Who's next? With five running backs injured, it may be speedy Jaydon Blue's turn

Jayden Blue almost became an Eagle in the 2025 draft. Howie Roseman wasn’t going to let him get away again.

The Cowboys drafted Blue out of Texas in the fifth round last year, and he played in five games for Dallas as a rookie, then had a strong training camp and preseason this past summer. But the Cowboys released him after camp and a day later he became an Eagle.

“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.”

Back when the Eagles signed Blue to their practice squad on Sept. 1, he was behind Saquon Barkley, Will Shipley and Tank Bigsby. And Dameon Pierce and Carson Steele got practice-squad call-ups first. 

But all those running backs are hurt now – Shipley, Bigsby, Pierce and Steele are on Injured Reserve and Barkley hasn’t practiced this week as he deals with hamstring and back injuries. So Blue will likely be active Sunday night, when the Eagles face the Commanders at FedEx Field in Landover, Md.

“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.”

Unless Barkley bounces back quickly, the Eagles’ running backs Sunday night will be Blue and Elijah Mitchell, who have both been released by the Eagles this year. Pearce, Steele, Blue and Mitchell were all on the practice squad at some point this year. Blue is now on the 53 and Mitchell on the practice squad.

“I feel like I'm very comfortable in the offense,” Blue said. “I've been here long enough, just learning from the vets and things like that. But I'm ready. I feel like I'm going to take advantage of every opportunity that I get.”

Blue, released by the Eagles last Tuesday and re-signed two days later, got 38 carries for the Cowboys last year for 122 yards and a 3.4 rushing average. In his one game with double-digit carries, he was 16-for-64 against the Giants on the last day of last year, a respectable 4.0 average.

Blue can fly.

He ran 4.38 at the Combine, 2^nd-fastest of 24 running backs who ran in Indy, behind only Paulsboro’s Bhayshul Tuten, who ran 4.32. Blue ran faster at Texas’ pro day, where he was clocked with a 4.25.

What are Blue’s strengths as a running back?

“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 is the more experienced back of the two. He was the 49ers’ 6^th-round pick back in 2021 out of Louisiana and has rushed for 1,534 yards with nine touchdowns and a 4.6 average in 29 NFL games along with 31 catches for 181 more yards. He was 3-for-11 in his Eagles debut Sunday after Barkley and Pearce both got hurt.

Mitchell was with the Eagles this summer, was released and re-signed when the running back injuries began piling up.

Offensive coordinator Sean Mannion said Thursday that the key to getting guys like Blue and Mitchell ready for this sort of emergency work is that the process doesn’t start now, it started when they got here.

“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.”

Has anybody even heard of 6^th-and 7^th-string running backs? Of course not. But that’s what Mitchell and Blue are. When you have five injured running backs, it’s a unique situation.

“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.”