The Eagles are listing two of their starting offensive linemen as questionable for Saturday night’s game against the Cowboys.
Lane Johnson (knee, rest) and Landon Dickerson (thumb) did not practice all week and are listed as questionable for the Eagles’ Week 18 game that won’t mean much for seeding purposes. So don’t count on them playing.
That’s on top of a lengthy COVID-19 list, which includes two other starting offensive linemen: Jason Kelce and Nate Herbig. That means that Jordan Mailata has been the Eagles’ only starting offensive lineman who practiced this week.
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The Eagles already have a playoff spot locked up and it won’t really matter if they’re the sixth or seventh seed. So it would make plenty of sense for them to rest some starters.
Nick Sirianni has been noncommittal about playing or resting key starters against the Cowboys, but read between the lines here. It seems like some of these guys aren’t going to play.
“That's still something that we're discussing and we're working through,” Sirianni said on Thursday morning. “So, everybody is ready to go. Even the guys that are out of the building right now are ready to go this week because of the preparation that we've had by everybody throughout the week.”
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Just three players were given game statuses for Saturday’s game:
Out: Miles Sanders (hand)
Questionable: Landon Dickerson (thumb), Lane Johnson (knee, rest)
Sanders had already been ruled out for this game. There’s a hope that he’ll be ready to return for the Eagles’ playoff run the following week.
If Jalen Hurts (ankle) doesn’t play on Saturday it won’t be because he can’t. Hurts was listed as a full participant on Thursday and wasn’t given a game status. But there’s still a very strong case to be made for keeping him out of harm’s way entering the playoffs.
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Another good bit of news this weeks is that Shaun Bradley (stinger), who missed the last game after getting in a fender bender on his way to the NovaCare Complex, was a full participant on Thursday and doesn’t have a game status. The Eagles will need their special teams ace in the playoffs.
As a reminder, the Eagles still have 12 players on their COVID-19 list. That group includes several stars and starters: Fletcher Cox, Jason Kelce, Dallas Goedert, Rodney McLeod, Avonte Maddox, Alex Singleton, Nate Herbig, Boston Scott, Genard Avery, Jordan Howard, Marcus Epps, Jack Stoll.
Several of those players could theoretically be activated in time for Saturday’s game, but that doesn’t mean they’ll play.