October 04, 2015
Michael Perez/AP
Marcus Smith won't need to do much to show improvement over his first two seasons with the Eagles.
LANDOVER, MD -- The Eagles released their inactives against the Redskins. Among them are starters Kiko Alonso and Cedric Thornton. The Birds will once again need DeMeco Ryans, Jordan Hicks and Brandon Bair to step up in their place. Here are the Eagles' and Redskins' inactives:
Eagles inactives• ILB Kiko Alonso: As we noted earlier in the week, Alonso will be out for about a month. The Eagles have gotten fantastic play out of rookie ILB Jordan Hicks in Alonso's absence.
• DE Cedric Thornton: Thornton has a broken bone in his hand, and will be out. He is a quality starter and very good run stuffer. The Redskins want to pound the run early and often.
• DE Taylor Hart: Hart has a shoulder injury. In his absence last week, Brandon Bair balled out, so there shouldn't be any rush to get Hart back out on the field.
• OLB Marcus Smith: He's healthy. The team just doesn't think he's good enough to play, clearly.
• S Chris Maragos: Maragos has a quad injury, and has been the Eagles' "nickel safety," as he has entered the game in the Eagles' nickel package, taking over for Malcolm Jenkins, who becomes the nickel corner. The Eagles have put Maragos in a position not to fail by often parking him far off the line of scrimmage in nickel sets. With Maragos out, the Eagles left Jenkins at safety, and brought in E.J. Biggers in a nickel role, with Eric Rowe entering the game as the dime.
• OL Julian Vandervelde: The oft-released one.
• QB Thad Lewis: Lewis takes over for Stephen Morris in the "Matt Barkley inactive #3 QB" role.
• WR DeSean Jackson: DeSean is out with a hammy. We covered his absence at length earlier this week.
• CB DeAngelo Hall: Hall is out with a toe injury. The 31-year old Hall (it feels like the 12-year vet should be older) was ruled out by the Redskins earlier this week. They'll be thin at CB.
• ILB Perry Riley: Riley is out with a calf injury. He is the Redskins' best ILB. Over the last three seasons, Riley had 336 tackles, 8.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries, an INT, and 19 pass breakups.
• WR Andre Roberts: Roberts has been bad this season. He has just 5 catches for 54 yards, 0 TDs, and 2 drops.
• DE Kedric Golston: The Redskins have plenty of depth along their defensive line, so Golston being inactive shouldn't kill the Skins.
• OT Tom Compton: Backup offensive lineman.
• QB Robert Griffin III: The Redskins' backup QB will be Colt McCoy.
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