This is difficult story for me to write.

Wendell Smallwood was a great Mountaineer. Big 12 rushing champion in 2015. Fifth round draft pick who got a chance to play in Philly, where his NFL career never really took off.

Smallwood ran for a piddly 840 yards in three seasons with the Birds, averaging a flat four yards per carry and scoring five touchdowns on the ground. He added 388 receiving yards and two touchdowns in that department, plus the 2016 kickoff return score. During the 2017 Super Bowl year, he did have a pair of solid performances against the Chargers and Giants, which helped the Eagles stay afloat after the Darren Sproles injury and prior to the Jay Ajayi trade.

But now he’s a Redskin, and he said this:

I’m not sure Smallwood is even gonna touch the ball for the Redskins on Sunday. He’ll be the fourth running back on the depth chart, behind Derrius Guice, Adrian Peterson, and Chris Thompson. Greg Stroman and Trey Quinn will be back there for punt and kick returns.

But yeah, some people got bent out of shape by that Smallwood comment, though I think it’s pretty standard fare, i.e., “thanks to the Eagles but now they’re the enemy” and blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda.

Interestingly enough, Smallwood was pretty popular on the waiver wire:

And Wendell did tweet this, for what it’s worth:

The Wendell Smallwood era in Philly is over.