Eagles place 2nd-round pick Eli Stowers on IR ahead of opener

The Eagles have placed second-round pick Eli Stowers on Injured Reserve ahead of their Week 1 game against the Commanders.

By Dave Zangaro • Published September 12, 2026

The Eagles on Saturday placed second-round pick Eli Stowers on Injured Reserve with quadriceps and hamstring injuries.

The team also elevated Britain Covey from the practice squad. Expect Covey to return punts against the Commanders.

Stowers, 23, was a limited participant in practice all week with a hamstring injury he suffered in the preseason and had been listed as questionable for Week 1. Stowers on Friday even said he expected to play.

But after reporting discomfort in his leg, the team discovered through digital imaging he had a quadriceps strain that will take several weeks to rehab. By placing Stowers on IR, he’ll have to miss a minimum of four games before the rookie tight end is eligible to return.

Even before that hamstring injury in the preseason, it was a tough training camp for the rookie second-round pick from Vanderbilt. The Eagles drafted him at No. 54 overall as a developmental prospect, but Stowers struggled and barely flashed all summer.

How does he stay patient when success might not come early?

"Everybody’s road and development, it’s different for every single person,” Stowers said on Friday. "Really just every single day you want to come to work with the attitude that you want to get better and just put your best foot forward every single day. That’s really all you can do. Just focus on what you can control and that’s what I remind myself of.”

Without Stowers against the Commanders, the Eagles’ three tight ends will be Dallas Goedert, Johnny Mundt and E.J. Jenkins. The Eagles now have an open spot on their 53-man roster and could probably benefit from bringing in another tight end. We’ll see what they do next week.

It’s notable that the Eagles didn’t use this roster spot to promote Covey. They elevated him from the practice squad, which means he has two elevations left this season.

Covey, 29, has significant NFL punt return experience with 79 career returns under his belt with a career average of 11.3 yards. He is the Eagles’ safest bet at the position, but perhaps first-round pick Makai Lemon eventually takes over.

https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/eli-stowers-injured-reserve-hamstring-quadriceps-week-1-commanders-britain-covey-elevation/750752/

Phantom IR? I suspect if he looked like he was ready to play and contribute maybe he would be involved? I think he needs to year to add a bit of size and maybe having him on IR for a spell allows him to do that?

Can’t see us wasting a IR call up or whatever they are called on a player who can’t contribute. And you can only reinstate so many a year from IR can’t you?

39 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Phantom IR? I suspect if he looked like he was ready to play and contribute maybe he would be involved? I think he needs to year to add a bit of size and maybe having him on IR for a spell allows him to do that?

Can’t see us wasting a IR call up or whatever they are called on a player who can’t contribute. And you can only reinstate so many a year from IR can’t you?

But a player on IR cannot practice with the team, so if you want him to develop, "stashing" him on IR is counterproductive.

13 minutes ago, brkmsn said:

But a player on IR cannot practice with the team, so if you want him to develop, "stashing" him on IR is counterproductive.

But perhaps they want him to add some size? I don’t know I’m just guessing but he didn’t look close to being able to contribute physically.

Concerning that he's not really even injured.

2nd round picks falling into the IR stash territory that we expected for their 2 players from another continent who never played football...not ideal.

We spent a 2nd round pick on a project player? Was the best TE available at that pick?

17 minutes ago, JohnB said:

We spent a 2nd round pick on a project player? Was the best TE available at that pick?

Besides Sadiq, Eagles had their choice of TE's....Stowers was the 2nd TE drafted. That said, opinions were all over the place as to who was the next best TE after Sadiq.

This is looking like a red-shirt year for Stowers...hell, and Lemon too.

Howie has really crap the bed with the recent drafts and personnel decisions.