Eagles’ Doug Pederson shuts down rumors that suggest LeGarrette Blount will be a surprise cut

There’s recently been some speculation that the Eagles might cut LeGarrette Blount. One NFL insider went as far to say that the 30-year-old veteran is not a lock to make Philadelphia’s final roster.

Doug Pederson threw cold water on that idea after practice today.

I mean, the guy is a beast of a runner. I don't know what else to tell you. 18 touchdowns; 15 in the red zone last year. That's the production you saw yesterday [and] the style of running that he can do. And the other thing is, listen, we're not game planning these [preseason] games. So it's really hard to go into a game saying, ‘This is best against this team.’ We're trying to execute our plays. As coaches, we might be doing our players an injustice by putting them in bad situations. I'm just going to be honest with you. But you saw what he's done these last couple of days. I'm excited that he's here, and he's going to be a big part of our offense.

Talk is cheap, but it’s hard to imagine Blount is on the outs after the team’s head coach is saying that he’s “a beast of a runner” and is “going to be a big part of our offense.”

There’s no question Blount hasn’t played well this summer. He only has 17 yards on nine carries (plus a fumble). But that doesn’t mean all hope is lost for him. The fact that he’s turned it up in practice this week against the Dolphins is an encouraging sign.

We’ll see how Blount performs when the real games start and Philadelphia’s entire starting offensive line is playing. It might be the case that Blount just isn’t any good this year. It’s just too early to say for sure, though, and that’s part of the reason why it sounds unlikely the Eagles will cut him before Week 1.