The Case for Clement
21 August 2017 Eagles News
After his Week 2 performance against the Buffalo Bills, Corey Clement has stirred up quite an excitement within the Eagles fan base.
The running back large committee ranges from power bruising back to dynamic pass catcher, but that itself presents an issue—not every running back will make the final roster. Clement is in competition with LeGarrette Blount, Darren Sproles, Donnel Pumphrey, Byron Marshall and Wendell Smallwood. The latter has a recent injury history that has kept him from participating in training camp yet, according to coaches, has had the best camp out of all the running backs.
Clement is a free agent running back out of Wisconsin who has recently turned heads based on his preseason performance. He has been healthy throughout the entirety of preseason camp so far and has brought a new and exuberant style to the table.
Blount, Smallwood and Clement can be seen as the bruisers of the group; each bruiser weighs 250, 209 and 201 lbs., respectively. The outlier here is Blount who the Eagles brought in as their additional veteran running back which makes the other two in tight competition with one another.
Talking finances for a second, there is a $150,000 difference between Smallwood and Clement’s salary in 2017. In the grand scheme of a franchise’s expenses, that number is nothing. The same number applies if Smallwood would be released rather than Clement; the Eagles would have to pay $150,000 against the cap rather than a mere $30,000 if Clement was released. Neither are these scenarios are very lkely to happen as one or the other will most likely be put on the Eagles practice squad but it just goes to show that Smallwood will cost more down the road.
If Clement keeps on rolling the ball (and defenders down) in the next two weeks left in the preseason, he can make a case for a roster spot and potentially be a starter at some point during the season. Doug Pederson said the following about Clement:
“Corey’s been doing a really good job for us. He’s a tough kid, as you can see. He’s a tough runner, hard runner, smart kid.”
If you have the coach saying that about you, you’re in a pretty good place.
Brendan Walker Corey Clement, Philadelphia Eagles, Wendell Smallwood