The Eagles are already dealing with a slew of minor soft-tissue injuries, but the noise didn’t exactly quieten down on Sunday. Here are all the updates you need:
Andre Dillard
The team’s starting left tackle went inside early after getting up slowly from a play, but didn’t return to the field. There has been no update on the type of injury sustained or the severity of it, but the fact he didn’t come back is obviously significant.
In his place, Jordan Mailata saw starting reps. It’s very interesting that Jason Peters didn’t move back to his natural habitat. He instead stayed at RG while Matt Pryor moved to RT to fill in for Lane Johnson, who also missed practice today.
Lane Johnson
Lane is day-to-day with a lower-body injury but was still present at practice. As aforementioned, Matt Pryor resumed his swing role from last season and filled in for Johnson – something which we could see more of.
Josh Perkins
The underdog tight end has been ruled out indefinitely with an upper-body injury. Perkins was having a fairly strong camp while battling with Noah Togiai for the TE3 spot. Whether or not the Eagles place him on IR remains to be seen, but this does open the doors for Togiai, and even maybe Caleb Wilson to pick up some steam. Don’t write off an Alex Ellis return either, who is without a team after bouncing to and from New England this Summer.
Shareef Miller
The Penn State product gingerly walked off the field after a play before returning to the sideline later on. Given how scarce depth is at DE, Miller is fighting for a key role here and cannot afford to miss chunks of time where players such as Joe Ostman could easily creep up the backstairs.
Sidney Jones
Still not back at practice, this is looking bad for Jones, who was supposed to be fighting with Avonte Maddox for the CB2 role. In his contract year, the leverage he has to keep a spot on this roster is beginning to dwindle.
Possible COVID scares?
The Eagles have been extremely cautious in keeping players absent who have picked up a minor illness, but there is a chance that there could be some COVID scares. John Hightower, Vinny Curry, Corey Clement, Hassan Ridgeway, and Anthony Rush, all missed practice with an illness designation. They could well return tomorrow as many others have bounced back within a day, but the NFL issued a statement yesterday referencing that the lab that the Eagles submit their tests to have picked up some positive ones. It’s something to keep an eye on.
Positive news
Both Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert were among those back at practice today. The other names included Jalen Reagor, Rasul Douglas, and Deontay Burnett.
Meanwhile, both Derek Barnett and Javon Hargrave are progressing well and could return for the season opener against Washington. Every cloud has a silver lining.
Photo by Andy Lewis/Icon Sportswire
