There are a lot of rumors and scenarios swirling on the internet about which running back will be traded to the Philadelphia Eagles before the NFL’s trade deadline.
The oddsmakers think Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell will be wearing midnight green, while there are reports about a possible reunion between the Eagles and Buffalo Bills running back LeSean McCoy.
However, Bell and McCoy are not the only running backs that the Eagles fans should keep an eye on. On Tuesday, John Clayton of ESPN went on 94 WIP and mentioned that Seattle Seahawks running back C.J. Prosise and Chicago Bears running back Jordan Howard are two other options for the Eagles.
Out of the two, Clayton said that Prosise would be the cheaper option. The former Notre Dame running back has only played in three games this season and registered a pedestrian three receptions for 22 yards.
In his short NFL career, Prosise has had trouble staying healthy and might be on the outside looking in with rookie Rashaad Penny, Mike Davis, and Chris Carson getting a majority of the carries. If the Eagles wanted to do a deal with Seattle, they should probably offer a fifth-round pick for starters.
When it comes to Howard, however, he would cost more and is actually a better fit with what the Eagles need. As currently constructed, the Eagles do not have a pure in-between the tackles, downhill runner in their running back room. Undrafted free agent Josh Adams has the potential to be that, but he is still a work in progress.
This season with the Bears, the 23-year-old Howard only has 203 yards on 64 carries and a touchdown through four games. When you compare his stats from this season to the previous two seasons, where he had 252 and 296 yards in the same amount of games it does raise an eyebrow about what’s going on.
After Chicago’s Week 4 blowout victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where Howard only had 11 carries for 25 rushing yards, he left without speaking to the media. From there, it was speculation that the running back was not happy with how he is being used.
A couple of days ago, Howard dispelled those rumors, claiming that he was not frustrated.
“I wasn’t frustrated,” he said (h/t Chicago Tribune). “I was happy. We won. You see how much we won by. So there’s really nothing to complain about.”
“It’s not my job to worry about that,” Howard said about his workload. “It’s just my job to go out there and play and do the best I can to help the team out.”
Even though Howard is saying one thing, you have to imagine he is feeling a certain type of way because he is not getting the ample opportunity to run the football. It is not often a fifth-round pick rushes for over 1,000 yards in back to back seasons to begin his career.
Therefore, with the emergence of Tarik Cohen, could a change of scenery be good for Howard? Possibly, but if he were to get traded to the Eagles, Howard would run into the same issues that he faces in Chicago.
Philadelphia has a running back by committee, which features many guys in the backfield. Would he get at least 20 carries per game with the Eagles? That’s a tough question to answer because Jay Ajayi, who he would essentially be replacing, never reached that plateau.
In addition to potential limited production, what would it take to land Howard? If you are Chicago GM Ryan Pace, I would ask Philadelphia for one of their second round picks and a third rounder for good measure.
If that is the asking price for Howard, I don’t think the Eagles would do it because they have a lot of glaring holes that need to be addressed in the 2019 NFL Draft.
