Philadelphia Eagles Place Rookie Running Back Donnel Pumphrey on IR
Donnel Pumphrey's career in the National Football League (NFL) is off to a rough start.
With LeGarrette Blount, Darren Sproles, Wendell Smallwood on the roster, the rookie running back wasn't expected to play much this season even if he was healthy. He was inactive in the Philadelphia Eagles' season opener against the Washington Redskins on Sept. 10, but now he's probably done for the year after he tore his hamstring in practice last week.
Pumphrey will likely miss four to six weeks of action due to the injury and the Eagles are unlikely to keep him on the active roster while he recovers. So as expected, he was placed on the injured reserve list.
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"Well, it'll set him back because he won't be able to run and do all the things that we want him to do," Eagles head coach Doug Pederson said, via CSN Philly.
"It didn't really pull or anything. It just felt like it grabbed twice. I did it twice in the same practice. And I was able to walk off the field and not limping or nothing. I got the MRI and they said it was torn," Pumphrey said. "It's definitely disappointing. Gotta deal with it," he added.
Pumphrey struggled this offseason and a lot of people were actually surprised he made the final 53-man roster since he was outplayed by undrafted rookie running back Corey Clement. In fact, CSN Philly's Dave Zangaro has pointed out that the Eagles might have released him if he wasn't a fourth-round pick.
This season, teams are allowed bring back two players from the injured reserve to their active roster after they are sidelined for at least eight weeks, but the Eagles are unlikely to bring Pumphrey back this year. If one of their regulars in the backfield goes down with an injury, the Eagles still have Clement on the roster and he's a capable backup.
