The Philadelphia Eagles might just move on from one of their key players.
As the Eagles enter free agency, they’ll have no shortage of key free agents hitting the market. One of their biggest names that will hit free agency is none other than running back Miles Sanders. According to NBC Sports’ Matthew Berry, two sources are telling him that they don’t expect Sanders to return to Philadelphia for the 2023 season.
In fact, Berry goes so far as to say that the Eagles utilized a running back by committee approach due to their lack of confidence in Sanders.
“Another running back departure, as two sources told me they expect the Eagles to part ways with Miles Sanders,” says Berry. “They really like Kenneth Gainwell in his third down passing role but that’s about it. One thing that was interesting was both sources told me the “running back by committee” approach that Philly used the last couple of seasons was more about a lack of confidence in Sanders handling a massive workload, both from a health point of view and concerns on fumbling.”
Eagles Relied on Miles Sanders Less During Playoff Run
The 25-year-old Sanders is coming off of the best season of his career, running for a career-high 1,269 yards and 11 touchdowns. In the process, Sanders clinched his first Pro Bowl berth.
With all of that said, it was rather telling that Sanders’ usage declined during the postseason, while Kenneth Gainwell’s usage increased. While Gainwell carried the ball 34 times for a team-leading 187 yards (5.5 yards per carry) and one touchdown, Sanders carried the ball 35 times for 148 yards and two touchdowns.
During the Eagles’ Super Bowl loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, Gainwell’s number of carries (seven), actually matched the amount by Sanders.
As Berry notes in his column, head coach Nick Sirianni’s preference is to actually not rely on the running back by committee approach.
“If Philly were to land a “star running back” from the draft (like if they somehow wound up with Bijan Robinson) they would ride that guy in a big way,” says Berry. “In other words, a RBBC is not Sirianni’s preferred way to deploy running backs but rather what he felt he had to do given who they had on the roster.”
Why Eagles Will Likely Allow Miles Sanders to Walk
According to Spotrac, Sanders’ projected market value is $7.2 million per year for a total of $14.5 million across two seasons. That type of deal would make Sanders the 10th-highest paid running back in the league.
As valuable as Sanders was to the Eagles’ run-heavy approach last season, he is a replaceable player. When considering Philadelphia will have bigger priorities in the offseason, such as re-signing quarterback Jalen Hurts — a contract that could pay him $50 million per year — in addition to re-signing multiple key defensive free agents, Sanders is an afterthought.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter noted how the Eagles likely won’t be able to afford many of their key free agents.
Via 97.5 The Fanatic:
“They’ve planned, like, teams have their salary cap situations literally drawn out for years to come,” said Schefter. “They’ve known about this year 3-4 years ago. What they didn’t know was that Jalen was gonna develop into the star that he is, that they’re gonna have to pay him roughly $50 million a year, so you adjust and tweak your system to that. But they knew this was coming and they’re gonna lose defensive talent. That’s just the way it is. It’s the cost of doing business. They’d like to have most of those players back. They can’t. They just can’t afford it.”
With Sanders likely gone, expect Philadelphia to find his replacement either through free agency or in the NFL draft with a running back such as the University of Texas’ Bijan Robinson.
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Eagles Expected to ‘Part Ways’ With Pro Bowl Star: Analyst