Injured Eagles Starter Proclaims Himself Ready to Go for Sunday’s Opener

Getty Eagles running back Miles Sanders says his injured hamstring is good to go for the season opener Sunday against the Lions.

The Philadelphia Eagles will have starting running back Miles Sanders available on Sunday, according to the 25-year-old. When asked whether the injured hamstring that has nagged him throughout camp was healed enough for him to play against the Detroit Lions, Sanders didn’t mince his words.

“Absolutely, ready to go,” Sanders said during a September 8 press conference. The former second round pick said he probably would have been able to play through it in the regular season, but that it wasn’t worth risking making it worse during training camp.

“It’s just one of those injuries that’s very delicate and you’ve just got to, if you have a little tweak or you feel something there, you’ve just got to monitor it,” Sanders explained. “Focus on it, just take care of it. Attack the rehab and get back ready to go.”

Sanders was a full participant in practice yesterday, so all barriers appear to be cleared to get him on the field.

Sanders has played in just 12 games each of the last two seasons due to injuries, but has been productive when healthy. Through three seasons, Sanders has rushed for 2,439 yards and nine touchdowns in 40 games, averaging 5.1 yards per carry. Last season he averaged 5.5 yards per carry, third best in the NFL.

While recovering, Sanders has done his best to improve through training camp and stay sharp. “I’m still in meetings, asking questions, taking mental reps as each play goes on in practice,” Sanders said.

Miles Sanders Excited About Eagles Offense

When asked about the offensive line he gets to run behind, Sanders said that he’s been excited every year in Philadelphia because of the amount of talent on the offensive line.

“Watching them for four years is just crazy, they haven’t lost a step,” Sanders said. “[Center Jason] Kelce hasn’t lost a step, [guard] Isaac [Seumalo] hasn’t lost a step, [tackle] Lane [Johnson] hasn’t lost a step. Now we added [guard] Landon [Dickerson], Landon’s amazing. Then you’ve got Mailata, and coach was just talking about [tackle] Jordan Mailata.”

Sanders said that watching the talented offensive and defensive lines battle in practice is one of his favorite things. On top of the benefits he enjoys running behind that offensive line, working with a mobile quarterback like Hurts also opens up holes for Sanders.

“I like doing running plays with Jalen because he opens it up more for us when he decides to give it to us,” Sanders said. “There’s going to be plays where it shows where he has to run it, but when he’s consistently running the ball, pulling it, that just makes the defense have to do more stuff to keep both of us in contain, but you can’t do that with the type of o-line we have and then the receivers we’ve got. It’s going to be a lot to deal with. But having Jalen as our quarterback definitely helps with a lot of stuff we want to do.”

Sanders Says Trey Sermon Fits With Eagles Running Backs

The Eagles claimed running back Trey Sermon off waivers from the 49ers a week ago, and Sanders says he’s fitting in well.

“I like Trey, I watched him when I think he was at Ohio State his last year, so that’s Big 10 football, so I know all about him,” the former Penn State running back said. “Great running back, very similar to what we all can do in the running back room. We pretty much can all do the same thing and he’s going to bring a lot of value to us too.”