Highly Hyped Pick Facing ‘Uphill Battle’ at Eagles Camp

Nick Sirianni

Getty Nick Sirianni is entering his third season as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles.

The running backs room is running out of chairs and one guy who may be out of luck when the music stops is Trey Sermon. The former third-round pick is facing an “uphill battle” to make the Philadelphia Eagles 53-man roster.

Sermon has been the recipient of a lot of unsolicited love from Nick Sirianni in recent months. The 6-foot, 215-pounder made a lasting impression on his head coach despite taking just two carries for 19 yards in 2022.

Sermon should get an extended look at training camp, but he’ll have to turn heads in a hurry to climb a loaded depth chart featuring D’Andre Swift, Rashaad Penny, Kenny Gainwell, and Boston Scott. The Eagles also have Kennedy Brooks — Sermon’s old teammate at Oklahoma — on the roster. Nothing is going to be handed to the third-year running back as Bleacher Report’s Jake Rill pointed out.

“If Sermon doesn’t impress in Eagles training camp, though, he’s not going to make the team,” Rill wrote. “It seems unlikely Philadelphia would carry more than four RBs, so Sermon either needs to have a huge showing or be the beneficiary of a camp injury. There’s no doubt that Sermon is fighting an uphill battle. But he’ll have an opportunity to show that his third NFL season is finally going to be his breakout year.”


Supremely Talented College RB Prospect

Sermon first starred at Oklahoma for three seasons before transferring over to Ohio State where the starting backfield was less crowded. While he never cracked 1,000 yards in a single season, the smooth runner averaged 6.5 yards per carry for his collegiate career, including a ridiculous 7.5 yards per carry in 2020. Sermon put on a clinic in the Big 10 Championship Game against Northwestern as he rushed for 331 yards en route to MVP honors.

Looking at his tape it’s hard not to smile at his home-run potential. Maybe that is why Nick Sirianni felt so obliged to hype Sermon up at the NFL Annual Meeting in Phoenix back in March. One caveat: Sirianni’s comments came before the Eagles made a draft-day trade for D’Andre Swift.

“Trey Sermon, I’m really excited about him,” Sirianni told reporters. “Wish we could have gotten him touches. But we couldn’t do it last year.”


Don’t Forget About Boston Scott

It seems like Boston Scott has become the forgotten man in the running backs room. The Eagles brought their silent killer back on a one-year deal worth $2 million and it’s a foregone conclusion he’ll make the final roster. Scott, a sixth-round pick in 2018, will enter camp as the oldest player on the team at the position.

“It’s interesting, man. It’s been a cool journey,” Scott told reporters on June 6. “I just try and be available to the guys any way I can, and let them know upfront that there’s no animosity, there’s no — I’m just coming in here to better, you know? I want to make them the best players that they can be. You know what I’m saying?

“Because at the end of the day, we’re in this together. So I’m just coming in here to be the best, whatever label they put on me, whether it’s leader, whether it’s teammate, whatever, it doesn’t matter. Whatever role I have in that room I’m going to be the best I can at it.”

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