The Eagles have released their status report ahead of their season-opening clash against Washington and unfortunately, it contains bad news.
Miles Sanders
Losing a weapon as explosive as Sanders is concerning. The second-year player picked up a hamstring injury in the early stages of camp but was thought to be being held back with ‘conservation’ in mind and a week one return likely. That isn’t the case.
Whether there was a slight setback or Doug Pederson is simply being cautious, going into a game like this without Sanders will be tricky. In his last game against the team, he dazzled fans with a 122-yard outing, adding 50 receiving yards and 2 total touchdowns.
The Eagles will instead be forced to rely on Boston Scott, Corey Clement, and rookie Jason Huntley, who signed with the team after being waived by Detroit during the roster cutdown process.
Derek Barnett
After going into his first healthy offseason, Barnett is coming out of it limping. The Tennessee product will be absent on Sunday, carving a huge opportunity for Josh Sweat to step up and make an impact as the man below him on the depth chart.
Durability and inconsistency have been the two detriments to the young pass-rushers career so far, and they don’t seem to be fading in what is a very important year.
Practice squad
In other news, the Eagles called up both G Sua Opeta, and DT T.Y McGill. Whether these players see any action on game-day remains a mystery, but it’s interesting they didn’t opt to call up a running back.
Opeta’s promotion would likely mean Matt Pryor will slide to offensive tackle after practicing there recently, in the event that Lane Johnson can’t go. The offensive line was already shaky and losing Johnson, who was limited in practice, would be a tremendous setback given how much of a threat Ryan Kerrigan poses.
Buckle up Eagles fans, this could be a very bumpy ride.
Photo by Kyle Ross/Icon Sportswire
