Is a potential Jay Ajayi return bad news for Jordan Howard?

With Jordan Howard and Darren Sproles on the injury report, the Eagles have decided to bring Jay Ajayi in for a workout.

It has been quite a while since former Philadelphia Eagles running back Jay Ajayi has taken the field. Last season, Ajayi was wrapping up the final year of his rookie deal with the Birds and had an excellent opportunity to try and prove he’s worth a long-term deal.

As he was easily the most talented running back in the backfield at the time, Ajayi was given the first-string role. Unfortunately, his body broke down. Not only did Ajayi suffer a broken back, but he eventually tore his ACL trying to play through the pain.

That left the Eagles running back with no choice but to take a trip to the injured reserve. Since that early-season game against the Minnesota Vikings, Ajayi hasn’t stepped on a football field. Although he picked up a couple of workouts over time — nobody signed him.

That could change this week. As of Friday, Ajayi is in Philadelphia and will hold a workout with the Eagles. While the reunion would be great, this potential move actually shows the Eagles are more banged up than we initially thought.

What does working out Ajayi mean?

Let’s face it — the Eagles aren’t just working out Jay Ajayi because they want to bring in some fresh legs to the running backs rotation. Ajayi is getting a workout because the Eagles’ backfield is beginning to break down a bit.

As of Thursday’s injury report, two of the four rostered running backs were dealing with setbacks. Darren Sproles once again is absent from practice as he deals with a quadricep injury. And worst of all, Jordan Howard is on a limited basis due to his lingering shoulder injury.

Make no mistake about it — the Eagles need depth, and Ajayi just makes the most sense in this case. It’s unclear how severe Sproles and Howard’s injuries are — but at least NBC Sports John Clark leaves us with some positive speculation.

“I’m thinking this has more to do with Darren Sproles than Jordan Howard,” Clark wrote on Twitter. “Darren was not on the injury report at all and then missed practice Thursday with a quad issue.” The Eagles haven’t confirmed the severity of either injury, but clearly somebody is on track to miss this week’s game.