Baldy: Eagles got running back Jay Ajayi for a fourth round pick from Miami. The 25-year could end up helping the Birds win back-to-back Super Bowls. Photo by Andy Lewis / contrastphotgraphy.com

Super Bowl starting tailback was obtained for a fourth round pick from the Miami Dolphins by the Philadelphia Eagles on Halloween, 2017.

It sounds more like a April Fool’s Day joke than a Trick-or-Treat item. That’s what I initially thought when I heard the news that day. Despite the rumors in Miami of an unstable person characterized by bizarre behavior in and around his team, and the rumors about ailing arthritic knees I thought differently.

On the fifth Sunday of the NFL season I was assigned the national game on national radio of the Dolphins visiting the Falcons that day. Initially I was charged up about paying my first visit to Mercedes-Benz Stadium, sight of Super Bowl 53 this year.

The game was completely lopsided in the first half with the Falcons jumping out to a 17-0 advantage. To Adam Gase’s credit, he never abandoned the run, the way most NFL coaches normally would.
But Gase had a true work horse back in Jay Ajayi and he kept pounding the 225-pound back in a variety of ways.

Soon the runs would pay off in a number of Jay Cutler play-action passes that would enable the Dolphins to roar back from the 17-0 deficit and run off 20 unanswered points to come away with an impressive 20-17 victory. I left with mad respect for how Ajayi went about his business. For you Fantasy geeks, Ajayi rushed 26 times for 130 yards that afternoon. It was his best production of the year.

In 2016 I witnessed an even better performance. During that season he became only the fourth running back in NFL history to rush for 200 or more yards in three games. I saw a Week 16 performance in Buffalo on Christmas Eve where he almost single handily derailed the Bills hope to end a long playoff drought. He ploughed through sleet and ice and a Bills defense churning out 32 carries for 206 yards and a touchdown run.

Eagles Jay Ajayi wants his place among NFL elite backs.
Photo by Andy Lewis / contrastphotgraphy.com

It was an “OLD SCHOOL” performance, the type that NFL coaches are afraid to burden their starting running backs with. He would help carry the Dolphins into the playoffs that season, behind the backup QB, Matt Moore. He also would secure his first Pro Bowl visit.

All the while I keep asking myself, now at the advanced age of 25, where exactly are these creaky knees that the experts speak of? Where is the abhorrent behavior that makes him so intolerable? I don’t see it in his play and I don’t hear it from his teammates.

The Eagles, I know, are thrilled to have him. Under Doug Pederson he will always use a committee of backs to “man” the running back position. In one game last season the Birds actually used five different backs to get through a game using specialty plays for the group.

His first performance by the Birds came on a Sunday afternoon at the Linc where they put up 51 on the visiting Broncos. Lost in the blowout win was how quickly Ajayi adapted to the offense in just five short days.

I thought it was also ironic that very soon, less than a fortnight, after Ajayi’s trade to Philadelphia that the Eagles were chosen to play overseas in London at famed Wembley Stadium against the Jaguars on October 28th.

Ironic because Ajayi was born in London to his Nigerian born parents and lived there until age 7 where he played and loved soccer. Eventually he would become a Friday Night Light high school football star in Frisco, TX, not far from where the Dallas Cowboys now have their practice facility.

What better way to sell the game to the Brits than to actually have a Brit in their accent talk about and promote the game. I am sure it will be a big deal to Ajayi to see his life come full circle in 25 short years.

In 2018, LeGarrette Blount is gone. Ajayi is back to being the starter with a stable that will include ageless, Darren Sproles, Cory Clement and who knows at this point who else. It could be Wendell Smallwood, perhaps Josh Adams. But as long as Ajayi is healthy they have a real starting tail back that runs with enormous power, is hard to tackle and has breakaway speed. The run game might even be more ferocious with the return of the best run blocking left tackle in the league in Jason Peters.

I would also describe Ajayi as highly instinctive, supported by his immediate contributions to and offense that e wasn’t familiar with.

The Birds fleeced the Dolphins of a pro-bowl caliber back for a fourth-round pick. He is in a better spot and in an organization that has shown their admiration for him in many more ways than the check he picks up every Monday.

There may be a few questions about a few positions half way through preseason; but one question that has been answered is the Birds have a difference maker at running back through the trade that brought

Jay Ajayi to the city of champions. Doug Pederson has shown his steadfast commitment to the run, and that will make Jay Ajayi entering his fifth season a happy man. *

(Page 16 photo) Jay Ajayibaldy: Eagles got running back Jay Ajayi for a fourth round pick from Miami. The 25-year could end up helping the Birds win back-to-back Super Bowls. Photo by Andy Lewis/contrastphotgraphy.com