By Tucker Bagley, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
Howie Roseman did a lot of work over the past few months, filling the various holes across the Eagles roster.
Defensive backs? Check. Pass Rusher? Check. Veteran wide receivers? Check and check.
However, there is still one position that remains a glaring weakness: running back.
It isn't common for the Eagles to have issues at running back, especially in recent history. From Herschel Walker and Ricky Watters in the '90s, Duce Staley and Brian Westbrook in the early 2000s and, more recently, LeSean McCoy and Ryan Mathews, the Birds have always had a 'back able to handle the majority of the team's carries, and most of them had great success doing so.
But now, after DeMarco Murray flamed out and Mathews' body failed him again, the Eagles are left with a group of running backs who represent a lot more questions than answers.
There's Darren Sproles, a grizzled veteran who still manages to break plays wide open with his other-worldly shiftiness and vision. But as we've learned over the past two years, his small stature makes it impossible for him to stay healthy while getting 15-20 touches per game.
Next in line would be Wendell Smallwood, a second-year player who struggled to stay healthy as a rookie and never lived up to the (unfairly) high expectations of the media and fans. Representing the most complete running back in this group, maybe he can be a candidate for a breakout year, but is it reasonable to expect a former fifth-round pick to be a true bell cow back?
And then, we have have the rookies: Donnel Pumphrey and Corey Clement. A pair of youngsters with skill sets that couldn't be any more different. If you squint hard enough, Pumphrey resembles a young Sproles, darting and eluding defenders with his quick feet and breakaway speed. Whereas Clement is a bruising back who loves to hand down punishment upon defenders who should even think about tackling him.
Carson Wentz threw more passes than any other rookie quarterback in NFL history a season ago. Granted, part of that was by design as Doug Pederson's offense relies heavily on the short passing game, but if the coach had someone other than the brittle Mathews or the diminutive Sproles to tote the rock, Wentz would not have been put in harm's way as much.
For comparison's sake, look at what the Dallas Cowboys were able to achieve last season. Leaning on Ezekiel Elliott and his running game, Jason Garrett was able to keep the heat off Dak Prescott and make the rookie fourth-round pick look like an elite quarterback at times.
Now, it's not like Elliotts just grow on trees, but the Eagles would be wise to help out their young quarterback as much as possible. The team certainly knows that, as they threw millions of dollars at Alshon Jeffery and Torrey Smith to shore up their wide receiving corps.
The notion that an NFL team needs an elite running game in order to win games has been debunked time and time again. However, if the Eagles want to put Wentz in a better position to make big throws and win big games, they need to find a way to address the lacking of talent in their backfield before Week 1.
