Whether Ryan Mathews is healthy, or not, and the smart money is on not, when the Eagles release their first official depth chart look for Darren Sproles to be the No. 1 running back.
Now, the question is can a 33-year-old running back who is listed at 5-6, 190 pounds be a team's featured back?
"I just think he's a freakish athlete. Going into it right now, I'm not going to limit him. I want to see how much I can give him and see how much he can handle. Then we'll kind of go from there,'' HC Doug Pederson said.
While the Eagles seem to think he can carry the load, at least publicly, the story went on to produce some numbers that show he probably can't. Over his career, the more carries he got, the lower his YPC average was. He had the most carries in his career in 2009 for the Chargers (93) and averaged just 3.7 YPC. Last season he carried 83 times (third most) and had a 3.8 YPC. In 2014 he carried just 57 times with a YPC of 5.8, second best of his career. Those around the team seem to think rookie Wendell Smallwood would get more carries should Mathews be forced to miss extended time.
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