Eagles Need Miles Sanders to Win This Season

The depth at the RB position isn't great, so the oft-injured fourth-year player must stay healthy

PHILADELPHIA – Miles Sanders is ready to go, his hamstring healthy again.

How long the Eagles’ running back lasts, well, that’s the yearly question isn’t it, especially coming off consecutive seasons where he played just 12 games in each.

The good news, though, is that he is ready. He has been listed as a full participant at both of the team’s practices this week as it prepares to open the season in Detroit on Sunday (1 p.m./FOX), and he is confident that, despite missing much of camp with a hamstring injury, he is sure he can perform up to his abilities.

“It’s my fourth year,” he said. “I’m very intact with everything going on, still, even though I was out physically. I don’t think I lost a step, and I practiced these last two days, and last week. I think I haven’t lost a step, honestly, and I think Sunday will be very good.”

Make no mistake, the Eagles need Sanders to stay healthy. They need him to be very good. Better than that, even.

There is no Jordan Howard lurking on the practice squad to ride to the rescue like he did when Sanders went down with an injury in Las Vegas on Oct. 24. Howard was a known commodity, a running back with a nose for the goal line.

Trey Sermon is the fourth RB, but he is unproven, and the 49ers only gave him one season to prove himself even after they drafted him in the third round just last year. 

Fact is, the RB depth on this year’s roster isn’t great.

If Sanders goes down, it’s a heavy dose of Kenny Gainwell, who must prove his summer struggles won’t carry over into the regular season, and Boston Scott, who is the only solid option at the moment.

The Eagles know they need Sanders, otherwise, he probably wouldn’t have sat out nearly three weeks of camp, including the joint practices with both the Browns and Dolphins.

Asked if he could have played through the hamstring injury that kept him out, Sanders said, “Yeah, I believe so…it’s just one of those injuries you don’t want to risk in camp. I attacked the rehab, so I’m back and ready to go.”

He described the injury as “very delicate.”

“If you have a little tweak or if you feel something, you just gotta monitor it, focus on it and take care of it,” he added.

This is a very big year for Sanders, with his rookie contract expiring at the end of the season.

He insisted, though, that he’s not worried about it, that he won’t try to do too much with every single play.

He doesn’t have to do too much. All he has to do is stay healthy and the numbers will pile up and he will get the contract he’s looking for, either from Philadelphia or another team, because Sanders, contrary to what some fans may believe, is a very good running back.

The ball is in his court, so to speak.

“I’m not going to say (he feels underappreciated by the fans),” he said. “I’m a team-first guy, so I’m worried about what my job is on each play. And whatever I gotta do to make the play successful, that’s what I’m going to do.”

There is evidence to the contrary that Sanders isn’t worthy of a new contract, such as no touchdowns last year and no 1,000-yard seasons since arriving in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft out of Penn State.

There is also evidence to support that he should be given a new deal, say in the three-year, $8 million per range, such as his 5.1 career rushing average and the nine rushing TDs and three receiving scores in his first two years combined.

“I would be lying if I said I didn’t (have more to accomplish),” he said. “There’s absolutely a lot more in the tank, but I can only control what I can control. That’s all I worry about - winning and controlling what I can control. So, whatever my job is on each play, that’s my job. And I execute every play just by doing that.”

That’s all the Eagles need.

That and for him to stay healthy, because without him in the lineup, this team could struggle to come close to the lofty expectations that have been heaped upon them.

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.