Eagles get a receiver back at practice, still without a couple safeties

[time2rock]

Eagles get a receiver back at practice, still without a couple safeties

Quez Watkins returned to Eagles practice on Thursday but the team is still down a couple safeties.

By Dave Zangaro • Published September 28, 2023

 

Eagles receiver Quez Watkins (hamstring) returned to practice on Thursday but the team is still without a couple safeties.

Watkins, 25, hasn’t practiced since injuring his hamstring in Week 2 against the Vikings.

During Thursday’s practice, Watkins went through warmups with a helmet and then participated in special teams and individual drills during the portion of practice open to reporters. He was officially listed as limited so we'll see if he's able to return this weekend against the Commanders.

Olamide Zaccheaus filled in as the third receiver in Tampa and had 2 catches for 58 yards and a touchdown in the win. Watkins in his first two games had 2 catches for 17 yards.

While Watkins returned to practice, the Eagles were still without Justin Evans (neck) and Sydney Brown (hamstring). Evans worked on a side field, while Brown was an engaged spectator.

While he hasn't been on the injury report in some time, Haason Reddick revealed on Thursday that the cast on his surgically repaired thumb is finally off. He won't have to play with it on Sunday against the Commanders.

Here's the full injury report from Thursday:

Did not participate: S Sydney Brown (hamstring), S Justin Evans (neck), WR DeVonta Smith (illness)

Limited: DT Fletcher Cox (knee), G Cam Jurgens (groin), WR Quez Watkins (hamstring)

Full: WR Britain Covey (hamstring), LB Zach Cunningham (ribs), G Landon Dickerson (knee), RB Boston Scott (concussion)

If the Eagles don’t have Evans and Brown this Sunday, they’re down to two healthy safeties in Reed Blankenship and Terrell Edmunds. The Eagles’ options at that spot are to call up Tristin McCollum from the practice squad or perhaps use rookie cornerback Kelee Ringo as a backup safety.

Good news on Covey and Cunningham, who went from limited to full this week. Cox is extremely durable and is always a safe bet to play through injuries. And you can probably expect Jurgens to be ready too.

https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/eagles-get-a-receiver-back-at-practice-still-without-a-couple-safeties/538035/

[UK_EaglesFan89]

Id prefer they stuck with OZ to be honest with you. Watkins has let this team down over the last year or two and didn’t do a lot in the appearances he did make this year. OZ at least had an impact against Tampa.

[time2rock]

Both Brown and Watkins have been ruled out for tomorrow's game.  

[brkmsn]

17 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Id prefer they stuck with OZ to be honest with you. Watkins has let this team down over the last year or two and didn’t do a lot in the appearances he did make this year. OZ at least had an impact against Tampa.

Watkins played 1 full game, was targeted twice and caught both passes. What else can he do to have an impact? In the 2nd game, even Brown was unhappy about his own lack of "impact." Last week Smith had very little impact ... and through 3 games, Goedert is averaging a mere 5.7 ypr which is less than half of his average last year. 

 

While the decisions regarding who plays and who doesn't isn't ours, it's better to be patient than to overreact. 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

3 hours ago, brkmsn said:

Watkins played 1 full game, was targeted twice and caught both passes. What else can he do to have an impact? In the 2nd game, even Brown was unhappy about his own lack of "impact." Last week Smith had very little impact ... and through 3 games, Goedert is averaging a mere 5.7 ypr which is less than half of his average last year. 

 

While the decisions regarding who plays and who doesn't isn't ours, it's better to be patient than to overreact. 

Ok fair point but Watkins hasn’t made a positive impact on this team for a long while now. Last year he was pretty poor and actually hurt the team more than he helped the team.

[brkmsn]

8 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Ok fair point but Watkins hasn’t made a positive impact on this team for a long while now. Last year he was pretty poor and actually hurt the team more than he helped the team.

I completely disagree with that. He did play soft through the injury and that led to some memorable negative plays late in the season that the critical fans just won't let go. He had more positive impact than negative, though. That's why he remained in the lineup even with the shoulder sprain. His worst game came against Dallas when he definitely shared the blame for 2 INTs. We already went over this in the Watkins thread on TATE, but when you break down Watkins' passer rating when targeted, he had an 80 rating last year. But broken down, he had a 0.0 rating when Minshew played and a 105 rating when Hurts played. So for all but 2 games, he was helpful. People might want to nit-pick the Super Bowl play, but there should have been a flag. Once this fan base turns on you, until you redeem yourself with a couple standout games, you have a great big target on your back. That's where I see Watkins. He's not a superstar. But he is very capable of helping this team win games. Some people just can't stand that players aren't perfect and have ups and downs.