Eagles Need to Add a RB at Trade Deadline or Elevate Elijah Holyfield

PHILADELPHIA - Not sure how Howie Roseman looks at Sunday night’s game against the Dallas Cowboys and comes away satisfied with his running attack.

The Eagles general manager tried to add a veteran back to the group during the season, showing serious interest in Carlos Hyde and kicking the tires on Devonte Freeman. Hyde got a bigger offer from the Seattle Seahawks while Freeman chose more playing time by signing with the New York Giants to replace Saquon Barkley, who had just gotten hurt and is out for the year.

So, Roseman went all-in on Miles Sanders, even though the approach of his head coach, Doug Pederson, has been a running-back-by-committee approach in his first four years.

The GM has a chance to rectify that decision with a move prior to Tuesday's 4 p.m. trade deadline.

Jordan Howard is sitting there and can be plucked from the Dolphins, but a source indicated last week that Roseman wasn’t biting. Not yet, anyway.

Howard is riding the bench in Miami, and the Eagles may be able to get him for a conditional sixth- or seventh-round pick.

The Eagles would likely have to pay him less than $3 million for the remainder of the season then could release him following the season and not have a dime of Howard’s $5M salary count against their salary cap.

Two possibilities exist with the Atlanta Falcons in Todd Gurley and Brian Hill. Both players’ contracts expire at the end of the season.

The Falcons may think it’s turned the corner after firing Dan Quinn, but at 2-6 that is fool’s gold in a division that has the Saints and Buccaneers sitting in first place and the Carolina Panthers still in front of them.

Now, many may not think that running back is a need, especially with the Eagles using their eighth different offensive line combination this season against Dallas.

I beg to differ.

Running backs can make a line look good and vice versa.

Then there’s what Roseman and the rest of Philly saw against Dallas. The Eagles had 119 yards rushing in their 23-9 win over the Cowboys, which is chicken feed compared to the 208 Washington stuck on them last week and the 261 Arizona piled up two weeks ago.

In the fourth quarter, and holding a 15-9 lead, the Eagles got the ball back with 12:44 to play. In past seasons, that is normally when they have flexed their running prowess, move methodically downfield with a long drive that ends in points.

This time, they ran the ball on first and second down for a total of four yards. Then came an incompletion to complete the three-and-out series.

Dallas then began its own methodical march, with six runs mind you, to reach the Eagles’ 21-yard line with 5:33 remaining. That was when linebacker T.J. Edwards erased any thoughts of a possible 16-15 Cowboys win with his strip sack-fumble that Rodney McLeod raced 53 yards with for a game-sealing touchdown.

Boston Scott is a nice complementary back, and maybe he would have had more than 100 yards had he been given more than 15 carries. Except his effectiveness had begun to diminish in the second half when you look at his numbers – nine carries for 63 yards in the first half, six carries for seven yards in the second half.

He is not a between-the-tackles runner this team craves. Neither is Miles Sanders, though if the Eagles continue to insist he is, he will never stay healthy for all 16 games. Already, Sanders has missed three of the first eight games with a variety of injuries.

But it's not just a power back. It's another back that can help. Sanders needs it. It can't just be Scott and Corey Clement.

Of course, the Eagles could stay in-house and elevate Elijah Holyfield from the practice squad, but for some reason they are resistant to that idea.

So, if not Holyfield, it’s time to make a deal and bring somebody in.

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