The Philadelphia Eagles have announced their inactives for their Super Bowl LII matchup against the New England Patriots. Here are those super-bummed-out players, with analysis:
• CB Sidney Jones: Jones suffered a hamstring injury during the Eagles' Week 17 loss to Dallas. He was not on the injury report this week, but is still down.
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• DE Steven Means: Means is the victim of a numbers crunch once again at DE. He's a good player, but there isn't enough room for him on the final 46.
• RB Wendell Smallwood: Smallwood has been inactive for most of the end of the season. He is the fifth running back in the pecking order.
• OT Will Beatty: The Eagles are one injury away from Isaac Seumalo playing tackle.
• WR Marcus Johnson: Johnson is inactive once again like he's consistently been the last part of the season.
• DT Elijah Qualls: Qualls is the fifth DT.
• DT Destiny Vaeao: The Eagles will only be three-deep at defensive tackle.
Notable players on IR/Suspension/Other
• QB Carson Wentz: The MVP award was going to be given to either Tom Brady or Carson Wentz, so obviously, the loss of Wentz cannot be overstated. Filling in for Wentz, of course, has been Nick Foles.
• LT Jason Peters: Peters tore his ACL and MCL against the Redskins. Halapoulivaati Vaitai has filled in and has struggled at times, though he had a very encouraging performance in the NFC Championship Game against Everson Griffen.
• LB Jordan Hicks: Hicks wasn't off to his best season this year when he went down with a ruptured Achilles. Still, it's a big loss for the Eagles' defense, though the Eagles have adapted.
• RB Darren Sproles: Sproles was lost for the season with a torn ACL. On the field, Sproles was the Eagles' most well-rounded running back, as he can run inside, run outside, be a weapon in the passing game, and he was easily the team's best back in pass protection. Obviously, because of his small size, however, Sproles has been never been used as a 'workhorse' type of back, but he was typically on the field in the Eagles' most crucial situations. He was also the team's primary punt returner.
• K Caleb Sturgis: Sturgis was placed on IR with a quad injury suffered Week 1 against the Redskins. He was replaced by Jake Elliott.
Inactives
- RB Mike Gillislee
- DT Alan Branch
- LB David Harris
- OL Cole Croston
- WR Kenny Britt
- TE Jake Hollister
- WR Bernard Reedy
Notable players on IR/Suspension/Other
• WR Julian Edelman: Edelman is a really good player who caught 98 passes for 1106 yards last season. During the preseason, he tore his ACL and was lost for the season. In the Super Bowl last year, he made the following incredible catch:
In that Super Bowl, Edelman finished with 5 catches for 87 yards.
• LB Dont'a Hightower: Like Edelman above, Hightower made a huge play in the Super Bowl last year, when he strip-sacked Matt Ryan. I'm not sure exactly what Devonta Freeman (24) is doing here:
Hightower tore a pectoral muscle in October and was lost for the season. In the five games he played, Hightower had 12 tackles and 2 sacks. The Patriots' remaining linebackers are thought to be a weakness on their defense.
• OT Marcus Cannon: Cannon was the Pats' starting right tackle for seven games, when he was lost for the season with ankle injury. Cameron Fleming filled in and has not killed the Pats' OL.
• CB Jonathan Jones: Jones is a good special teams player who was also the Pats' nickel or dime corner, depending on the availability of Eric Rowe. He played 446 snaps this season with the regular defense. Should the Pats lose a corner on Sunday, they don't have much in the way of reserves.
• TE Martellus Bennett: Bennett clowned his way out of Green Bay earlier this season, was picked up by the Pats mid-season, and was quickly placed on IR two games later.
• WR Malcolm Mitchell: Mitchell had a nice rookie season, catching 32 passes for 401 yards, and 4 TDs. In his second season, he was placed on IR with a foot injury, missing the entire season.
• DE Derek Rivers: Rivers was the Pats' top draft pick in 2017 (in the third round). He tore his ACL in August.
• OT Antonio Garcia: Garcia was the Pats' other third round pick in 2017. He was placed on the "non-football illness" list, which I didn't even know existed.
• DE Shea McClellin: McClellin was a linebacker for the Pats, who was placed on IR with a non-disclosed injury, thought to be a concussion. His loss further depleted the Pats' linebacking corps.
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