Sproles lit up the birds for the Saints in last season’s playoffs, and when Jeremy Maclin went down in Monday’s practice, Sproles’ signing looked even smarter
By David F. Cohen
The wisdom of the decision to cut DeSean Jackson in March won’t be known until November or so — but it almost looked like a disaster during the Eagles’ organized team activity on Monday that was open to the media at the NovaCare Center in South Philadelphia.
Jeremy Maclin, whose return from a right knee injury that caused him to miss the 2013 season surely helped the team decide they could replace Jackson at a lower cost, crumpled upon contact, went to the ground, clutched at his left knee and did not immediately get up.
Suddenly, cutting Jackson didn’t seem like quite so smart business.
Maclin eventually got up and said after practice that he was fine. But Maclin has a history of being dinged up. If he goes down again at any time in 2014 the Birds are going to be scrambling for a replacement. It likely will be a costly one, too, given that opposing general managers and grasping player agents will know the Eagles will be desperate.
There’s not really supposed to be hard contact in these June workouts. While it’s hard to tell defenders to back off, it really is in everybody’s business interest if any hitting was strictly limited to two-handed touch.
Certainly that would be the case with Shady McCoy, perhaps the Eagles’ single most valuable piece of the puzzle.
A reporter asked McCoy that, with his salary-cap number moving to $11.95 million next year, if he feared Jackson’s fate might be his. Even the thought of it seemed ridiculous, but, then, so would have the thought of releasing Jackson last June to anyone who even imagined it.
McCoy, knowing the Eagles’ history all too well, may have imagined it.
“I know it’s a business,” McCoy said. “If I do my job and be a productive player, being positive, being everything I am, I’m not nervous at all. I should be fine. I think I am a better fit in this offense than anywhere in the league. I feel I like I am good to the team and the team was good to me. They took care of me (with a contract extension) when they didn’t have to. But it’s all a business.”
What makes this angle perhaps more than just idle looking-for-an-angle-from-a-June workout chatter is that McCoy may play just as well or better in 2014 and yet may well not put up the same numbers he did in 2013.
McCoy was on the field for almost 80 percent of the Birds’ snaps last season. He’ll be 26 in July, which isn’t old even for an NFL running back, but mileage mounts quickly on ball carriers and it would make sense for Kelly to want to dial McCoy’s minutes back a little.
That’s one of the big reasons why Kelly brought in Darren Sproles, wh does what McCoy does almost as well as McCoy does it, especially on third downs. If Sproles winds up spelling McCoy, that’s fine with him.
“Sproles is going to help me out, for sure,” McCoy said. “He gives us another option. If that can keep me fresh, that will help, too. Leading the league in rushing is great. But if Sproles can take some of the load off, I’ll be fresher in the fourth quarter and I know defenses won’t like to see that.”
More touches for Sproles probably means lower numbers for McCoy, though McCoy mentioned them being in the same backfield at times, a thought sure to have NFL defensive coordinators reaching for their chosen headache relief medicine.
Asked if he cared about his numbers, McCoy shrugged and said he was more interested in winning.
“I’m still in good shape,” he said. “I know my role.”
So did DeSean Jackson, of course. McCoy seems as secure as Jackson did last year at this time — but he knows the business of football can step in at any time to change it.
“I’m still in good shape,” he said. “I know my role.”
So did DeSean Jackson, of course. McCoy seems as secure as Jackson did last year at this time — but he knows the business of football can step in at any time to change it.
