November 15, 2020
Kate Frese/for PhillyVoice
J.J. Arcega-Whiteside during the Philadelphia Eagles wild card game against the Seattle Seahawks.
The Philadelphia Eagles are perhaps as healthy as they have been all season, as a slew of players will return to action this Sunday against the New York Giants — a game in which the Eagles are currently 3-point favorites, according to TheLines.com's consensus odds.
The Eagles' inactives are usually mostly predetermined, as they have typically had about a half dozen players ruled out on the final injury report each week. This week they actually have a full list of back-of-the-roster guys.
Here are the Eagles' and Giants' inactives, with analysis.
• WR J.J. Arcega-Whiteside: J.J. Arcega-Whiteside was the Eagles' second-round pick in 2019, and he's a healthy scratch.
• WR Quez Watkins: With Alshon Jeffery up, 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 means that Huntley won't dress.
• CB Craig James: Special teamer only, barring injuries at corner. James was ruled out on Friday with a shoulder injury.
• QB Nate Sudfeld: QB3.
• S Marcus Epps: Epps is the backup free safety behind Rodney McLeod. He tested positive for COVID-19.
• LG Isaac Seumalo (21-day practice window activated): Seumalo was not added to the 53-man roster on Saturday, so for now he remains on IR.
The Eagles' offensive line will likely look like this:
| LT | LG | C | RG | RT |
| Jason Peters | Nate Herbig | Jason Kelce | Matt Pryor | Lane Johnson |
• TE Zach Ertz: Ertz hasn't had the best 2020 season. He watched as Travis Kelce signed an extremely team-friendly contract, thus hurting his negotiating power, followed by publicly voicing his frustration with the lack of a new deal, followed by a lack of productivity on the field, followed by a high ankle sprain that will keep him out 6-8 weeks.
• 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 comes off the field, so the Eagles will have to figure out how they reassign his role, even it's hard to imagine they'll be worse off with someone else in there instead. T.J. Edwards has played better than Gerry since Edwards' return from IR.
• 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.
• LT Andre Dillard (season-ending IR): Dillard struggled mightily 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 very 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.
• 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.
There's nobody of consequence in the Giants' inactives:
Giants inactives today are WR Dante Pettis, LB T.J. Brunson, OL Kyle Murphy, OT Jackson Barton and DL R.J. McIntosh.
— Pat Leonard (@PLeonardNYDN) November 15, 2020
So Golden Tate and Isaac Yiadom are both in the lineup after being questionable today. Will Hernandez returns (not expected to start).#Giants #Eagles
As Pat mentions, WR Golden Tate and CB Isaac Yiadom are both up. They were listed as questionable on Friday.
• RB Saquon Barkley (IR): Barkley's season is over after he tore an ACL Week 2 against the Bears. Barkley is obviously the Giants' best player, and someone who has hurt the Eagles in the past. His four career games against Jim Schwartz and the Eagles' defense:
| Year | Rush | Yards | YPC | TD |
| 2018, Week 6 | 13 | 130 | 10.0 | 1 |
| 2018, Week 12 | 13 | 101 | 7.8 | 1 |
| 2019, Week 14 | 17 | 66 | 3.9 | 0 |
| 2019, Week 17 | 17 | 92 | 5.4 | 1 |
| TOTAL | 60 | 389 | 6.5 | 3 |
He also had 22 catches for 166 yards and a TD in those games.
• RB Devonta Freeman: 3.2 YPC this season, probably cooked.
• Edge Lorenzo Carter (IR): Carter ruptured his Achilles in the Giants' loss to the Cowboys. His season is over. 9.5 sacks in three seasons.
• LT Nate Solder (COVID opt out): As we showed in our Giants dumpster fire piece in June, Solder was brutally bad in 2019. He was poised to retain his starting job at LT, however, but he opted out of the 2020 season.
• S Xavier McKinney (IR): McKinney broke his foot, and had surgery to repair it. He was projected to start at safety for the Giants as a rookie this season. McKinney was a versatile playmaker in college who drew comparisons to another former Bama DB in Minkah Fitzpatrick. The Giants selected him in the second round (36th overall), which was a good value, in my view. McKinney could return later in the season, according to Jordan Raanan of ESPN:
There is hope that McKinney can return and his rookie season is not totally lost, sources told ESPN. A late-November return -- after the Giants' Week 12 bye week -- seems possible if all goes well with his recovery.
Of course, that would be after each of the Eagles' matchups against the Giants.
• CB Sam Beal (COVID opt out): The Giants selected Beal with a third-round pick in the 2018 supplemental draft. He missed the entire 2018 season with an injury, and only played in 6 games (3 starts) in 2019. With DeAndre Baker having been released, Beal might have won a starting job, but he opted out of the 2020 season. The Giants subsequently signed veteran CB Logan Ryan.
• CB Ryan Lewis (IR): Lewis has bounced around the league, even landing with the Eagles for two games in 2019. He played in five games for the Giants this year, starting three games, before landing on IR with a hamstring injury. Isaac Yiadom will likely start for the Giants at CB opposite James Bradberry, and as we noted in our five matchups to watch, the Eagles should target him heavily.
• Edge Oshane Ximines (IR): Ximines had 4.5 sacks as a rookie in 2019. He injured his shoulder against the Rams and went on IR.
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