The Eagles Like Jordan Howard More Than Miles Sanders for Some Reason

The Eagles dropped a second-round pick on Miles Sanders only two years ago.

The Eagles picked Jordan Howard up off the practice squad not even a week ago.

For some reason, they seem to prefer Howard to Sanders, despite the difference in investment.

Over the last three games, while Sanders has been on the injured reserve with a sprained ankle, Howard has carried the ball 41 times. That's despite the fact that he was just added to the active roster after being called up from the practice squad the previous two. In the six games Sanders played this year, he was only given 63 carries. That's 13.3 carries per game for Howard and 10.5 rushes per game for Sanders.

Why there's such a discrepancy in running opportunities per game is unknown, but what will be interesting to see is what happens when Sanders returns from injury.

Sanders is eligible to come off the IR this week. He was averaging 4.8 yards per carry before getting injured, a solid number that left many people wondering why the Eagles weren't running him more. Interestingly enough, the Eagles have become a run-heavy team in his absence. With Howard and Boston Scott taking over as primary ball carriers over the last three games, the Eagles averaged 208.7 rushing yards per game. Howard, meanwhile, is averaging 5.1 yards per carry.

So, who becomes the top back when Sanders returns?

According to Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni, they don't seem to have a definitive answer.

"We are going to have some tough decisions and that’s a good problem to have," Sirianni said.

"And we’ll do whatever we think is necessary to win the next game."

Sounds like a nightmare for fantasy managers and a potential headache for the Eagles too.

WynnBET has set the Eagles as -1 point favorites over the Saints at home this week. They're -120 on the moneyline (bet $120, win $100 if the Eagles win).

It's still unclear if Sanders will be activated ahead of the game, so this conversation could get pushed another week. But it's interesting how many more opportunities Howard has received than Sanders this year, and it'll be even more interesting to see if Sanders gets a similar workload when he returns. If he doesn't, I think it'll be fair to say the Eagles prefer Howard's running style to Sanders, opening up a whole new can of worms about what they'll do with Sanders long term.