Darren Sproles is back with the Eagles because he lost a bet to his daughter

If Darren Sproles helps the Eagles win the Super Bowl this season, you might want to send a thank you note to his 10-year-old daughter, Devyn.

One of the reasons the 36-year-old running back re-signed with the Eagles late last week was because he lost a bet to Devyn. That’s right. A bet.

“She’s a sprinter,’’ he said Thursday after the Eagles’ first training camp practice at the NovaCare Complex, which lasted just an hour and 10 minutes. “She and I made a bet early in the track season. She said if she made it to the Junior Olympics, I had to play again.

“Well, in June, she qualified. Right after the race, she was like, ‘Daddy, you’ve got to go back and play again.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I guess that was the bet.’ ’’

In truth, there’s a pretty good chance that even if Devyn hadn’t qualified for the Junior Olympics, Sproles still would have returned for his 15th NFL season and sixth with the Eagles.

The 5-6, 190-pound running back, who ranks sixth in the NFL in all-purpose yards (19,520), missed 26 of the Eagles’ 37 games the last two years because of injuries. Knee and arm injuries shelved him after just three games during the Eagles’ Super Bowl run two years ago. Last year, he missed 10 games with the mother of all hamstring injuries.

That wasn’t the way Sproles wanted his career to end. He got a Super Bowl ring two years ago after the Eagles’ win over the New England Patriots, but he didn’t feel he did anything to earn it.

After he became an unrestricted free agent in March, the Eagles told him that if he wanted to come back, there would be a place for him in Philadelphia.

“I opened the door for him to come back here,’’ Eagles running backs coach Duce Staley said last month. “I would love for him to come back here. But that’s not my decision.’’

Three other teams, including the two other teams he has played for in his career – the New Orleans Saints and the Los Angeles Chargers – called him. But he decided that if he was going to come back for one last hurrah, it was going to be with the Eagles.

“I love this organization,’’ he said. “We’re like a family here. From the locker room to the front office to the fans, once you’ve been here, you don’t want to go anywhere else.’’

While the Eagles were holding their spring workouts at the NovaCare Complex in May and June, Sproles was back home in suburban San Diego working out on his own and debating whether to return.

“In May, I was kind of working out, but I wasn’t doing any field stuff,’’ he said. “In June, that’s when I started running routes again and doing all my field drills and stuff.’’

In late June, after Devyn qualified for the Junior Olympics, Sproles, his wife, Michel, and their two daughters had a family meeting. The three Sproles women basically told Darren that he needed to go play football for one more year.

“My wife and my kids said, ‘You still love this game. You might as well [play for] another year, so you can be satisfied.’ That meant a lot to me.’’

You can count on one hand the number of 36-year-old running backs in the NFL over the last 60 years. But Sproles didn’t look 36 Thursday as he darted around the NovaCare practice fields.

“I’ve been blessed,’’ he said. “And I’ve taken care of my body. I never let myself get out of shape. I just try to always train at a high level. No breaks. Because when you get in the game and you’re running that hurry-up offense, you don’t get any breaks. So, my thing is that’s the way I want to train.’’

There’s no guarantee that Sproles is going to be able to stay healthy. That’s the thing about playing football at the age that he and 37-year-old left tackle Jason Peters are playing it.

No matter how good a job you do of treating your body like a temple, no matter how many wind sprints you run, you’re still more susceptible to injury than somebody who’s 10 years younger than you.

Also, even if he stays healthy, he has to prove to the Eagles that it makes sense to keep him. They signed him to a one-year, $1.03 million deal.

There are a lot of running backs in the Eagles’ training camp. They traded for Jordan Howard in the offseason. They drafted Penn State running back Miles Sanders.

Corey Clement is back from his torn ACL. They also have Josh Adams and Wendell Smallwood and Boston Scott and Donnel Pumphrey.

“Whatever they ask me to do,’’ Sproles said when asked what he thinks his role might be this season.

At the very least, he will return punts. While the offseason signing of DeSean Jackson gives the Eagles another option there, Jackson’s return skills pale in comparison to Sproles’, who has averaged 12.1 yards per return in his five seasons with the Eagles.

Even at 36, Sproles still is one of the league’s better pass-catching backs. He also would make an excellent mentor for Sanders.

“It’s awesome [having him back],’’ quarterback Carson Wentz said Thursday. “A guy like that, on the field he’s a playmaker. And he’s just an awesome human being and family guy. Great for the locker room. Great for some of the younger running backs. I was super excited when he signed.’’

Sanders met Sproles for the first time Wednesday, when the Eagles reported to training camp. At Thursday’s first practice, the veteran could often be seen standing right next to the second-round rookie.

“He was talking to me during practice,’’ Sanders said. “He asked me what Duce was telling me. Because he and Duce are like this [close]. I told him and he said, ‘Yeah, he’s right.' ’’

“He was telling me things like make sure my shoulders are square so that if I see something, [I can] just hit it. He also was talking to me about reading the linebackers and knowing where to go. He’s been in this league for 15 years. I’m definitely going to listen to him.’’