Howie Roseman SZN: Running Backs

The conventional wisdom is that Miles Sanders is as good as gone in Philadelphia even though the Pro Bowl running back has stated continuously he’d like to be back.

The thought behind the sentiment is that Sanders, 25, would command up to $7 million on the open market after a career season in which the Penn State product ran for 1,269 yards and 11 touchdowns, and the Eagles don’t value the position enough to go near that kind of number.

The latter part of that thought process is absolutely true, especially in a year where NFL Network lead draft analyst and former Eagles scout Daniel Jeremiah has 13 running backs with at least third-round grades.

Whether Sanders gets the kind of offer he wants on the open market was iffy if players like Las Vegas’ Josh Jacobs, the Giants’ Saquon Barkley, and Dallas’ Tony Pollard joined him there but all of those players could be franchise-tagged meaning any team in the market for a proven veteran entering the prime of his career would have to put Sanders near the top of the list.

If you want odds, even if you’re being generous, it’s about 80-20 Sanders won’t be back but at least put in the back of your mind that Nick Sirianni is a big Sanders fan.

Moreso, critics pointing to his downtick in production late in the season and his poor Super Bowl usually fail to add the context that Sanders played through a knee injury and a hand issue suffered on the first play of the big game.

The areas of disappointment with Sanders, though, remain the same: his failure to improve as a receiver and his penchant for kicking things outside a little too often.

Kenny Gainwell, 23, had a bit of a Sugar Ray Leonard season.

For those who aren’t old-school boxing fans, Leonard was famous for preying on the human nature of judges by stealing rounds with a flurry over the last 30 seconds or so and it worked more often than not.

Gainwell had a disappointing sophomore season for most of the way but came on late and in the playoffs leaving many to pencil him in as the RB in 2023.

Gainwell will certainly get an opportunity and has a nice skill set as both a runner and receiver despite some size deficiencies but the Eagles will surely be bringing in some competition likely via the draft.

Like Sanders, Boston Scott, 27, is set to be a free agent as well and the Eagles could bring him back on another short-term deal depending on his market. Scott is a very dependable backup who added some juice to the kick return game as well.

The in-house wild card is Trey Sermon, a former third-round pick in San Francisco in 2020.

The concern is that the 49ers are one of the best running teams in the NFL and they gave up on Sermon, 24, so quickly. For the optimistic, he’s got NFL traits and a history with Jalen Hurts so perhaps Philadelphia’s offensive line and the plus-one Hurts provides that opened up things so well for Sanders could click for Sermon.

Also back on a futures deal is Kennedy Brooks, 24, a former three-time 1,000-yard rusher at Oklahoma who the Eagles originally signed as an undrafted free agent after the 2022 draft.

STAY:

-Gainwell should start the process as RB1 with plenty of competition.

-Claiming Sermon was a solid flyer by the Eagles and there’s no harm in letting someone with his talent compete.

-Brooks is a long shot but the competition should be real at RB for the Eagles over the spring and summer.

GO:

-Ultimately someone will give Sanders more money than where the discipline Eagles want to go.

-Just a hunch that the Giants offer Scott two years just so he doesn’t torture them any longer.

-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Football 24/7 and a daily contributor to ESPN South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen