Sproles Confirms 2018 Will be His Swan Song

PHILADELPHIA (973espn.com) - Veteran running back Darren Sproles has confirmed that 2018 will be his final NFL season.

The 35-year-old running back also admitted that 2017 was originally planned to be his swan song before tearing an ACL and breaking his arm on the same play against the New York Giants in Week 3, something which fueled a desire to go out on his own terms.

"I love this game. I love what I do," Sproles explained. "When my daughter Devyn looked me in the eye and told me I have to play one more year -- well, that was it."

Sproles, a Doug Pederson favorite, re-signed with the Eagles after the draft in April and wrote on Officialize.com that the plan is for "one more year" before calling it a career.

"I'm excited to come back and I am even more excited to come back to the defending Super Bowl champion, Eagles," Sproles explained. "We have something special here with the team, the fans, and the city. We made history bringing the first Lombardi trophy to Philly and now we want to go back-to-back."

Sproles is expected to be the third-down back in the Eagles' running-back-by-committee approach which will also include Jay Ajayi and Corey Clement.

-John McMullen covers the Eagles and the NFL for 973espn.com. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen