Doug Pederson made official on Monday what has been apparent by looking at the playing time and the stat sheet: Darren Sproles is the Eagles’ No. 1 running back – not Ryan Mathews.
“By stats and by what you're seeing, I would say that Darren is the No. 1 back right now,” Pederson said. “Ryan is still a big part [of the offense]; you saw the touchdown run that he had yesterday. Kenjon [Barner] had a nice run. Wendell [Smallwood] had a nice run. So it’s still a little bit of the running back by committee. Obviously, we haven't hung our hat on one guy, but we tend to lean more towards Darren Sproles. It's hard to take him off the field right now.”
Related players: Ryan Mathews, Wendell Smallwood, Kenjon Barner
It's not really breaking news, and we pointed out what was pretty apparent even last week, but it's now officially official. Of course the concern with Sproles is his age and durability, but it looks like at least for now he'll get a majority of the carries. Mathews is probably the next best option to own and will likely see some red zone work as he's the closest thing to a power back on the roster, but is also a fantasy risk. Barner did score a TD last week.
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