We’ve all learned the details of the Darren Sproles contract that he officially signed with the Philadelphia Eagles on July 24th. All any of us can say is it must be nice to be a legend.
It’s official. The Philadelphia Eagles have begun their 2019 version of training camp. There are familiar faces. There are new faces. There are also some guys present that we haven’t seen for a while. Throw Darren Sproles in that last conversation.
The first practice will be held at the NovaCare Complex on Thursday. Ladies and gentlemen, Sproles is present. He’s signed a new deal, and we’ve learned the details. You can thank guys like Ian Rapoport for that.
Here’s how things turned out.
The #Eagles are giving veteran RB Darren Sproles a 1-year deal with a base value of $1.03M with a $300K signing bonus and $600K of his base guaranteed. A nice likely final payday.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 24, 2019
It would be nice to have one of those cash register sound effects right now. It definitely fits. Philly’s investment brings up a lot of questions though. Here are three initial thoughts.
1. Is he a shoo-in to make the roster?
Call us crazy, but it doesn’t appear that this means Sproles is truly competing for a roster spot. It just doesn’t seem like this type of change is given to someone who may not be here in six weeks. Though we understand the concept of respect and allowing Sproles to go out on his own terms, isn’t there something to be said about competing for a roster spot during camp?
2. What does this say about how the coaches feel about the guys who are on the roster?
Okay, this is how most of us see the roster shaping up at the running back portion of the depth chart. Jordan Howard is in. So is Corey Clement and the rookie, Miles Sanders.
Wendell Smallwood is officially one of the elder statesmen at the position, and he’s only entering his third season, but he may not make it in. The Eagles probably take four running backs into the 2019 regular season, and most figure they take five at the most.
Donnel Pumphrey is out, for real this time. Boston Scott may be out as well. Most of his burn came from the fact that he could replace Darren Sproles and help in the return game. That leaves Josh Adams.
Last year, he worked his way onto the active roster after going undrafted after 2018’s selection meeting, being waived on September 1st, and being signed to the practice squad the next day. Can we say, at this point, giving Sproles $1.03 million means they like him better than most of what they have on their roster?
3. What happened to the no bandaid theory?
Sproles can ball. We all know that, but no one thinks he’ll play more than one more season. Not too long ago, Eagles vice president and general manager Howie Roseman said the Eagles weren’t in the mindset of putting bandaids on issues or roster positions.
Again, everyone can understand the idea of respect and giving Sproles what they believe he deserves, but is that a better idea than investing time in developing a guy who will be here for the foreseeable future?
Then again, as stated, maybe we can take some of this to mean that Philly likes Sproles more than a few of the guys they already have. How training camp and the preseason plays out will tell us a lot.