The Philadelphia Eagles head into Week 3 an extremely healthy team, having only lost Derek Barnett for the season and Andre Dillard for a month or two. The Washington Commanders are banged up in the trenches on both sides of the ball.
Here's the Eagles' and Commanders' inactives, with analysis.
• QB Ian Book: Book will be inactive on gameday for as long as Jalen Hurts and Gardner Minshew are healthy.
• RB Trey Sermon: Sermon will sit for a while as RB4 while he learns the offense.
• OL Josh Sills: Cam Jurgens will back up Jason Kelce at center, Sua Opeta will back up Landon Dickerson and Isaac Seumalo at guard, and Jack Dirscoll will back up Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson at tackle.
• DE Janarius Robinson: The Eagles poached Robinson off of the Vikings' practice squad a couple weeks ago.
• S Reed Blankenship: The Eagles have three active safeties ahead of the undrafted rookie.
Grant Calcaterra will make his NFL debut.
Starting LG Landon Dickerson was listed as questionable on the injury report, but he will play.
Notable players on IR, PUP, suspension, etc.
• DE Derek Barnett (IR): Barnett tore his ACL Week 1 against the Lions, and his season is over. After a 2021 season in which he had 8 penalties vs. 2.5 sacks, Barnett lost his starting job, but remained a depth player poised to get his share of snaps in 2022. With Barnett out, expect more snaps for second-year player Tarron Jackson.
• LT Andre Dillard (IR): Dillard broke a bone in his forearm that requires surgery. He'll be out 4-6 weeks, per reports. We covered his situation in more depth here.
The Commanders' inactives:
Starting CB William Jackson is a surprise inactive. The Commanders' other starting corners are Kendall Fuller and Benjamin St-Juste. Beyond them, they have a whole lot of inexperience, with second-year guy Rachad Wildgoose, as well as rookies Christian Holmes and Tariq Castro-Fields.
The Commanders also have significant injury issues along their defensive line. They have two defensive linemen (DE Chase Young and DT Phidarian Mathis) on PUP or IR, and three (DE Casey Toohill, DT Daniel Wise, and James Smith-Williams) who are out. Add in that the Commanders lost Matt Ioannidis and Tim Settle in free agency this offseason, and they are paper thin along their defensive line.
Notable players on IR, PUP, suspension, etc.
• DE Chase Young (PUP): Young is still recovering from a torn ACL suffered last season. He is on Reserve/PUP, and will miss the first four weeks of the regular season.
• C Chase Roullier (IR): Roullier is the Commanders' starting center, and a good player. His season is in jeopardy after he suffered a lower leg injury against the Lions Week 2. Starting RG Wes Schweitzer would likely start at center in Roullier's absence, but Schweitzer has been banged up as well, as he missed the Commanders' Week 2 game in Detroit with a hamstring injury. We hypothesized on what the Commanders will do along their line in our five matchups to watch.
• RB Brian Robinson (NFI): Robinson was the victim of an attempted carjacking, during which he sustained multiple gunshot wounds. He was poised to take over starting running back duties from incumbent Antonio Gibson, but those plans were set back by his unfortunate incident. Robinson amazingly returned to practice last week, and could return to the field in October.
• DT Phidarian Mathis (IR): Mathis was the Commanders' second-round pick this year. He tore his meniscus Week 1 and his season is over.
Follow Jimmy & PhillyVoice on Twitter: @JimmyKempski | thePhillyVoice
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports
Add Jimmy's RSS feed to your feed reader