The Philadelphia Eagles injury luck doesn’t appear to be getting any better.
That the Philadelphia Eagles won the NFC East last season is both a testament to Doug Pederson as a head coach and damnation of the rest of the division last year. Few teams in the league had worse injury luck than Pederson’s club as they were consistently working with patchwork units on both sides of the ball.
Wide receiver was probably the position group most evident of these unfortunate circumstances. Heading into the playoffs, the Eagles were starting Greg Ward Jr. and JJ Arcega-Whiteside, which is not a position you expect a playoff team to be in. And speaking of the postseason, quarterback Carson Wentz was forced to leave their Wild Card Round game early after a hit from Jadeveon Clowney.
But considering that they won the division despite the injuries, there was real optimism for the Philadelphia Eagles heading into the 2020 NFL season. There’s no way that they could have as bad of injury luck this year, right?
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Well, as training camp and the buildup to September has progressed, it turns out that their injury luck might be just as bad, if not worse.
Injuries are already ravaging the Philadelphia Eagles roster.
Before training camp even began, star offensive guard Brandon Brooks tore his Achilles, ending his 2020 season. Philadelphia re-signed veteran Jason Peters to slot in at guard, hoping that would alleviate the blow in the trenches but the situation has since worsened.
On Aug. 29, the Eagles confirmed that offensive tackle Andre Dillard, the team’s first-round pick in 2019 and the player set to take over at left tackle for Peters, suffered a biceps injury that will sideline him for the 2020 season. Even with Peters on the roster, an assumed strength up front on offense is now becoming a big concern, especially with Halapoulivaati Vaitai now gone.
And it doesn’t stop there with the injuries. First-round rookie Jalen Reagor has been banged up and could miss the start of the season. Wentz, who’s durability questions remain, has also been limited in practice. On the defensive side of the ball, free-agent signee Javon Hargrave and former first-round pick Derek Barnett were both ruled out for “multiple weeks” in mid-August.
Making matters worse is that there remains other injury concerns that haven’t popped up yet. Alshon Jeffery and DeSean Jackson are back and seemingly healthy right now but both players have struggled to stay on the field in recent years. That worry only exacerbates the injury issues the Eagles are currently experiencing.
With the Dallas Cowboys hoping to take a big leap forward after a head coaching change, the Eagles can’t afford the same bad injury fortunes that they endured last season. The competition in the NFC East has leveled up, which means Philadelphia needs to be at full strength. And before the season has even started, that’s not the case right now for the Eagles.
As mentioned, Pederson has proven his ability to adapt and there is still a boatload of talent that is healthy on both sides of the ball. But for a team that was hoping to start healthy and anew in the 2020 season, that plight is off to quite the rocky start.