By Emmett Jack
Miles Sanders is scheduled to hit free agency on March 15.
He’s from around Pittsburgh and starred at Penn State.
So he might take a team-friendly deal to stay with the Super Bowl Eagles.
Don’t count on it.
If he bolts for a bigger payday, no one could blame him.
Running backs are not as high-priced as receivers or offensive linemen.
And their NFL shelf life is brief.
2022-2023 SEASON
1269Yds
74.6Y/G
4.9Y/G
11TD
40Long
That would leave the Eagles with a body to replace in the room to work alongside Kenneth Gainwell, who doesn’t necessarily profile as an option to replace Sanders’ early-down work.
If the Eagles carry that hole into the NFL draft, every fantasy manager will be laser-focused on whom the team taps to step into this backfield. That hypothetical running back would rocket up fantasy draft boards, especially if they came via a Day 2 draft pick.
For the first 14 weeks of the 2022 season, Sanders had a 5.2 average, ranking 4th out of 39 running backs with at least 100 attempts during that span.
For the last four weeks of the regular season and three games in the postseason – he averaged 3.9 yards per carry, which ranked 20th out of 29 backs with 50 or more carries from Week 15 on.
