November 21, 2020
The Philadelphia Eagles are perhaps as healthy as they have been all season, as a handful of players returned to action last Sunday against the New York Giants, and LG Isaac Seumalo is expected to return this Sunday against the Cleveland Browns. The Eagles remain 3-point underdogs, according to TheLines.com's consensus odds.
Here are the Eagles and Browns inactives, with analysis.
• OG Nate Herbig: Why is Herbig inactive? He wasn't on the injury report. Odd.
• S Rudy Ford: It feels like the Eagles' special teams only guys, Ford and Craig James, take turns landing on the injury report. They'll both be out this Sunday.
• WR Quez Watkins: With Alshon Jeffery now up each week (and expected to be implemented more and more into the game plan, per Doug Pederson 🙄), the Eagles already have five receivers active.
• OT Brett Toth: The Eagles already have two backup tackles in Jordan Mailata and Jack Driscoll.
• RB Jason Huntley: Miles Sanders' return and Elijah Holyfield's temporary promotion to the active roster means that Huntley won't dress.
• QB Nate Sudfeld: QB3.
• WR J.J. Arcega-Whiteside: Arcega-Whiteside was a healthy scratch last Sunday in NJ against the Giants, 19 months after the Eagles selected him in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft. He is essentially the seventh receiver in the Eagles' pecking order, at best, behind Travis Fulgham, Jalen Reagor, Greg Ward, Alshon Jeffery, DeSean Jackson, and John Hightower. In 2019, Arcega-Whitesdie had 10 catches for 169 yards, and 1 TD. In 2020, he has 2 catches for 45 yards.
• RB Corey Clement: Clement is the Eagles' third running back, behind Miles Sanders and Boston Scott. He has 19 carries for 68 yards and 1 TD this season, to go along with 4 catches for 18 yards. Clement has been unable to regain the same level of effectiveness he showed as a rookie during the Eagles' Super Bowl season in 2017.
• DE Vinny Curry: Curry has 7 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 TFL, and 3 QB hits in 5 games this season as a rotational DE.
• S Marcus Epps: Backup free safety behind Rodney McLeod.
• It's also worth noting here that the Eagles will be without passing game coordinator/QB coach Press Taylor and WR coach Aaron Moorehead on Sunday as a precaution.
• TE Zach Ertz (21-day practice window activated): "Zach probably needs a little more time," Pederson said in regard to the likelihood Ertz plays this week.
• WR DeSean Jackson: There probably weren't realistic expectations that Jackson was going to stay healthy after he returned to action a few weeks ago against the Giants, so his return to IR isn't a surprise.
• LB Nate Gerry: Gerry is obviously not a fan favorite these days, but he is a starter who never came off the field, so the Eagles had to figure out how to reassign his role. Against the Giants, it was Alex Singleton. To be determined if that changes this week.
• DT Hassan Ridgeway: Ridgeway went on IR with a biceps injury. Because the Eagles were (previously) fortunate not to see any of their top three DTs miss any substantial time through the first six games, Ridgeway didn't get a a ton of snaps, but he was productive when he was on the field. Ridgeway had 11 tackles (2 for loss) and a sack on 137 snaps this year. His season is over.
• DE Genary Avery: Avery had one productive game, went back to barely playing to make room for Vinny Curry, and is now on IR.
• CB Craig James: Out with a shoulder injury.
• LT Andre Dillard (season-ending IR): Dillard struggled as a rookie, and he came into camp as a clear player of interest, as he was poised to start at LT this season. He was up and down in camp, with the "down" moments being alarming. Dillard injured his biceps, and is done for the season.
• RG Brandon Brooks (PUP): Brooks is in the conversation for 'best RG in the NFL," so obviously, losing him for the entire season has hurt. The Eagles have had a revolving door at RG all season.
• WR Marquise Goodwin: Goodwin was a veteran wide receiver with speed that the Eagles took a flier on, as something of an possible in-game replacement for DeSean Jackson.
Nothing interesting here:
#Browns inactives:
— Tom Withers (@twithersAP) November 22, 2020
WR Taywan Taylor
RB Dontrell Hilliard
CB Robert Jackson
S Jovante Moffatt
LB Tae Davis
DE Joe Jackson.
Rookie Porter Gustin starts for Myles Garrett.
LB Sione Takitaki is today's captain.
• WR Odell Beckham: We all know OBJ well, having played with the Giants for five season. He had 23 catches for 319 yards and 3 TDs in 2020, before being lost for the season with a torn ACL.
• S Grant Delpit: Delpit suffered a torn Achilles and is done for the season. Delpit was thought of by some as a likely first-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, but fell into the second round, where the Browns selected him with the 44th overall pick. He was poised to start at S for Cleveland as a rookie. Instead, Andrew Sendejo has filled in.
According to pro-football-reference.com, on plays in which Sendejo has been targeted, he has allowed 27 completions on 35 pass attempts (77.1%) for 436 yards (an awful 12.5 yards per target), 5 TDs, and a 157.9 opposing QB rating. He also has 7 missed tackles vs. 46 tackles, for a missed tackle rate of 13.2% (that's bad too). In other words, Sendejo still stinks.
• CB Greedy Williams: Williams was a second round pick of the Browns in 2019, who started 12 games as a rookie. He suffered a nerve injury in his shoulder during training camp.
• DE Myles Garrett: As we noted in our five matchups to watch, Myles Garrett leads the NFL both in sacks (9.5) and forced fumbles (4). Most of his sacks have come against opposing left tackles this season, but he lines up outside, inside, and on both the left and right sides. He is an elite player, with length, strength, speed, flexibility, and balance. Garrett was ruled out, so Jason Peters dodges a bullet.
• RT Jack Conklin: Conklin is the Browns' starting RT. His backup would normally be Chris Hubbard, who is also on the COVID-19 list, so Kendall Lamm would likely be the next guy up. Lamm has played in 68 games over his career, starting 26. This would become a mismatch in favor of Brandon Graham if Conklin isn't activated Saturday.
• OT Chris Hubbard: Hubbard has played in 76 games, starting 47, including 7 games played this year, with 4 starts. As noted above, he would have been Conklin's first replacement.
• FB Andy Janovich: FB Andy Janovich is a FB.
• K Cody Parkey: Of double-doink fame. Like Conklin above, there is hope Parkey could be activated on Saturday.
• DT Andrew Billings: Starting DT for the Browns the last three seasons. 80 tackles, 14 TFL, 3.5 sacks since 2017.
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