Adrian Fedkiw
The 33-year-old Darren Sproles still has some tread on those little tires.
Beep beep!
The Eagles extended the dynamic Sproles for one more year Friday, handing him $4.5 million to keep him in Philadelphia until 2017, according to a report by Ian Rapoport.
Since 2007, Sproles leads the NFL in all-purpose yards with 16,207. He’s the only player in the NFL to post 15-or-more rushing touchdowns, 25-or-more receiving touchdowns and five-or-more punt return touchdowns in his career.
Pederson talked about getting Sproles locked up for an extra year, despite his age.
“Any time, in my opinion, that you can have a playmaker like Darren Sproles and you can keep him locked up for a couple of years, it makes you feel good,” he said. “I’m just so happy for him and his family and the fact that the work that (Eagles executive vice president of football operations) Howie (Roseman) put in to make sure this thing got done. (I’m) just so excited to have him here and look forward to working with him this training camp and obviously during the season.”
Pederson has the up-most confidence that Sproles can remain a key contributor to the team.
“Sproles is a pro’s pro. He knows how to take care of his body in the offseason. He’s a very intelligent running back. He’s been around this game a long time. It’s guys like that that you don’t worry about. He does everything right. He does what you coach him to do. Again, it’s just the way he prepares and the way he attacks everything. [It] gives you the confidence that he’s going to be here for a few more years,” he said.
Pederson also admitted that he won’t limit his touches.
“I think he’s a freakish athlete. Going into it right now, I’m not going to limit him. I want to see how much I can give him and see how much he can handle. Then we’ll kind of go from there,” he said.
Ryan Mathews suffered an ankle injury last week while working out and is day-to-day, but Pederson feels like there’s a lot of talent at the running back position.
“We’ve got a lot of talent right there. We’ve got some young talent,” he said. “Kenjon Barner is a kid that has shown some good strides this offseason picking up the offense; and you’ve got Ryan (Mathews) out there; you’ve got Darren (Sproles). And then you’ve got the young kids: Wendell (Smallwood) we picked up and Byron Marshall and Cedric O’Neal and the rest of the guys that have some talent. I love playing with two tight ends; I like playing with double halfbacks. It’s a chance to get all these guys some reps down the stretch now during this tough time.”