The Philadelphia Eagles have broken the drought. As the first number one seed to be underdogs throughout the playoffs, the Eagles used the disrespect to their advantage and culminated the 2017 season with a shootout victory over Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII.
While the team has been an underdog since MVP-hopeful Carson Wentz went down with an ACL tear in December, there are plenty of individual underdogs that make up the Eagles’ roster and it starts at the top.
Here are the Eagles underdogs that made up one of the greatest underdog stories in history. These will be the names that Eagles fans will remember forever.
LeGarrette Blount, Running Back
After a stellar season with the New England Patriots in 2016, Blount was asked to take a pay cut if he planned on returning to the team that had supplied him with two Super Bowl titles in three years. Blount played a huge role in the Patriots’ success, rushing for over 1100 yards and leading the league with 18 rushing touchdowns.
Blount decided to bet on himself in the offseason, refusing a pay cut from the Patriots and testing the market to find a new employer. Two months into free agency, Blount found his suitor in Philadelphia.
Upon signing, Blount was immediately penciled in as the starter. The 31-year-old back rewarded the Eagles confidence in him by leading the team in rushing and delivering earthquake-like highlights like his 68-yard “beast mode” run against the Los Angeles Chargers. Blount failed to come close to his 2016 touchdown production with only three touchdowns. However, he scored when it counted.
Blount scored touchdowns in each of the Eagles’ postseason games including a 21-yard touchdown in the Super Bowl against his former team. From the moment Blount burst through the hole to the spike of the ball after the score, you could see Blount’s motivation to get into the endzone against the team who thought he wasn’t worth his paycheck. Blount’s 90 rushing yards were good for the most in the game.
Blount matched his regular season total of three touchdowns in three playoff games. The running back, even at the NFL equivalent of “ancient” was well worth the money the Eagles invested and ultimately earned his paycheck with a single touchdown that helped give the Eagles their first Super Bowl in franchise history.
Jay Ajayi, Running Back
The Eagles completed a blockbuster trade at the deadline on October 31st when they sent a fourth round pick to Miami in exchange for running back Jay Ajayi.
Following the trade, rumors swirled about the trade being punishment for Ajayi. According to those reports, he was exiled from his team because of his attitude.
Some punishment that turned out to be. Ajayi made the most of his limited action with the Eagles averaging 5.8 yards per carry on the season, including his first two games as an Eagle where he averaged 9.6 and 13 yards per carry. Ajayi also came up big in the Super Bowl, recording 57 yards on just 9 carries.
In limited action, Ajayi proved that he can be the marquee running back for this franchise moving forward. Along with some assistance from our next underdog, the Eagles running game appears set for the next few years, at least.
Getting Ajayi for a fourth round pick was a steal for the Eagles. Being discarded from the team that drafted him only to win a Super Bowl with his new team was a steal for Ajayi.
Corey Clement, Running Back
It could be argued that Clement is the biggest underdog on the Eagles 2017 Super Bowl squad. His journey has been something you couldn’t script any better.
Growing up in Glassboro, NJ, Clement rooted for the Eagles his whole life, including a 2012 photo of a visit to the NovaCare Complex where Clement posted on Twitter with the caption “One day…Some day.” After being plagued by injuries and buried on the depth chart at Wisconsin (behind Super Bowl opponent James White and Chargers running back Melvin Gordon), Clement went undrafted in the 2017 NFL Draft that took place 24 miles from his hometown. It was a blessing for Clement, who made the choice to accept an offer from the Philadelphia Eagles to try to make the team.
Clement came out of Wisconsin with a knock that he couldn’t catch the football. According to his high school coach, that was Wisconsin’s fault.
“He did catch the ball,” said former Glassboro High School coach Herb Neilio. “We ended up throwing the ball to him. For some reason Wisconsin I don’t think did him any favors. He came out of college with this knock on him that he wasn’t a pass-catcher but he always had good hands.”
Clement came into Eagles training camp with an outside shot to make the roster. The Eagles already had LeGarrette Blount, Darren Sproles, Wendell Smallwood and fellow rookie (but draft pick) Donnel Pumphrey. Clement did his part and made the Eagles opening day roster.
After Pumphrey began the season on injured reserve and Sproles landed on IR, Clement found himself as the third string running back. The undrafted rookie made the most of his carries and lead the team’s running backs with six total touchdowns. Clement was scoring at a rate of once every 14 touches, best in the running back group.
Clement established his role as a red zone threat with all of his touchdowns coming from inside the 15 yard line. He averaged 4.3 yards per carry and 8.7 yards per reception inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.
Clement’s best game came on the biggest stage, though. The running back, who had a knock on him for not being able to catch the ball out of the backfield, caught four passes to lead the team with 100 receiving yards and got into the endzone with a beautiful toe-tap touchdown in the back of the endzone. Not to mention that he was on the receiving end of the direct snap that began the “Philly Special.”
Going from training camp body to active roster to Super Bowl hero is the most unlikely of stories for an undrafted rookie.
The Eagles Super Bowl roster will be remembered forever by Eagles fans. While each member of that roster surely has their own underdog story, these are the biggest underdogs that helped one of the biggest underdog teams in NFL history overcome all adversity to bring home the sport’s biggest prize.
Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
