Sports and Rants with Brett and Pants : Sproles

Showing posts with label Sproles. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Running…Running… Running Backs Everywhere…

The Eagles are ready to take on the season; the Super Bowl Champions have the potential to repeat. However, there is one main question on many fans minds. Why are there so many running backs? The Eagles backfield has made an interesting turn since they lost LeGarrette Blount. Let’s take a closer look at this young and stacked Eagles team.

The Eagles current running back depth chart looks as follow:

Jay Ajayi, Darren Sproles, Corey Clement, Wendell Smallwood, Donnel Pumphrey, Josh Adams, and Matt Jones

To be honest we may see 3 kept in the running back role and 1 more kept in the special teams capacity. When you look at this roster Jay Ajayi is the clear star, he will be the one who is the starting RB day one. However, there are several questions that arise with the rest of the running back competition. When we delve deeper we can see some strong potential with these running backs. But, the main issue has been that no one has stood out so far.

Darren Sproles is the veteran; he is the true front-runner for the 2^nd position in the RB race. However, how much confidence should be placed in Sproles. The man is 35 years old, and has been injury prone the last few years. Yet, over and over again he has proven he can be productive. Now the question arises do the Eagles use him as their piece or do they use him as potential trade bait. Eagles fans are excited about the creative plays Doug Pederson was not able to utilize last year because of Sproles being injured.

Corey Clement is a shoe in for the RB position, the guy proved himself last year to be a key asset. We may actually see Clement get a good number of carries and receptions this season. This is because Jay Ajayi does not have the full confidence of the Eagles staff and the skillset of an every down back. Clement could easily play himself into a starting role.

Wendell Smallwood has had his ups and downs in an Eagles jersey. He has proven himself to be a strong Special Teams candidate, however he hasn’t played up to par in the RB position. The man has unique set skills that could help balance the offense. However, I would not be surprised if Smallwood gets moved prior to the start of the season. If not he will only be a Special Teams player. He would be far fetched to make the team.

Now Donnel Pumphrey is someone I find to be extremely interesting. The 2^nd year player has shown his unbelievable college ability can transfer to the NFL. However, his main issue is his size. Pumphrey is much like Darren Sproles, he is a tiny RB with a lot of skill. The man is the leading rusher in College Football history. Which proves if given the opportunity he could definitely add a unique perspective on the field. Pumphrey needs to prove himself in the final two games of the preseason to show his value. The Eagles will not want to cut their own drafted player so easily. They may try to stash onto the practice squad.

The last two Running Backs we are going to discuss are Matt Jones and Josh Adams. Matt Jones was a favorite to win the 4^th spot coming into Preseason. Jones has had his ups and downs as a starter in the past. The man is a powerful asset in the backfield, however he has had a lot of hiccups since his start. Jones had to prove himself this Preseason, and he has not done that. Josh Adams on the other hand is an interesting case. He may be starting the season on the IR, however he has the skillset to be a backup RB for a team. He was a very successful RB for Notre Dame. Both of these players are outliers right now to make the team. However, don’t be surprised if Matt Jones ends up as a back up somewhere like New York.

The Eagles have a lot of discussion on their hands in the world of Running Backs. This should be an interesting conversation going forward. I believe the final RB’s will be Jay Ajayi, Darren Sproles, Corey Clement, and Donnel Pumphrey. This season should be very interesting to watch going forward.

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Chip Chip Hooray for the Dictator

Chip Kelly is now the man in charge in Philadelphia. Whatever he says goes, and do not let him tell you differently. Kelly tries to elude a perception that the personnel decisions are group effort and not just his. The Eagles head coach does listen to other’s input, but he has the final say. Chip is the Kim Jong-Un of football. He was given control of the entire team. He has final say in every decision.

It is not smart for Chip Kelly to make as large a number of changes as were made this offseason. But Chip could care less. He takes risks, and you cannot be known as a risk taker without being illogical. Kelly is a bias coach. He will do as he pleases until he gets the results that he wants. Moreover, he will take drastic action to get the results. In effect of all of these moves this offseason, it is evident that Chip Kelly wants to win now.

The Philadelphia Eagles head coach was trigger happy with making trades. Just like any Dictator, President, or newly appointed CEO if you don’t support him, you are out. Chip Kelly would like each of his players to be like a swiss army knife. Having players that can fill many different roles can help Kelly create mismatches to take advantage of the opposing defense’s weaknesses. The Eagles offense has many weapons to give the ball to. There is not one player that is relied upon. The opposing defense has to account for every position. The Eagle’s wide receivers do not need be superstars; they just need to be a part of the team to move the ball forward.

This is why Chip had LeSean McCoy sent packing. He brought in a more versatile duo of DeMarco Murray and Ryan Matthews. Murray and Matthews are downhill running backs that fight for every yard. They do not dance for yardage like McCoy did. Darren Sproles fits Chip Kelly’s offense perfectly, because of the different roles he fills. It is great to see a return of multi-back attack.

All of the pieces that Chip Kelly acquired this offseason will need to jell together. It will be exciting to watch. Who knows what is to come? That is just part of the excitement of Chip Kelly. The only thing that we do know with Chip Kelly is that he will do what he wants.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

McCoy No More

LeSean “Shady” McCoy is in his sixth season of his career. Before this season started he would be considered as a premiere back in the league. He put the spotlight on himself when he said that he would reach 2,000 yards. The Eagles would never need that much production from him. Chip’s offensive playbook is predicated on the run. It builds on the run by getting the ball into space and letting athletic offensive weapons be the true offensive playmakers. When the running game is struggling, it puts unnecessary pressure on the quarterback. It is highly unlikely that Eagles would give McCoy enough carries to get 2,000 yards, so why would he think he would get their?

McCoy’s mouth is bigger than the milestone of reaching 2,000 yards. He is all talk and no bite. LeSean is in the prime of his career; however he has played better in previous years. Number 25 on the Eagles cannot carry a football team. This year is the first year that he is without DeSean Jackson. Jackson was a deep threat that would force the safeties to back away from the line of scrimmage, which would give McCoy more room to run. With the safety protecting from a deep throw to Jackson it also gave the offensive line one less guy to block and one less tackler to take down LeSean. A deep field threat would help McCoy reach his goal of 2,000 yards.

Just like how McCoy is all talk and no bite, he is all dance but skills. McCoy is tremendous in the open field. That is when his swift cut on a dime move is the most effective. However, in the backfield he thinks he can dance to past tacklers. McCoy can dance but he cannot boogey. His cutback move is nice, but it would be beautiful if he had skills to go along with it. The only reason he needs to use his cutback move in the open space is because he is too slow to run past tacklers. He does not have the second gear speed to blow by the secondary during a breakaway. More often than not he gets tackled from behind because it is hard to juke away from a tackler when he cannot be seen. If McCoy had an extra burst, maybe he would be able to achieve the elite 2,000 yard milestone.

LeSean McCoy will never be considered an NFL great because he is not a mulch-dimensional back. One example of this is McCoy backing away from blitzers instead of pass blocking. Because of this Kelly no longer trusts McCoy at the goal line. Chris Polk is getting the carries. He tries to do too much. Chip Kelly traded for Darren Sproles, because Sproles can do more than just run through the tackles. LeSean is not a team player and would be more valuable to the Eagles if he was. McCoy is an overconfident player that will never be considered as a top tier running back.

Shady is nothing more than a 20 cent tipping low life. He is arrogant and for whatever reason it seems as if he can only perform well when it is cold. His playing style allows him to take less abuse and would likely provide him with a longer career. He will have more years to attempt to get to 2,000 yards. Maybe he will be like Rex Ryan saying each year the Jets would win the Superbowl, except for 2,000 yards. If he does somehow get 2,000 yards, it may not be with the Eagles. It seems that Kelly has been straying away from McCoy. Let’s hope McCoy’s pompous attitude is crushed by his poor performance this season.

- Pants