RBBC

[time2rock]

RBBC

Posted: September 6th, 2023 | Author: Tommy Lawlor 

The Eagles have had some great RBs over the years. Go back to Steve Van Buren and Timmy Brown in the old days. Wilbert Montgomery got the team to its first Super Bowl. Duce Staley, Brian Westbrook and LeSean McCoy were the stars of the Andy Reid era. There won’t be a workhorse RB in 2023.

• D’Andre Swift has started 16 games in three years and has a career high of 151 carries in a season.
• Rashaad Penny has started 11 games in five years and has a career high of 119 carries in a season.
• Kenny Gainwell has one career start and a career high of 68 carries in a season.
• Boston Scott has started 12 games in five years and has a career high of 87 carries in a season.

It is highly unlikely that any of those guys starts 17 games and gets 250 carries. And that’s fine. Running back by committee works just fine in today’s NFL.

The Eagles have an outstanding O-line. Jalen Hurts ability as a runner gives them a schematic advantage. Jeff Stoutland and Nick Sirianni do a good job of coming up with a creative running game that brings out the best in their players. The Eagles don’t need an elite runner to have a good run game. They’d love to have someone like Shady or Westy to feed the ball to, but they can get good production from the group they do have.

It does seem like the coaches are excited about Swift. He was a star at Georgia and was the 35th overall pick in 2020. He has averaged 4.6 yards per carry for his NFL career. Swift is a talented receiver and has 156 career catches. The Eagles traded for him when they already had Penny, Gainwell and Scott in place. They wanted Swift.

That play shows you big time ability. He had the vision to see space to the left. Swift had the lateral agility to cutback and get to that area. He then had the burst to get up the field and finished the play by running through a tackle. That’s just about everything you want from a RB.

We only got to see a little of Swift in the preseason, but I think he’ll be the feature back as the season starts. Still, he won’t be getting a ton of work. The Eagles are going to spread the ball around. The four RBs have different skill sets. The coaches can find ways to get the most out of them.

Penny is the biggest of the RBs and is a physical runner. He has big play ability because of his power and downhill style.

Gainwell isn’t big, but is a surprisingly good short yardage runner. He is a good receiver and will be the key RB in the 2-mintue offense.

Scott is the KOR and is a solid RB. He is small, but thick. He hides behind blockers and runs to daylight.

I would think at least three of them will be the leading rusher in a game this year. Possibly all four. If one of them is having a good day, he’s likely to get more carries and be The Guy for that game. I don’t think sharing the ball will be an issue since none of these guys has been a workhorse runner in their careers.

It will be interesting to see how the RBBC approach works this year. If the Eagles like it, they may stick with this in the future.

*****

The Eagles named their team captains.

9 captains? Really?

This makes me think of the movie State & Main and the running gag where they talk about giving out Associate Producer credits as a way to keep random people happy.

Sirianni seems to know what buttons to push to keep his guys happy, but 9 captains seems a bit crazy.

http://igglesblitz.com/2023/09/rbbc-2/