The Philadelphia Eagles are in an weird place with their running backs right now.
They currently have the most expensive running back collective in the NFL and this is not a good thing. The money is split between the 28 year old DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews (most of it going to Murray), while the 32 year old Darren Sproles is responsible for a cool $4.5 million cap hit.
Sproles did look more effective than Murray earlier on in the season and was a great passing threat, however he is 32 and for a running back that is ancient. The sad part is when you look at his rushing numbers compared to Murray, they are relatively similar.
Sproles had 3.8 yards per carry while Murray had 3.6 (Mathews beat both of them with 5.1 yards per carry). Murray had 6 touchdowns this season on the ground while Sproles had three (Mathews also had six). Sproles tallied almost half (317) of Murray's yardage (702) when only having 83 rushing attempts. The Eagles main concern this offseason is re-signing Sam Bradford and undoing any of the mistakes Chip Kelly has left behind, the only problem with that is that they are supremely hard to rectify.
Releasing Murray would create a ton of dead money, trading him will be difficult because of his monster contract. Which is why Sproles should be traded or released at some point this offseason, the Eagles are in no position to sit back and watch their cap situation eat this team alive. If they want to win the NFC East next season, drastic changes are necessary.
