Stop That Hype Train! Miles Sanders

The Philadelphia Eagles offense has often been more banged-up than usual in the past couple of years. Last season, their wide receiver corp was unrecognizable towards the end of the campaign and a bunch of new guys were leading the charge.

Heading into this season, the Eagles still have injuries on their wide receiver corp. They also lost RB Jordan Howard this offseason. Therefore, Philly heads into the season with second-year player Miles Sanders as the lead back. The Penn State product played well last season as he led the Eagles in rush yards.

This season, could more opportunities arise for the back and thus result in a breakout season for him? Possibly, since Howard is no longer on the team, but let’s cool down the hype on Sanders. Here’s why:

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2019 Recap

Miles Sanders was drafted in the second round of the 2019 draft by the Eagles and immediately stepped into a decent role during his rookie season. He put up respectable numbers in his first NFL year. In 16 games, the 23-year-old had 179 rushes, 818 rush yards, three rush touchdowns, 4.6 rush yards per attempt, 51.1 rush yards per game, 50 receptions, 509 receiving yards, and three receiving touchdowns in 16 games. He had 2.1 rush yards after contact per rush and 16 broken tackles. He finished 15^th among fantasy RBs.

All in all, Sanders’ ranks among NFL RBs was average to below-average despite his decent fantasy finish. He ranked 26^th in rush yards per game, 31^st in rush attempts per game (11.2), 22^nd in total rush attempts, 20^th in rush yards, 39^th in rush touchdowns, 13^th in receptions, 7^th in receiving yards, 10^th in receiving yards per game, and eighth in receiving touchdowns.

He also had 445 rush yards before contact, which ranked 20^th, and 373 rush yards after contact, which ranked 24^th. The RB’s 2.1 rush yards after contact per rush ranked 25^th among NFL RBs and his broken tackles were 19^th.

Though Sanders brings good value to the receiving game (as his ranks were higher), his rushing finishes were not all that great. The Pennsylvania native also played three seasons for Penn State in at least 12 games each per season, but only had one good campaign. In fact, he only rushed for 184 and 191 rush yards respectively in 2016 and 2017.

2020 Outlook

Just because he is now the clear-cut lead back on the Eagles doesn’t mean Miles Sanders is set to breakout. In fact, he will still face competition from other backs and should not be considered a top-10 RB in fantasy heading into 2020.  For one, his rush stats from 2019 were decent, but he didn’t rank any better than 19^th or 20^th in any major or advanced rushing category.

In addition, Sanders’ primary competition will be 2018 pick Boston Scott, who can play well. Scott played last season for the Eagles and did rack up 61 rush attempts, 245 rush yards, four yards per carry, five rush touchdowns, 24 receptions, and 204 receiving yards in 11 games. These numbers were compiled with the Louisiana native being the RB3 on the team in 2019.

In his final year at Louisiana Tech in 2017, the 25-year-old notably rushed for 1,047 yards, while also getting eight rush touchdowns and 5.7 yards per carry. Scott has the talent to push Sanders and steal some carries if there are any struggles.

Miles Sanders’ ranking for 2020 should be slightly below a top-10 fantasy RB. Though it’s encouraging to see him take the lead RB role on the Eagles after coming off a top-15 fantasy finish, his rushing ranks among NFL RBs leave much to be desired and this should not rank him with truly elite fantasy RBs heading into 2020. It’s best to consider this RB a top-12 or 14 back in redraft fantasy leagues.

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