Why Eagles New RB Room Brings Few Concerns

For Philadelphia Eagles fans, the Bijan Robinson-or-Bust crowd has moved on in record time for good reason.

PHILADELPHIA - A sense of normalcy has returned to Philadelphia when it comes to the Eagles’ running-back room.

The now almost annual will-he-or-won’t-he? game with Howie Roseman and running backs at the top of the draft has rolled over for another year.

The Atlanta Red Stallions (hat tip to the Falcons’ social-media people for playing along with that joke) even gave the terminally obtuse an escape hatch for the next go-round when they selected Bijan Robinson before the Eagles even had a chance to dash the hopes of those failing Roster Building 101.

The fact that you will find very little hand-wringing over the Eagles’ current situation in the backfield is a testament to Roseman’s overall philosophy.

Philadelphia not only didn’t get Robinson or anyone else for that matter in what was considered a deep running back draft by most, but it also lost a 1,269-yard runner with 11 touchdowns in free agency (Miles Sanders). Yet, Peter King “can’t find a weakness” and the same fantasy football-fueled Robinson advocates couldn’t turn the page fast enough to get to the local FTD and send Roseman his flowers for the moves he did make during draft weekend.

If you asked me how the Eagles are going to replace Sanders’ production from 2022-23, you’re not getting any declarative statements other than 'Don’t worry about it.'

Obviously, it will be a committee approach that coach Nick Sirianni is comfortable with, headlined by either the talented but oft-injured Rashaad Penny or trade pickup D’Andre Swift, a Philadelphia native heading home with a chip on his shoulder.

“Both Rashaad and D'Andre have a very unique skill set,” offensive coordinator Brian Johnson said this week. “They're different types of backs. I think one of the things it does is it allows us to be very, very flexible with how we want to deploy them.”

From there, you have the ascending Kenny Gainwell, a placeholder for the two New York Giants games in Boston Scott, and even Trey Sermon, a 2021 third-round pick, and Kennedy Brooks, players who have history at the college level at Oklahoma with Jalen Hurts.

Something is going to click.

As far as what that’s to be determined and it will all be accomplished for pennies on the dollar when compared to the more foolish organizations around the league.

“I think the sign of a good staff and how you want to operate is you want to give your guys the best opportunity to do what they do well and not fitting a square peg into a round hole,” Johnson said. “Cutting out pieces of the offense that are unique to their skill set and what they do well and finding ways to utilize it and highlight it within the normal flow of the game.”

The real advantages the Eagles have when it comes to the running game are their offensive line, which features four different Pro Bowl-level players, and math. Hurts provides the so-called plus-one effect to the running game as well as an extra body opposing defenses can’t account for.

While mystery will exist as to who will seize the mantle of lead back, the end game is assured.

The Eagles will have an effective running game.

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-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Football 24/7 and a daily contributor to ESPN South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen