Philadelphia Eagles may have let a very good one get away

Did the Philadelphia Eagles really screw up by letting a former practice squad guy get out of the building, or is he just a product of a great system?

Nobody loves or sees the game quite like a Philadelphia Eagles fan. Though we pat each other on the backs for being one of the NFL‘s most knowledgeable fan bases, you have to ask yourself what some of these people are talking about sometimes.

Regardless of what side you’re on, if you’ve cheered for the ‘Birds’ for your entire life, you’ve participated in a few conversations about guys Philly gave up on that shined on other teams. Many of them ended up with the New England Patriots, but while watching a very boring NFC Championship Game, how many times did you look at Raheem Mostert and ask yourself ‘what if’?

Mostert was the star of the San Francisco 49ers‘ blowout win over the Green Bay Packers. He was also an undrafted rookie in 2015 that the Eagles discovered and brought into camp.

During the 2015 preseason, Mostert tallied 157 rushing yards and 191 receiving yards and led the NFL in yards from scrimmage. He returned five kick returns for 162 yards. Despite a nice showing, he was cut on September 4th of that year but was signed to the practice squad two days later.

Now, most of you are thinking about a few things that are very valid. Being with the ‘Birds’ in 2015 would mean that he was a part of the Chip Kelly regime and that had nothing to do with Doug Pederson or the coaches who are here now. Heck, what does Chip Kelly know about talent or NFL football, right? Then, there’s the other thing. That was almost five years ago! Score two for you if you thought of both of those points. See? Eagles fans are sharp.

Still, in looking at a man score over and over again in front of a national audience, you might wonder. What if the Eagles gave him a shot? What might he have done here? Then again, you can give a ton of credit to Kyle Shanahan. He’s the offensive genius, just like his father was. Kirk Cousins and Matt Ryan‘s best work came with Kyle being in their ears.

Mike Shanahan had a way of just plugging in any running back into his system and making stars out of them. Maybe Kyle picked that up. In 2019, he plugged in an undrafted Matt Breida and got 1,902 rushing yards, 561 receiving yards and ten total touchdowns in three seasons. Then, in an NFC title game, he played Raheem Mostert, who’s spent time on six NFL rosters since entering the league in 2015.

Maybe this is all Kyle Shanahan’s doing. Maybe the Eagles missed out again. We’ll never know the answer, but here’s something that can be said with certainty. Somewhere, Eagles fans are arguing among themselves about which statement is the correct one.