Miles Sanders Ready to Carry Workload with Chip on Shoulder

Eagles RB admitted to being disappointed about not being rookie of the year but has muscled up to prepare for a season in which much is expected

Miles Sanders is ready to carry the load, just like his position coach Duce Staley said he would when Staley talked to reporters on July 31, and Sanders will do so with an even larger chip on his shoulder.

“I just want to help the team win as much as possible,” said Sanders during a Sunday afternoon Zoom call. “Like they’ve been telling y’all, I’m going to have a bigger role. That’s a blessing to me, honestly. I’m just excited to do whatever I can to help the team win whether it’s on the ground or in the air.”

After a standout rookie season that took some time to develop, Sanders said that it was disappointing not to be given more consideration in winning rookie of the year a season ago. The award went to Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray, whose rookie season was far from stellar.

“Definitely wanted rookie of the year, definitely thought I could have been in the conversation for rookie of the year, but that just puts a bigger chip on my shoulder,” said Sanders. “I don’t really think about it too much no more, that’s last year. I just play with a big chip on my shoulder and will use it to motivate myself to keep grinding.”

Sanders’ debut season saw him break two Eagles rookie records that had stood for more than a decade, one belonging to LeSean McCoy the other to DeSean Jackson.

“When you break records of guys like DeSean Jackson and Shady, I think that’s pretty big,” said Sanders. “Proud of myself for doing that. That’s a big accomplishment because those are two great players that will be in the Hall of Fame sooner or later.”

Sanders finished with more all-purpose yards than any other rookie in 2019 with 1,641 and more scrimmage yards with 1,327. His rushing yards broke McCoy's mark of 637 set in 2009 and his scrimmage yards topped Jackson's mark of 1,008 set in 2008.

“For a lot of these rookies coming into camp, it’s night and day,” said Staley. “They don’t know what to expect from the verbiage to how we practice to the demand we from them, it’s different for them. For (Sanders) to come in and being able to get all that and move on and go out there and be successful, I was happy.”

So happy were Staley and the organization that, even after some flirtations with bringing in a veteran running back, that move never happened.

Sanders wouldn’t have minded had the Eagles went in the direction of signing Carlos Hyde or LeSean McCoy, or even if they should do an about-face now and throw some money at Devonta Freeman, who is still a free agent.

“They announced I’m the guy this year but having any type of veteran running back n here would be a blessing, too, just to pick their brain and help me out, too,” said Sanders. “I’m always up to learn, stuff like that. I didn’t really care if somebody was coming in or not, because at the end of the day I trust (GM) Howie (Roseman) and the staff.”

The Eagles are confident in turning over their running show to Sanders, and he could threaten 1,000 yards rushing and maybe 1,000 yards receiving, too.

Sanders had 818 yards rushing with three touchdowns and 509 yards receiving and there touchdowns.

He spent the offseason layering himself from head to toe in more muscle, something he said was a must if he is going to reward the trust the Eagles are showing in one of last year’s second-round draft pick.

“Just looking at my film, honestly, I just wanted to get stronger, upper body and lower body-wise, just stronger altogether,” said Sanders. “I want to break more tackles and show a little more on the ground. Watching film last year, I probably left almost 200 or 300 yards on the field, so I could’ve had a 1,000-yard season.”

Sanders stayed healthy enough to play all 16 games plus one playoff game but struggled with a knee injury late last year.

The Eagles could regret not adding a veteran should something happen to Sanders that forces him to miss a game or more.

Even on the injury front, however, Staley is confident.

“He’s one of the guys it’s hard to get a hit on,” said Staley.

“I think you have to be careful with the guys that can’t make people miss, so you put a big workload on those types of guys, this is a violent league, and injuries can happen at any time, but if you have a guy that can make people miss and is kind of special like Miles, the injury goes down a little bit, the percentage goes down. I think he can go out there and he can handle that part of it.”

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