NFL
The Philadelphia Eagles Promote Josh Adams
Ladies and gentlemen, a Cinderella story could be brewing in the city of brotherly love. The Philadelphia Eagles have decided to promote their rookie running back, Josh Adams, from the practice squad. The move comes off the heels of premiere running backs Jay Ajayi and Darren Sproles dealing with respective injuries. The other healthy running backs are Corey Clement and Wendell Smallwood. Adams rushed for 90 yards on 23 carries during the preseason, but he was waived during the final cuts. Thankfully for the Eagles, they signed him to the practice squad prior to Week 1.
A Brief History
Josh Adams is from Warrington, Pennsylvania. That’s just 50 minutes outside of Philadelphia, so I’m pretty sure he’s happy to play so close to home. During his sophomore year in high school, he rushed for 2,085 yards and 28 touchdowns. He would suffer from a torn ACL his junior year. However before that, he ran the ball for 738 yards and 10 touchdowns. With numbers like those, it’s easy to see why Notre Dame recruited him. He also had offers from the likes of Stanford, Penn State, Wisconsin, and others.
Adams was a true freshman in 2015 when he rushed for 49 yards and two touchdowns in his first game. He also set a Notre Dame record by scoring on a 98-yard touchdown run against Wake Forest. In the final game of the regular season, he amassed 168 yards on 18 carries with one touchdown. That would mark a new school-record for rushing yards in a game by a freshman. He would ultimately wind up with the school’s single-season record for rushing yards by a freshman. He had 835 yards on 117 carries. That was an average of 7.1 yards per carry. The previous record was 786 yards.
Josh set his sights on the NFL draft after ranking fifth among Division 1 FBS players last year. He had 1,169 yards on 132 carries.
The Time Is Now
While Adams’ collegiate resume is impressive, he went undrafted. However, the Eagles would sign him on May 11th earlier this year. As previously mentioned, Adams was a member of the practice squad. He knows that a chance like this doesn’t come along often. He feels blessed to be in this position.
Adams looks to make the most of this opportunity, and nobody can blame him. The Eagles are hoping that he can give them a much-needed boost to an injury-plagued backfield. Hopefully the clock won’t strike midnight anytime soon for the rookie who has overcome a number of obstacles to reach this point.
Photo credit to Blue and Gold Illustrated via Flickr
