October 23, 2018
The Philadelphia Eagles' injury list keeps growing. According to a report from Adam Schefter of ESPN, Derek Barnett's season is over after undergoing shoulder surgery.
Eagles’ DE Derek Barnett is undergoing shoulder surgery and is now out for the season, per source. The former first-round pick recorded 2.5 sacks and 17 tackles this season.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 23, 2018
According to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network, it's a torn rotator cuff.
Barnett originally hurt his shoulder Week 4 against the Tennessee Titans, and missed the Eagles' next game Week 5 against the Minnesota Vikings. A season ago, Alshon Jeffery played through a torn rotator cuff injury, but doing so at defensive end is a lot more difficult than doing so at wide receiver.
Barnett will surely be placed on IR, and he'll join a laundry list of Eagles players on IR, NFI, and PUP, noted below:
In six games this season, Barnett had 17 tackles and 2.5 sacks. He didn't appear to be the same disruptive player after he initially hurt his shoulder against the Titans, as he had just 4 tackles and no sacks the last two weeks.
Under normal circumstances, the Eagles would perhaps be able to weather this injury because of their defensive end depth, as Michael Bennett will likely start at RDE, and the Birds would still have Chris Long as the primary backup on either side. The Eagles also have rookie fourth round pick Josh Sweat, who could begin to see more of a role.
However, with the Eagles' depleted defensive tackle depth, Bennett was getting more snaps than he normally might on the inside. It will now be more difficult to take him away from that RDE spot.
On a side note, the Eagles' 2017 draft class isn't having the best season:
Hard times for #Eagles' 2017 draft class: Derek Barnett (shoulder surgery); Sidney Jones (hamstring); Rasul Douglas (can't get on defense); Mack Hollins (on IR), Shelton Gibson (can't get on offense), Nate Gerry (injured), Elijah Qualls (gone). But Donnel Pumphrey is back!
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) October 23, 2018
With the Eagles' roster ravaged by injuries, it will be interesting to see if they are buyers or sellers at the trade deadline.
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