The Philadelphia Eagles could soon see running back Miles Sanders make his long-awaited return to action.

Sanders has not featured for the Eagles since their Week 16 win over the New York Giants, as he broke a bone in his hand during the contest. As a result, head coach Nick Sirianni opted to rule out Sanders from the Eagles’ final two regular season games against both the Washington Football Team and Dallas Cowboys.

After a long wait, Sanders made his return to practice on Wednesday, although the team went through a mere walkthrough session. He did once again take part in practice on Thursday, where he was a limited participant in it.

Earlier in the week, Sirianni made mention of his optimism that Sanders will be available for the Eagles’ upcoming NFC wild-card clash with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Still, if this turns out to not be the case, he is much confident that the team’s backup running backs will step up to the occasion.

“We’re hopeful for Miles [Sanders] this week,” Sirianni said. “Again, that’s why we didn’t put him on IR way back when he did have the hand injury. So, we’re hopeful for him.

“We’re hopeful for Jordan [Howard] this week and Boston [Scott] and Kenny [Gainwell]. So, I think we’ll have our full stable of backs and really excited about where our backfield is. I think a lot of teams in this league would like the depth we have at this position.”

Howard and Scott each missed the Eagles’ home matchup against the Cowboys after being placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list. In their place, Gainwell stepped up for Philadelphia, as he recorded 78 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown.

Regardless of who will be in the backfield this week, the Eagles sure will look to continue their success in running the football, especially as they finished regular season play ranking first in rushing yards per game with a 159.7 average.