As the Eagles entered their prep week for the Saints, quarterback Jalen Hurts was listed as a non-participant in the first injury report of the week.
While the Eagles held a virtual tour on Wednesday, the injury report is an estimate of availability during normal practice.
Not a very good sign for his availability this Sunday against the Saints.
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni was purposefully elusive on Wednesday when asked about Hurts’ availability for the upcoming game. He wants New Orleans to be forced to prepare for two quarterbacks for as long as possible. The Eagles did it last week before the Cowboys game until Hurts was finally ruled out two days before kickoff.
Here’s the full Eagles injury report from Wednesday:
Did not practice: Jalen Hurts (shoulder), Lane Johnson (groin), Avonte Maddox (toe), Miles Sanders (knee)
Limit: AJ Brown (knee), Jordan Davis (concussion)
Hurts was unable to practice at all last week before the Cowboys game.
While Sirianni said Hurts felt better now than he did last week, he didn’t give many other details.
“Yeah, we’ll see,” Sirianni said of Hurts’ availability this week. “We will continue to see how he progresses throughout the week. Does he have a chance? Of course he does, because his body knows how to heal. It’s a monster. We’ll see what happens over the week. »
Hurts, 24, suffered a sprained shoulder (apparently a sprained SC joint) in the Eagles’ Week 15 win over the Bears and missed the game against the Cowboys on Christmas Eve. As the Eagles lost that game 40-34, quarterback Gardner Minshew played well and the Eagles had 422 yards on offense.
The biggest problem on offense in that game against the Cowboys was turnovers. Minshew threw two picks and the Eagles also lost two fumbles. But aside from those crucial errors, the Eagles offense buzzed and didn’t kick a single shot.
If the Eagles are able to win Sunday afternoon against the Saints, they would clinch the NFC’s No. 1 seed and that would give Hurts’ shoulder a few more weeks to heal. Because not only would the Eagles get a first-round bye in the NFC, but it would also make Week 18 meaningless for the Eagles’ playoff image.
The big surprise of the injury report was the incision of running back Miles Sanders with a knee injury. Sanders has been a big part of the Eagles’ offense this year and is over 1,000 yards. If he can’t play this weekend, the Eagles will have Boston Scott, Kenny Gainwell and Trey Sermon.
Brown’s injury is also a new addition. The injury report wasn’t released until after the Eagles walkthrough, but Brown was in the locker room early Wednesday and spoke to reporters.
We know Johnson and Maddox will both miss time due to injuries they sustained in Saturday’s loss. Johnson has a torn tendon in his abdomen and plans to skip surgery to return for the playoffs. Maddox has a toe injury and would be out indefinitely.
The Eagles didn’t start CJ Gardner-Johnson’s practice window on Wednesday. The safety/nickel corner missed the minimum four games on IR with a lacerated kidney but doesn’t look set to return.
“Just because he’s eligible to come back doesn’t mean he will, although I know he will,” Sirianni said on Monday. “Again, all the guys will want it, so we’ll see. It will be something that we just expect results from when it passes those tests.
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