Darren Sproles not on first team, but he's No. 1 Eagles back
Ryan Mathews might be listed as the Eagles' top running back, but the way coach Doug Pederson has split playing time this season suggests otherwise. Darren Sproles has taken as many or more snaps than Mathews in all seven games, and the difference Sunday in a 29-23 loss to the Dallas Cowboys suggested that it's not even a split backfield - Sproles is the lead running back.
Ryan Mathews might be listed as the Eagles' top running back, but the way coach Doug Pederson has split playing time this season suggests otherwise. Darren Sproles has taken as many or more snaps than Mathews in all seven games, and the difference Sunday in a 29-23 loss to the Dallas Cowboys suggested that it's not even a split backfield - Sproles is the lead running back.
Sproles played 81 percent of the offensive snaps and touched the ball 20 times. Mathews took 10 percent of the snaps - just eight plays - and touched the ball five times. Sproles' playing time and the way he was used indicated that he should be atop the depth chart, even if Pederson is not ready to make that claim.
"I can't say that 100 percent," Pederson said Monday. "It's something we'll evaluate in these next couple of days and make that determination. But until then, it's still Ryan Mathews and then Darren in those situations."
Mathews rushed four times for 10 yards and a touchdown against Dallas. It was his lowest total of carries this season other than a Week 3 win over Pittsburgh when he was limited by an ankle injury. A 2011 Pro Bowler who has twice topped 1,000 yards in a season, Mathews is averaging just 3.8 yards per carry this season. He is often usually the first running back on the field, too, but that was Sproles on Sunday.
The reduced role came one week after Mathews fumbled the ball in the fourth quarter against Minnesota, which was the second time this season he has fumbled while the team tried winding down the clock. Pederson said Mathews' role was not affected by those fumbles.
"It wasn't a reaction," Pederson said. "I just think that Darren had the hot hand [Sunday]. Darren was playing outstanding and he was doing some great things out there. So, just wanted to keep Darren in the game."
Sproles finished with 15 carries for 86 yards and five catches for 17 yards. He has 46 carries for 228 yards this season - an average of 5 yards per carry. He is averaging 6.56 yards per carry in the last four games.
The workload on the ground Sunday was notable because that's not how Sproles has been used throughout most of his career. He's mostly been used as a multidimensional threat - Sproles passed former Chargers teammate LaDainian Tomlinson on Sunday for eighth in all-purpose yardage in NFL history with 18,498 - and has never been a featured running back.
His 15 carries were the third-highest total of his 12-year career and the most in a game since 2009. He's on pace for a career-high 105 carries and the most offensive touches for him since 2011. That's a high workload for a 33-year-old, 5-foot-6 running back, but Pederson believes Sproles can handle it.
"I definitely think he's capable," Pederson said. "I think you don't want to give him any more than what he got yesterday, with his role on special teams and all that, too. If you know Darren like I know Darren, the way he works during the week and the way he prepares himself and prepares his body and mind, he's definitely capable of handling that type of load."
Pederson did not find much of a role for Wendell Smallwood and Kenjon Barner, the third and fourth running backs. Barner finished with three carries and one reception on six plays, and Smallwood fumbled his only carry on his only offensive snap - the type of costly turnover that could prompt questions about whether a coach would abandon trust in the rusher, a la Mathews in recent weeks. Pederson said the fumble would not affect the playing time of Smallwood, a promising rookie whose role appeared on track grow in the second half of the year.
"I'm not going to stand here and just be down on a guy," Pederson said. "It would be so easy to do that. My job is to coach these players up, and as coaches, that's what we get paid to do. So we're going to continue to work on it, talk about it and coach these guys up."
The backfield rotation has been an ongoing question all season, but seven games have provided a large enough sample size to see that Sproles gets more playing time - even if the depth chart isn't as clear. Sproles has played 54 percent of the team's snaps this season, with Mathews at 29 percent and Smallwood and Barner both at 10 percent. And if Sunday was any indication, Sproles could continue to play the biggest role going forward.
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