Free-agent running back Stephen Davis arrived in Philadelphia late last night and will meet with Eagles officials today, a team source said.
The Eagles' running-back situation has been unsettled, with Brian Westbrook suffering a sprained foot after just six carries in the first preseason game, Ryan Moats and Bruce Perry coping with injuries and fumble problems, and Correll Buckhalter still facing long odds as he attempts to recover from missing three of the last four seasons to knee injuries.
The Birds' interest in Davis is a little unexpected, in that he is 32 and didn't show much last season for the Carolina Panthers - 549 yards on 180 carries, 3.1 yards per carry. He did score 12 touchdowns for the Panthers, who released him after the season.
While Davis is unlikely to reprise any of his four 1,000-yard seasons, he might be able to pitch in here and there, as Dorsey Levens has done for previous Eagles teams. At 6-foot, 230, Davis would provide the size many fans worry the Eagles are missing in their backfield, particularly if Buckhalter isn't a factor.
One complication might be that the Birds apparently aren't the only team interested. In the wake of the shoulder injury suffered by Clinton Portis, Davis apparently has been contacted by the Washington Redskins, for whom he played his first seven NFL seasons. The complicated terms of his release by Carolina - Davis was "released injured," which means he gets some of the money he was owed for this season, unless he signs with another team and gets cut - probably mean Davis is looking for something more substantial than a 1-year, nonguaranteed veteran minimum contract. He would probably want incentives written into the deal.
Still, the team source said the Eagles' interest in Davis is substantial. His best season came in 2003, the year the Panthers upset the Eagles in the NFC Championship Game. Davis rumbled for 1,444 yards on 318 carries that year. Davis was very familiar to Birds fans even before that, as the Redskins' fulcrum for several years. In 1999, he gained 1,405 yards for Washington, on 290 carries (4.8-yard average) and ran for an amazing 17 touchdowns.
