At one point during his interview with Brian Westbrook on Tuesday morning, WIP morning show host Angelo Cataldi tried to get Westbrook to back him up on the idea of the Eagles’ re-signing Jordan Howard.
It didn’t work.
“I didn’t have a problem with Jordan Howard. I don’t know if he helps you go to where you want to go,” the former Eagles running back said. “I think for us to get to the place where we want to go with this football team, Miles Sanders has to be the guy and he has to be able to carry us in a lot of different ways.”
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Westbrook is still a believer in Miles Sanders.
He just wants to see more from the Eagles’ starting running back as Sanders enters his fourth NFL season.
Westbrook, who joined the show on Tuesday to promote his new children’s book, “The Mouse Who Played Football,” talked about the importance of Sanders’ staying healthy in 2022, which happens to be a contract season for him. Sanders has missed nine games over the past two seasons.
But when healthy, Sanders has been a pretty good running back. In fact, he averaged 5.5 yards per carry last season. That was tied for second in the NFL among running backs with at least 100 carries last season.
NFL
“I love Miles Sanders’ skillset. I love what he’s been able to do over the course of his time there in Philadelphia,” Westbrook said. “I just want more from Miles. I see so much skill and talent and things he’s able to do. I just want more. I want to see more of that. Because I think he has exceptional speed. We’ve seen the game-breaking speed. We have seen his ability to run inside and outside over the last couple of years. We have seen his ability to catch the ball in certain situations.
“What we have to see more is, of course, I want to see more of that catching ability. Every time I speak to Miles, it’s about, ‘Hey, man, you’ve got to be that multidimensional running back that can catch the ball and run the ball,’ especially in today’s NFL.”
The strange thing about Sanders is that he showed that ability to catch the football as a rookie. In 2019, he caught 50 passes for 509 yards and 3 touchdowns. In the last two seasons combined, he has 54 catches for 355 yards and 0 touchdowns.
Westbrook believes Sanders can be a do-it-all back for the Eagles. He thinks he can slash, catch the ball out of the backfield, block and even push the pile in short yardage situations.
Getting back to Howard, that’s why Westbrook doesn’t think the Eagles need to re-sign him.
“I believe that Miles Sanders can be the running back that can handle those (short-yardage) responsibilities,” Westbrook said. “That means that Miles Sanders has to step up and take that leap as a running back. And if he does, then it can be Kenny Gainwell and Miles Sanders and Boston Scott as the three amigos in the backfield and they can be successful there.”
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