Philadelphia Eagles biggest needs as the trade deadline approaches

3. Running Back

Le’Veon Bell, David Johnson, LeSean McCoy. All of those guys have been linked to the Eagles at some point over the past week or so. After Jay Ajayi was sent to the IR everybody quickly reached for the panic button. You know who didn’t though? Corey Clement, or Wendell Smallwood. Clement went straight to Howie Roseman last week and told him he doesn’t need to trade for a running back. Howie told him to “prove it.”

The Clement-Smallwood combo looked solid on Thursday Night Football, but we were only able to get a small sample size. Look, Le’Veon Bell in an Eagles uniform would be amazing. But let’s understand that the Eagles are a throw-first team. They don’t fare well with screen passes to running backs, and they don’t seem to balance out the offense that well.

Could it change with a better player in the backfield? Maybe. But this offense works around Carson Wentz. Doug Pederson loves when Carson Wentz is throwing, so he is going to continue to do that. Paying a steep price to rent a running back for half of a season shouldn’t really be in the Eagles plans. Plus, they will probably get Darren Sproles back soon as well, and he will definitely eat up some carries whether it’s necessary or not.