Eagles place Dillard on IR, open up spot on roster

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Eagles place Dillard on IR, open up spot on roster

 

The Eagles on Tuesday put backup left tackle Andre Dillard on Injured Reserve, opening up a spot on their 53-man roster.

Dillard, 26, fractured his forearm in practice last Thursday and reportedly had surgery on Tuesday morning.

By placing him on IR, Dillard will miss at least the first four weeks of the 2022 season, leaving the Eagles a little thin in the depth department at tackle. Their only backup tackle options on the 53-man roster are Jack Driscoll and Josh Sills.

They also have Le’Raven Clark and Kayode Awosika on the practice squad and are eligible to be signed to the active roster or elevated for game days. Practice squad players can be elevated just thrice in a season.

But the Eagles aren’t ready to divulge any of that.

"I think we have a plan for that,” offensive coordinator Shane Steichen said. "I’d rather keep that in house, to be honest, going forward. For competitive advantage reasons we want to keep that in house, but we feel good with the group we have backing up.”

The Eagles could have traded Dillard this offseason but instead elected to keep him on their roster as insurance behind starting left tackle Jordan Mailata. Eventually, he should return this year and be the solid backup the Eagles want.

But this is also the final year on Dillard’s rookie contract and he’ll likely leave after this season for a contract and a chance to start elsewhere.

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/eagles/eagles-place-andre-dillard-ir-open-spot-53-man-roster