We talk all the time about Miles Sanders and Boston Scott and what they did last year.
We talk all the time about undrafted rookies Mike Warren and Adrian Killians and their potential.
The forgotten man is Elijah Holyfield, but running backs coach Duce Staley says don't forget about the son of former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield.
"I like where he is," Staley said. "He's hungry. He's out to prove to everybody, all the doubters at least, he's out to prove to them that he can play."
Holyfield, who backed up Sony Michel and Nick Chubb at Georgia before a strong junior year, went undrafted after a terrible Combine and spent the year on the Panthers' practice squad. The Panthers tried to sign him to a futures contract a day after their season ended, but the Eagles signed him instead - without a workout.
The Eagles had a roster spot open after losing Daeshon Hall to a torn ACL in the season-ender against the Giants, and with Sanders hobbled, Corey Clement out for the year and Jay Ajayi ineffective and ultimately released, Holyfield was an insurance policy for the postseason.
Holyfield practiced three days with the Eagles and was inactive against the Seahawks and then the season was over.
But by joining the team in December, he had a head start on the offense.
"I tip my hat off to him because once he came in, he basically learned 80 to 85 percent of our offense in that short period of time," Staley said. "So the kid is a smart kid and he works hard."
Coming out of Georgia after his junior year, Holyfield was considered a mid-round prospect until he ran 4.78 at the Combine, slowest of the 22 running backs that ran in Indianapolis.
In the last 20 years, only 16 of 581 backs at the Combine have run slower, according to the Pro Football Reference data base.
It led one snarky NFL draft analyst to tweet this out:
4.79 for Elijah Holyfield is eye opening. His tape didn't show breakaway speed but thought his power and patience would make up for it. But that's fail level slow. Not good.
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) March 1, 2019
But Staley said sometimes you need to look past a player's 40 time.
"One of the things that we've seen from many players, and those of you that study this game for a very long time, you have guys that run slow with the 40, but then you have guys that play fast," he said. "So you have to look a little deeper. Does he play fast or does he play like the 40 he ran? That's how I started studying these players and I've been doing that for a while and that's how he see some of these players."
And after a week in pads?
"I think he plays fast," Duce said. "I think he plays faster than what his 40 represents. Hey, that 40 is a nerve-wrecking deal, man. You have to get up there, do everything right. Sometimes you don't run the time that you want to run initially and then you go back and run slower. It's a lot of pressure that's involved vs. getting out there and just telling him to pin your ears back and run, and you see a lot of guys like that even play faster."
Sanders, Scott and Clement are the top three backs at the moment, and that fourth spot will probably go to whoever projects as the best special teamer in the group.
"He's a physical specimen," Staley said. "He's going to get in there and knock you around with protection. Special teams, he's going to run down and he's going to knock you around a little bit."
And when it comes to special teams, I wouldn't bet against someone who has Evander Holyfield's DNA.
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More on the Eagles
2020 Eagles training camp: Don't forget Elijah Holyfield, the forgotten running back originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
August 23, 2020 at 09:18PM
https://sports.yahoo.com/2020-eagles-training-camp-dont-141843328.html
2020 Eagles training camp: Don't forget Elijah Holyfield, the forgotten running back - Yahoo Sports
https://news.google.com/search?q=forget&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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