Eagles Giant Killer Retires, Leaves Behind Legacy Of Quality Over Quantity

There wasn’t any good explanation for Boston Scott’s jaw-dropping success against the New York Giants. Sometimes, like Sasquatch and the supernatural, there aren't any.

For six seasons with the Eagles, Scott was a Giant killer. He played against them 10 times in the regular season, went 7-3, and had 644 scrimmage yards with 10 touchdowns. He left Philly after the 2023 season and never played another game, though he was with the Los Angeles Rams and Pittsburgh Steelers.

Scott, the 5-6, 205-pound wrecking ball, retired earlier this week. He will turn 31 next month. No Giants fan will miss him. Nor will any Giants coach or player who had the unenviable task of playing against him.

“He’s not small, he’s just short,” former Giants special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey told the New York Post a couple of years ago. McGaughey watched from the sideline on Dec. 17, 2023, when Scott set a career-high with 117 kickoff return yards on three attempts.

“He’s a strong runner, really good contact balance,” he said. “You hit him and he just … spins around, puts his hand on the ground because he’s low to the ground already and he can run. He runs physical. He has really good short-area quickness. A lot of times, because he’s shorter, he’s behind the players and, all of a sudden, he just darts out, and he comes up on you pretty quick. He’s a pain to deal with.”

Scott collected 422 rushing yards on 90 carries (4.7 average) and nine rushing touchdowns, plus 17 catches for 222 yards and one receiving touchdown—totaling 10 scores and 644 scrimmage yards.

Boston Scott's Career Featured High-Quality Plays

For his career, Scott had 1,295 rushing yards on 302 carries (4.3 yards per attempt) and 16 rushing touchdowns, adding 71 receptions for 566 yards and one receiving score. While quantity may not be high, the quality of many of Scott’s yards gained in both the pass and run game was off the charts.

There were short-yardage goal-line runs, where he would lower his frame from 5-6 to who knows what – 5-feet maybe – and burrow his way through the tiniest of crevices to cross the goal line.

There was a 34-yard touchdown run against the Jets in which he showed off his instant acceleration, and a 39-yard catch-and-run score in which he put the Giants in a spin cycle, with some spinning and twisting moves in the open field.

Scott may have been short in stature, but he was just as strong as any player on either side of the ball, linemen included. While in high school, he won the Louisiana state powerlifting championship.

Not only was he the ruler in the land of Giants, but he also was the king of the one-year contract. Three times, he signed one-year deals to return to the Eagles, from 2021 to 2023, going from $920,00 in 2021 to $1.75 million in 2022 and, finally, to $2M in 2023.

In all, he played all 75 of his NFL games with the Eagles, even though his career began as the 201st overall pick by the New Orleans Saints in 2018. The Eagles plucked him from the Saints’ practice squad late in the 2018 season, and Scott was every bit the team player during his nearly six years in Philly.

“I'm thankful for everything the game has given me and my family,” Scott said in his retirement statement. “I'm thankful for the coaches, teammates, and staff throughout my career that believed in me even when it wasn't popular. Looking back at my career, I'm just in awe of what God was able to accomplish, from a Walk-on who almost had to drop out of college to many years at the highest level, a lot of it doesn't make sense, and I believe that's the point.”