Philadelphia Eagles: 5 Players who need to step up against Detroit Lions

4. Miles Sanders, RB

The Penn State product Miles Sanders garnered tons of hype for his rushing abilities throughout the duration of training camp. Many mentioned that Sanders just runs differently in comparison to the other running backs on board. In other words, he’s on another level.

So far though, none of that has translated to playing field. Doing good in practice is one thing, but the second-round rookie needs to get it together on Sunday’s for the real deal. He had about two plays where he flashed his sweet abilities last Sunday. That’s really it, though.

The growing pains have started early for Sanders as his vision seems flawed. Granted, the offensive line has had their issues with creating lanes, so we can’t fault Sanders for that. However, on the plays where there are open spots for the rookie to run, he tries to bounce the ball outside.

Therefore, a lot of his carries have translated into no gains or negative yards. Through two weeks, Sanders has taken on 21 carries for 51 yards. He’s currently averaging under three yards-per-carry. Sanders is supposed to be a significant piece to what we believed was an upgraded backfield for the 2019 team — but so far we haven’t really seen it.