Philadelphia Eagles 2019 free agency watch: LeGarrette Blount
What if the Philadelphia Eagles re-signed LeGarrette Blount and we could get ‘The Train’ about 10-12 carries a game?
It’s hard to determine whether or not LeGarrette Blount was ever called the train before he joined the Philadelphia Eagles in 2017. Still, any Eagles fan will always remember the call as Merrill Reese screamed ‘A runaway train… A runaway train’ when Blount broke one against the Los Angeles Chargers in what felt like a west-coast home game at a soccer stadium.
Despite an Eagles roster that featured Wendell Smallwood, Darren Sproles (for two weeks), Corey Clement and, eventually, Jay Ajayi, Blount emerged as what seemed like head coach Doug Pederson‘s and running backs coach Duce Staley‘s favorite.
In 2017, Blount led all Eagles rushers with 173 carries and 766 rushing yards. That’s almost 100 more carries than the next closest Eagles ball carrier, Clement. That also takes into account that, in Week 2 of 2017, his coaches chose to ignore their workhorse in a road game versus the Kansas City Chiefs.
Philly lost that game by the way.
His postseason performance is why Eagles fans will love a man that only played one season in Eagles green forever. Over the course of a month, Blount scored a rushing touchdown against the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Divisional Round. Then, he ran over the Minnesota Vikings en route to another in the NFC Championship Game.
His saved his best performance for last as he gashed the New England Patriots and ran around them for 90 yards on 14 carries. Again, we can hear Merrill yelling ‘The train is in the end zone’.
Cap issues led the Eagles and Blount to part ways one offseason ago, but after Blount fell behind Kerryon Johnson on the Detroit Lions depth chart, it became obvious that his time in ‘The Motor City’ would be short. He wound up tallying five touchdowns and racked up 418 yards on 154 carries.
We didn’t know it at the time, but inconsistent play and injuries made Philly’s attempts to replace Blount a more difficult task than any of us thought it would be at the time. Here we are almost two years from the date Blount signed with ‘The Birds’, and the Eagles are, again, in need of a workhorse.
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Is Blount a realistic option that makes sense? Yes, he’s 32 and that’s ancient for a running back, but the Eagles, with their committee approach, may only need 10-to-12 carries a game. That may be just what the doctor ordered for both sides.