In the last few weeks there have been many changes with the Philadelphia Eagle’s lineup; DeSean Jackson and Jason Avant were released while the Eagles landed anther back field threat with Darren Sproles. ”Darren is a player that we have admired for many years,” Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said. ”He’s a proven performer at a high level. He’s such a dangerous back and he’s a great piece to add to our offense and to our special teams. We spent a considerable time in order to try to make this happen and we were very happy to get a deal done with New Orleans.”
Sproles is a huge pickup for the Eagles because he is not just a running back, but he is a very versatile player. He has been a punt returner, kick return, and at times have been a receiver when he had played for the New Orleans Saints.
Running back LeSean McCoy understands with Sproles there he doesn’t have to do too much. “I think 366 touches is a lot,” McCoy said. “Being in the prime of my career and bringing in a guy like Sproles who can do so much, we’ll work well together. I think having me fresh in the fourth quarter with fewer carries can be even more dangerous.”
McCoy admitted that he was enthusiastic to see how Eagle’s head coach Chip Kelly would be able to use him and Sproles together in tandem.“There’s so much in this offense from motions to different looks, I mean the guy’s a genius,” McCoy emphasized.“One thing I can say about Chip is that he’s a genius and he knows how to build up an offense structure that fits what he wants to accomplish.”
Coming off a spectacular season with 1,607 rushing yards McCoy can get only better with Sporles coming in to give him a breather from time to time. Eagle’s head coach Chip Kelly had some admirable words to say about Sporles: ”Darren Sproles is an unbelievable offensive weapon,” Kelly said. ”He can run, catch, he’s a proven winner, and on top of that he can bring all of those dynamic skills to the return game as well.”
Sproles has a chance to revamp his dominance as a threat; last season was his least productive. He had a 6.7 punt return average which was one of the lowest among active players, had a 21.3 kick return average which was third worst, and had a difficult time with getting in sync. He has the opportunity to impact the game more and with coach Chip Kelly’s offense the Eagles look like a very dangerous team to contain.
