was the true point in which Eagles fans really began to worry. Admit it: When Nick Foles got hurt, it was more of a shoulder shrug. But if McCoy looked injured, that was trouble time.
The reasons for this were self evident. No player on the Philadelphia Eagles meant more to this offense. In 2014 the Eagles ran the ball 474 times. McCoy ran the ball 312 of those times. Darren Sproles only carried the ball 57 times. No other player touched the ball more than 50 times.
Sproles was targeted often as a receiver and if you combine those numbers you get close to 100 touches on the season. Still, those numbers were well short of what many fans envisioned when the Eagles acquired Sproles in the first place. Rarely were McCoy and Sproles on the field at the same time, wrecking havoc on defenses. It was typically Shady, Shady and more Shady.
Of course, McCoy is now gone, exiled to Buffalo. In his place, head coach Chip Kelly and the Eagles have brought aboard DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews. Oh, and Sproles is still around, too.
Right now, Kelly is saying all of this is working out just fine.
“I think it's been great,” Kelly said. “I think you can talk to those guys about it and [Running Backs Coach] Duce [Staley] in particular, it's how that room functions. When you have DeMarco in there, and at the end of every meeting, DeMarco gets all the running backs together, and they share notes and go over their notebooks together. It's really intense, to be honest with you, in terms of how they approach it."
Kelly goes on in the Philadelphia Inquirer piece about the contributions of Mathews and Sproles. And that's all great – even if it does read as somewhat of a dig at LeSean McCoy.
But, hey, everyone is getting along. Hooray. That's fantastic for June. But how about in a few months?
None of this is new to Sproles. He's been part of committee-style backfields for years in New Orleans before arriving in Philadelphia. He's topped 90 carries in a season only once in his career.
Murray carried the ball a stupid 392 times during the regular season for the Dallas Cowboys, who almost killed the man while trying to keep Tony Romo upright. Prior to the 2014 season Murray's career high was 217 carries. Of course, prior to 2014 he'd never played in 16 games, either.
Which brings us to the "X" factor in all of this – Mathews. When healthy, he's been the primary back, posting 285 carries in 2013 and 222 (in 14 games) in 2011. If he's in good condition, he's the go-to guy.
Not anymore.
I still don't get how this is all going to work. If the Eagles plan to rush the ball the same amount, roughly 500 times, and Sproles gets about 50 of them again, how do the other 450 go? An even split, or one tilted slightly in Murray's favor, seems likely. Any thought of Murray and Mathews and Sproles on the field at the same time in some combination, based on what we saw Kelly do last year, seems like a dream instead of reality.
So, will Murray, leading the way in the meeting room in June, be OK surrendering his rushing title simply due to a lack of playing time? And will Mathews, who believed he was coming to Philadelphia to be a go-to guy, be OK with potentially fewer than 200 carries?
Kelly is banking a lot on his read of these guys. His belief has to be that, yes, everything will be fine because they are his kind of players.
The running back position looks like it's going to be the Eagles' strength in 2014. But if Kelly guessed wrong, it could be the team's undoing.
