Eagles RB D'Andre Swift Has Career Day, But Backfield Questions Linger

D'Andre Swift earned a larger role with his performance against Minnesota but Nick Sirianni still wants others involved.

PHILADELPHIA - D’Andre Swift had a magical night against the Minnesota Vikings last week, amassing a career-high 175 yards and distancing himself from Kenny Gainwell as the Philadelphia Eagles’ RB1, at least when it comes to the fan base.

Not so fast from the guy that matters most, Nick Sirianni:

“This is going to be — depending on who gets the hot hand, that’s how it’s going to look,” the Eagles coach said of his backfield on Monday.

The thought of never getting too high or too low in this instance from Sirianni is rooted in the context of the way the Vikings played defense on Thursday night – light boxes designed to invite the Eagles to run the football.

Minnesota defensive coordinator Brian Flores picked his poison and went down with the ship preferring Swift beat him rather than A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Dallas Goedert in the passing game and Jalen Hurts with off-schedule offense.

To the credit of Sirianni and offensive coordinator Brian Johnson, it may have taken them 15-or-so minutes of game action but the adjustment of inside zone to the finish line was made and the Eagles reached 2-0 with a 34-28 win in which Swift was the star with those 175 yards on 28 carries.

Moving forward, that will earn Swift the right to be the lead back against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday Night Football and maybe not much place else.

The reality is that 133 of Swift’s yards against the Vikings came before contact, pointing to the dominance of the offensive line, as did Boston Scott’s more limited line (five carries for 40 yards at 8.0 yards per clip) before exiting with a concussion.

Things figure to be much tougher in Week 3 against the Bucs, who plant Vita Vea, one of the game’s elite run-stuffers, in the middle of their defense.

The Eagles are also hopeful to have Kenny Gainwell back from a rib injury in Tampa and to get Scott through concussion protocol with the extra time the mini-bye affords. 

If that’s the case, Philadelphia will certainly look to temper Swift’s touches from a practical standpoint.

Where Swift moved the needle against the Vikings is proving he has the highest ceiling in the running back room and brings the most explosiveness to the offense. That said, the staff still trusts Gainwell in high-leverage situations, something that means the third-year pro will likely remain the hurry-up back and perhaps the red-zone option when he's deemed healthy.

Games where Swift only gets two touches, like the season-opener at New England, should be officially in the rear-view mirror, though.

“In (the Patriots game) we felt like that was the best decision that Kenny was going on that one,” Sirianni said. “He had some nice early carries. Obviously, Kenny wasn’t able to go in the next one and D’Andre took it.”

If there is any clarity in the Eagles’ running back rotation, it has come on the bottom end of the depth chart where it’s clear that Rashaad Penny is the No. 4 option behind Swift, Gainwell, and Scott.

“We know they are all capable of doing what they did and what they’ve done,” Sirianni said.