Beyond the Starters: Running Back

One of the Eagles deepest positions on the team has a mix of versatility with a whole lot of speed, and power not only in Lesean McCoy, but in Darren Sproles and Chris Polk who I will highlight today. Chip Kelly loves to run the football in his high up tempo offense clearly as the Eagles ran the football the most out of any team in the NFL last season. Although the Eagles ran the ball a lot, it was merely one guy taking all those carries in Lesean McCoy. To help take off McCoy's work load, the Eagles traded for Darren Sproles and will continue to progress now third year running back Chris Polk. Sproles brings a brand new type of weapon to the offense that can allow the Eagles to do a bunch of different things with formations and where McCoy and Sproles line up as they can both be on the field at the same time during some plays. Darren Sproles as a Saint lined up not only out of the backfield, but at wide receiver and also in the return game. The Eagles will look for him to do the same things as a big hole with those skills needed is open after the departure of Desean Jackson which has been the talk of the off season. During the NFL draft the Eagles traded Bryce Brown who was there backup running back drafted in the seventh round two seasons ago. Brown showed some impressive things during his stint with the Eagles, but he couldn't kick the habit of pushing runs to the outside and often had ball security issues. Chris Polk brings a more secure and steady role as the third running back, and with all the speed the Eagles have on offense, Polk will be the power back coming in during short yardage situations and possibly red zone plays. When being signed as a undrafted free agent out of Washington, there were concerns that Polk was already worn down and he would battle injuries throughout his career. Preserving him for the past two seasons has helped keep the running back healthy while bringing him along in a new offense which he showed that he can thrive in last season in the limited carries he had. The Eagles are in a great position at running back, Chip Kelly is going to do a lot of new and creative things with the backs on the roster that will make this offense even more dynamic than it already is which may seem as a impossible task.