The Philadelphia Eagles announced on Wednesday that they have activated the 21-day practice windows for S Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, DE Robert Quinn, and OT Brett Toth to return from injured reserve. The Eagles will have to decide by Saturday at 4:00 p.m. whether or not any of those three players will be elevated from injured reserve, and thus eligible to play this Sunday against the New York Giants.
S Chauncey Gardner-Johnson
Gardner-Johnson missed the last five games with a lacerated kidney suffered against the Green Bay Packers. Through the first 11 games of the season, Gardner-Johnson racked up 60 tackles, one sack, eight pass breakups, and he remains the NFL's leader in INTs, with six. In Gardner-Johnson's absence, Reed Blankenship started at safety, and K'Von Wallace filled in for Blankenship when Blankenship suffered a knee injury.
It will be interesting to see where Gardner-Johnson plays whenever he returns. Throughout his career with the Saints, Gardner-Johnson primarily played in the slot. With the Eagles, he has mainly played at safety. With starting slot corner Avonte Maddox out indefinitely with a toe injury, the Eagles seemingly have one of two options:
- Marcus Epps and Gardner-Johnson at safety, with Josiah Scott in the slot.
- Epps and Blankenship at safety, with Gardner-Johnson in the slot.
DE Robert Quinn
The Eagles traded a fourth-round pick for Quinn at the trade deadline, hoping that he could add some juice to their pass rush in a role reminiscent of Chris Long's in 2017, or Ryan Kerrigan's in 2021. So far he's been more like Kerrigan than Long, as he has just two tackles and two QB hits with no sacks in five games.
Still, Quinn's return could be timely, as the Eagles need more DE depth with Josh Sweat suffering a scary neck injury last Sunday against the Saints.
OL Brett Toth
Toth tore an ACL in the Eagles' Week 18 game against the Dallas Cowboys last season. He has mostly played at offensive tackle for the Eagles, but interestingly, he played center in that matchup. Toth has appeared in nine games in the Eagles' regular offense, despite being a fringe roster guy who has ping-ponged back and forth between the Eagles and Cardinals.
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