Eagles’ D’Andre Swift ‘just scratching the surface’ ahead of hitting free agency this offseason

When D’Andre Swift reflects on his season, there’s one number that means more than the rest.

Total games played: 17.

Swift’s first year with the Eagles featured a handful of milestones. He surpassed 1,000 rushing yards for the first time in his four-year career and was named to his first Pro Bowl as a result. Still, the Mt. Airy native said playing a full season as a featured back without injury was the accomplishment that proved the most to the league going into free agency this offseason.

“That was big,” Swift said Wednesday. “There were a lot of questions going around as far as durability and stuff like that. I answered that question. You hear a lot of stuff. A lot of people got opinions and stuff, like I missed a whole season or something before. But just being able to be available for my team when they needed me, first and foremost.”

Swift’s hitting the free-agency market at the peak of his value. The Detroit Lions traded the former second-round pick to the Eagles last offseason after he spent three seasons in a backfield committee. The 25-year-old missed time in each in his first three seasons, dealing with a concussion as a rookie, a nagging groin injury the following year, and an AC joint sprain in his shoulder last season.

With the Eagles, the only game Swift missed was due to an illness leading up to the team’s Week 18 game against the New York Giants. He finished the season with 1,049 rushing yards, which ranked fifth in the NFL. He also recorded 229 rushing attempts, 78 more than his previous career-high.

“I feel like I proved a lot to myself first and foremost,” Swift said. “But I’m just getting started, to be honest. I’m scratching the surface of everything I can do. All the accomplishments and everything like that. I’m just getting started.

“I know I’m that type of back.”

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Unlike last offseason when the Eagles had a dozen key members of the team testing the market, Swift is one of just a handful of major contributors from this year’s team going into free agency.

When asked if he’d like to sign back with the Eagles, Swift stayed noncommittal.

“I don’t know, only time will tell,” Swift said. “Like I said, my focus right now is really resting the body and getting back to work. I’m going to control what I can control, everything else is really outside of my hands. But we’ll see.”

Swift also confirmed the obvious: He’ll be looking for a team willing to pay him fair market value. That may not be the Eagles, an organization with a long track record of limiting their investment in the running back position both in the draft and free agency.

That philosophy helped pave Swift’s path to the Eagles, when general manager Howie Roseman chose not to extend Miles Sanders, last year’s 1,000-yard rusher, in favor of trading a package of future Day 3 picks for Swift instead. If Swift signs elsewhere this offseason, it’s worth mentioning the Eagles will recoup a compensatory pick to help offset the 2025 fourth-round pick they sent to the Lions last spring.

Facing multiple waves of questions about his desire to stay with the team, Swift’s prevailing message was the same.

“We’ll see,” Swift said. “It was a blessing to play here this year. We didn’t finish how we wanted to, but we had a special group of guys and a lot of great leadership on the team. But only time is going to tell with that type of thing.”

Swift is among a handful of productive running backs set to hit free agency this March. The Tennessee Titans’ Derrick Henry, Giants’ Saquon Barkley, Los Angeles Chargers’ Austin Ekeler, and Las Vegas Raiders’ Josh Jacobs headline the class. Barkley, Ekeler, and Jacobs tested the market last year as well, when a group of the NFL’s top backs publicly criticized the league for devaluing the position.

Swift said he doesn’t have any trepidation going into free agency this year, but did concede last year’s market never materializing was frustrating to watch.

“We do a lot,” Swift said. “To see the guys from last year, how they got treated, it’s tough to see. But, like I said, it’s kind of an, ‘It is what it is,’ type of situation, so my opinion on it doesn’t really do too much.”