With the Eagles suddenly down to scraps at running back, Jaydon Blue may be the next man up.
Blue, who nearly landed with Philadelphia in the 2025 draft before the Cowboys took him in the fifth round, looks set for a game-day role Sunday night against the Commanders at FedEx Field in Landover, Md. The Eagles already have five injured backs, and that shortage has opened the door for a player who only joined the team’s practice squad on Sept. 1.
Blue said the interest from Philadelphia stood out even before he got here.
“I actually had a top 30 visit here, and I loved it here,” Blue said at his locker after practice Thursday. “They really loved me.
They wanted to draft me, but Dallas had to take me. So it was a really easy decision for me.
“The Eagles were one of the few teams that actually pushed to get me and made things happen very fast. So that meant a lot to me, a team really showing that they wanted me.”
At the time he signed, Blue was buried on the depth chart behind Saquon Barkley, Will Shipley and Tank Bigsby, while Dameon Pierce and Carson Steele were the first practice-squad backs called up. Now the picture has flipped completely. Shipley, Bigsby, Pierce and Steele are all on Injured Reserve, and Barkley hasn’t practiced this week while dealing with hamstring and back injuries.
Unless Barkley makes a quick turnaround, the Eagles’ backfield Sunday night will likely be Blue and Elijah Mitchell, another player who has already been released by Philadelphia this year. Pearce, Steele, Blue and Mitchell all spent time on the practice squad during the season, with Blue now on the 53 and Mitchell back on the practice squad.
“I love it here,” Blue said. “Very similar to Dallas.
I love Dallas also, but I just needed a new start. Have just been patient, waiting on my time, because I know it's a crazy league.
You can be up at any point, any week. I'm just taking it slow, learning every day.”
Blue’s NFL résumé is still thin, but the Cowboys gave him a look last season. He had 38 carries for 122 yards and a 3.4 rushing average as a rookie, including a 16-carry, 64-yard game against the Giants on the final day of last year.
He also brings real speed, having run 4.38 at the Combine, the second-fastest time among the 24 running backs who ran in Indianapolis behind only Paulsboro’s Bhayshul Tuten at 4.32. At Texas’ pro day, Blue was timed at 4.25.
As for what he believes he brings, Blue pointed to more than just burst.
“I'll say the versatility,” he said. “Being able to run outside of the backfield, being able to pass protect, running in between and outside the tackles, things like that.
I feel like I'm a really complete back. A lot of people see me as a speed back, but I take a lot of pride in being physical and running between the tackles.”
Mitchell offers the more extensive NFL track record. A 2021 sixth-round pick by the 49ers out of Louisiana, he has rushed for 1,534 yards and nine touchdowns with a 4.6 average in 29 NFL games, plus 31 receptions for 181 yards. In his Eagles debut Sunday, he went 3-for-11 after Barkley and Pearce were hurt.
He was with the Eagles this summer, got released, and then came back once the injuries piled up.
Sean Mannion said Thursday that getting players like Blue and Mitchell ready for emergency work starts long before the injuries hit.
“We're constantly coaching every member on the roster,” he said. “So when we get Elijah here, and I think it was midway through the offseason program, it's not, ‘Hey, we're going to wait and not get you up to speed until it's your time to be up on game day.’
We're constantly priding ourselves on developing every member of our roster. Jemal (Singleton) does an outstanding job with that room.
“I know we've had some new faces. Blue, we picked up later on.
Elijah, he was here in the offseason, then away, and then back. But it's a credit to all of our position coaches, Jemal specifically with the running backs, that with some roster turnover, with guys needing to step up, they're all mentally capable of stepping in there and executing.”
Blue and Mitchell are hardly household names in an NFL backfield, but that’s the reality Philadelphia is staring at now.
“Just grateful that I'm able to play this game,” said Blue, just 22. “Just taking everything day by day and just continuing to thank God that he's given me the ability to play.”
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