If this is Miles Sanders’ last year in Midnight Green, then it’s gonna go down as one of the best ever for a Birds running back.

Sanders eclipsed 1,000 yards during Sunday’s New York beat down, becoming the first Eagles rusher since Shady McCoy to cross the threshold. After scoring a grand total of zero touchdowns last year, Sanders is up to 11 scores on a career-high 204 carries.

The bottom line is that the Eagles typically do not pay running backs, so Miles’ career-year is likely going to get him a nice salary somewhere else. Even if the Birds did deviate from their ball carrier personnel philosophy, they just have too many free agents to take care of this offseason, with the need to pay Jalen Hurts as well. As nice as it would be to see Howie Roseman reward Sanders for his 2022 performance, the GM also has Javon Hargrave, James Bradberry, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Isaac Seumalo, Andre Dillard, Kyzir White, T.J. Edwards, and Marcus Epps to consider, among others. Regardless of how they prioritize, they just can’t keep all of these dudes on the roster.

Anyway, Sanders is having a top-five RB type of season. According to Sport Radar data, he’s logged the following stats:

  • 1,068 rush yards (5th in the NFL)
  • 204 rushing attempts (tied 7th)
  • 11 rushing touchdowns (tied 3rd)
  • 5.24 yards per carry (8th among all players with at least 500 rushing yards)
  • 31 runs of 10+ yards (tied 3rd)
  • 15.7 rushing attempts per game (tied 9th)
  • 26.3 yards after contact per game (25th)
  • 17 negative rushing attempts (11th most)
  • 10.29% of runs against 8+ defenders in box (more on this later)*
  • 726 total rush yards before contact (1st)*
  • 3.56 rush yards before contact on average (top five when you remove quarterbacks/scrambles from the equation)
  • 32 Red Zone rushing attempts (6th)**

There are some interesting conclusions to draw from those numbers. Let’s work backwards.

**First, Jalen Hurts actually leads the NFL in Red Zone rushing attempts, so those QB sneaks and draws take away attempts that might otherwise go to a tailback. Sanders should probably have 13-15 rushing TDs instead of 11. The trio of Hurts, Boston Scott, and Kenneth Gainwell has 16 scores on the ground.

*Second, Sanders has IMMENSELY high pre-contact yardage and rarely runs against stuffed boxes. Credit the Eagles offensive line and coaching staff for that. They do an elite job of spreading the field, creating space, and running from a variety of sets, with the big boys up front then opening holes that my grandmother and your grandmother could run through. That’s not meant to downplay Sanders numbers, because they are excellent, but if you look at it, 726 out of 1,068 rushing yards were gained before anyone touched him, which equals 68%. We know he’s not a tackle breaker necessarily, but the gaps are so large that he’s running north/south this year and has gotten away from his habit of bouncing to the outside.

It’s intriguing, because last year or the year before we were mostly in agreement that Sanders was very good, but not great. Not in that elite tier of Derrick Henry and Joe Mixon and Jonathan Taylor, but maybe a second-tier guy, somewhere on the fringes of the top eight or top twelve. That’s certainly not the case this season. His YPC numbers are better than the four players who have more total yards, so he’s doing what he’s doing with excellent efficiency. It’s really been enjoyable to watch him break out like this.