Darren Sproles May Finally Have Bigger Role for Eagles in 2016
It may finally be time for Darren Sproles to have a bigger role in the Philadelphia Eagles offense next year.
I know a lot of bold predictions are made around this time of year about players “breaking out” or having great seasons, but this is different. This is about Sproles filling an obvious hole in the roster: running backs who can catch the ball.
One of the most underrated weaknesses of the Eagles last season was how absolutely terrible their running backs were at catching the football. And I don’t just mean receiving in general, I mean literally just being able to catch a pass. According to Sporting Charts, DeMarco Murray, who was supposed to actually be good at receiving, led the team in drops with six on 55 targets, nearly an 11 percent drop rate. Pitiful.
Of course, it gets worse. Ryan Mathews had four drops on just 28 targets, a 14 percent drop rate. Kenjon Barner had three drops on just 12 targets. Sproles, however, was much better, dropping only three passes on 83 targets, a much higher success rate. I can’t find any drop rates for Wendell Smallwood while he was in college, but he wasn’t much of a receiving back, combining for just 618 receiving yards and zero touchdowns in three seasons.
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The Eagles miss LeSean McCoy‘s ability to be both a dominant runner and still be a threat as a pass catcher. Murray was supposed to provide at least a taste of that, but he failed to do anything worthwhile for the team at all. McCoy had multiple seasons where he surpassed 500 yards receiving. For comparison, Mathews only had one season over 300 receiving yards and only has two receiving touchdowns in his career. He can occasionally make a catch out of the backfield, but that’s just not his forte. Barner doesn’t seem to be a worthy option to catch passes either, as other than a 12-yard catch last year, his other eight receptions combined for just 10 yards.
Sproles has made a living off of catching the ball, though. His last eight seasons he’s had more receiving yards than rushing yards, including more than 500 receiving yards in four different seasons. None of those seasons came on the Eagles, however, as his role seems to have diminished for one reason or another. Whether it was just Chip Kelly’s offense or Sproles getting older, he hasn’t been that consistently explosive guy out of the backfield recently.
I think things can change this year.
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Since Sproles got to Philadelphia, he’s always had at least one running back ahead of him on the depth chart who can catch passes (or in Murray’s case, was supposed to be good at catching passes). Now, that player doesn’t exist, as it’s clear Mathews will never have that skill. Now that Sproles is the second most talented RB on the roster, he should have plenty of opportunities to line up on offense not just on third down and make a big impact in the ways that Eagles fans know he can.
If you need convincing, see his 2012 highlight video. A lot of these passes were on simple screens too, so it shouldn’t be too hard to work him into the offense. The Chiefs’ offense used a fair amount of passes to running backs last year, and with Mathews and Barner devoid of talent in the pass-catching category, I fully expect Sproles to take over that role.
Now, I know 2012 was a long time ago, so still not convinced? Here’s his 2014 highlight video, showing he can still make an impact on the ground as well. I don’t think there’s a question over his ability to still play football, I think it just depends on his usage rate. And if Doug Pederson uses him as much as he should, he should definitely have a bigger impact on the offense in 2016.