Eagles: How early might they take a running back?

We’ve always heard that there are no sure things in the draft, but is that statement still accurate?

How early might the Philadelphia Eagles take a running back? Professional football changed quite some time ago, and somewhere along the line, a decision was made to change the rules and make things easier for the offense. We live in an era where people want to see scoring. High scoring games are typically seen as exciting, and low scoring games are seen as boring. Truthfully, if we read or hear that the NFL is a passing league one more time, we’re probably going to scream.

Points are at a premium.

One of the more exciting plays in football is a long pass completion. It sends crowds into a fever pitch, gives quarterbacks confidence and gets players and coaches fired up. Whether fueled by changing times or a lack of patience, a premium was placed on adding components to NFL offenses to “open things up”. The running back position was being phased out. At about the same, time running backs who were taken high in the draft weren’t working out as often. Teams were also finding guys who could contribute or start in later rounds.

Then, the Dallas Cowboys selected Ezekiel Elliott with the fourth-overall pick, and he came dangerously close to winning league MVP. Now, everyone wants to find another one.

Elliott’s impact on the Eagles thought process:

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The Eagles have been linked to everyone from Dalvin Cook of the Florida State Seminoles to Christian McCaffrey of the Stanford Cardinal to Leonard Fournette of the LSU Tigers. Recently, they made it clear that they hadn’t removed former Oklahoma Sooners running back Joe Mixon from their draft board.

Having no ball carrier that they could hang their hat on stifled the Eagles in 2016, and now that they’ve worked out just about every running back they can get to the Novacare Complex, we’re under the impression they may be very serious about taking a running back in one of the first two rounds.

Moving Forward:

There are issues at cornerback (many of us hope they take two in this draft), but many believe if Fournette or Cook slide and are available at pick 14, the Eagles will go in that direction. As far as the backs the Eagles already have, much needs to be sorted out.

Next: 5 Things learned by adding Long and Robinson

Darren Sproles was clearly the Eagles best option for much of the season, but he’s aging and can’t be depended upon to carry the load in 2017. Kenjon Barner showed flashes but clearly isn’t a starter in this league, and it’s becoming more obvious that no one in the coaching staff is completely committed to Wendell Smallwood. When asked about the possibility of him competing for a starting role, head coach Doug Pederson would only commit to saying Smallwood would have a “role” in the offense in 2017.

We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

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