December 31, 2019
The Philadelphia Eagles announced on Tuesday that they signed running back Elijah Holyfield, best known for being the son of boxing legend Evander Holyfield.
Holyfield went undrafted in 2019 after a productive career at Georgia, and signed with the Carolina Panthers, where he spent the season on the practice squad.
Even as the son of Evander Holyfield, Elijah Holyfield got lost in the shuffle in college at Georgia, which produced a pair of top 35 picks at running back in 2018 in Sony Michel (31st to the Pats) and Nick Chubb (35th to the Browns). After Michel and Chubb left for the NFL, Holyfield shared carries with the more well-known D'Andre Swift.
Still, Holyfield was a good college player in his own right. In 2018, he had 159 carries for 1018 yards (6.4 YPC) and 7 TDs. A highlight reel:
Holyfield has good vision, he runs under control using quick steps to find a crease, and when one opens up, he hits it with conviction. One significant downside is that Holyfield had just seven receptions over his college career. He also had a really bad Combine:
His 4.78 40 obviously did not help his draft stock. With an average Combine, he would have easily been a Day 3 pick. This is a nice pickup for the Eagles this late in the season, in my view.
Holyfield will take Hall's spot on the roster. Hall was hurt on the final play of the game against the Giants. That is an extremely unfortunate blow for Hall, who will now spend the entire offseason rehabbing that injury, and will have trouble winning a roster spot in 2020 as a result. Hall had nine tackles and 1.5 sacks in a very limited role in 2019.
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