Jordan Howard will prove to be very effective for the Eagles
By Conor Myles
Why Jordan Howard?
Philadelphia takes on minimal risk in this trade. Howard can come in, prove his worth and become the team’s lead running back to their committee approach — also can’t forget to mention how that approach isn’t going anywhere any time soon with Doug Pederson in charge.
Some talk has surfaced of Howard coming into Pederson’s offense after proving to be a misfit in Nagy’s due to the two coming from the Kansas City Chiefs and Andy Reid’s coaching tree. Both head coaches appear to view running backs differently when evaluating as Pederson prefers the bigger, battering ram caliber of running back while Nagy pines for small, quick pass-catching back’s (descriptions courtesy of NFL Insider Benjamin Allbright).
The Eagles rushing attack struggled a season after being the third-best team running the ball in the NFL en route to a Super Bowl victory. Philadelphia finished 28th in rushing in 2018, and a considerable part of that was due to Pederson not having his ideal running back. The rotation of LeGarrette Blount, Ajayi, and Clement gave the team a three-headed monster that brought a tremendous physical approach to the ground game. Last season, however, Pederson and company lacked that presence in the team’s backfield, and it clearly showed up on gamedays.
Inserting Howard will immediately bring a noticeable impact, and there’s a reason to believe so. Philadelphia deploys a ton of inside zone concepts. Since Pederson’s arrival in 2016, the Eagles have run an inside-zone concept on 464 of their total 1,412 running plays in that period while also being the league-leader in inside-zone frequency at 50-percent. These specific running designs open the door for Howard to succeed in Philadelphia.