Eagles injury report: Updates on Hurts and the safety position

 

While the Eagles are publicly holding out hope that Jalen Hurts will be able to play on Saturday afternoon in Dallas, he was a non-participant on the first injury report of the week.

Hurts is dealing with a right (throwing) shoulder sprain so it could be Gardner Minshew starting on Christmas Eve.

The Eagles held a walkthrough on Tuesday so the injury report is an estimation. Had the team held a normal practice, Hurts would not have participated.

Here’s a complete look at Tuesday’s report:

Did not participate: QB Jalen Hurts (right shoulder), QB Gardner Minshew (personal), S K’Von Wallace (hip), WR Zach Pascal (concussion)

Limited: TE Tyree Jackson (knee)

Full: S Reed Blankenship (knee)

"He has a sprained shoulder, and I don't put anything past Jalen Hurts as far as his mental and physical toughness,” Sirianni said. "There's a chance he could play this week.”

Minshew on Tuesday was not at the NovaCare Complex because he was attending the funeral of his former coach Mike Leach. Minshew also spoke at those services.

In addition to the top two quarterbacks missing practice, keep an eye on the safety position. After playing 41 snaps against the Bears on Sunday, K’Von Wallace popped up on the report with a hip injury. That’s something to monitor because the Eagles are still light on safeties.

The good news is that rookie safety Reed Blankenship returned from his knee injury on Tuesday. Blankenship was injured against the Giants on his 18th snap a couple weeks ago and missed the Bears game. But it appears the Eagles dodged a major injury to the impressive young player. It looks like he could make his return to the starting lineup on Saturday.

Remember, normal starter C.J. Gardner-Johnson is still out with a lacerated kidney and won’t even be eligible to return until next week against the Saints.

Against the Bears, the Eagles went into the game with just two active safeties on the roster in Marcus Epps and Wallace. But they did play nickel cornerback Avonte Maddox at free safety for 15 snaps.

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/eagles/eagles-injury-report-updates-jalen-hurts-reed-blankenship-and-more

Does anyone think Hurts will actually play this week?  Or is what Siri and Hurts himself are saying about having a "chance" to play just gamesmanship in an effort to make Dallas prepare for 2 QBs?  

For what it's worth, Eagles beat Bob Grotz of the Delco Times stated in an article that some people from within the Eagles organization say that Hurts is lobbying hard to play and that some folks think he will win that argument.  I can post a link to the article but it's a paywall article (I saw it because it gave me one free view, lol).

Of course, last year Hurts said he was 100% playing against the Jets only to be overruled and sat.  I suppose the big question is if Hurts can worsen his shoulder by playing...or if it's more along the line of delayed healing and pain tolerance.  If he can worsen it, then no way he plays.  If it's just pain tolerance mostly, there's a legit chance he plays.

Ultimately, though, the Eagles have erred on the side of caution for all injuries this year so far.  I'll be honest, there's a part of me that wants Hurts to play and to hopefully beat Dallas on Xmas Eve just to clinch the 1 seed.  Then he could have 4 weeks to fully rest and heal if need be.

1 hour ago, EaglesAddict said:

Does anyone think Hurts will actually play this week?  Or is what Siri and Hurts himself are saying about having a "chance" to play just gamesmanship in an effort to make Dallas prepare for 2 QBs?  

For what it's worth, Eagles beat Bob Grotz of the Delco Times stated in an article that some people from within the Eagles organization say that Hurts is lobbying hard to play and that some folks think he will win that argument.  I can post a link to the article but it's a paywall article (I saw it because it gave me one free view, lol).

Of course, last year Hurts said he was 100% playing against the Jets only to be overruled and sat.  I suppose the big question is if Hurts can worsen his shoulder by playing...or if it's more along the line of delayed healing and pain tolerance.  If he can worsen it, then no way he plays.  If it's just pain tolerance mostly, there's a legit chance he plays.

Ultimately, though, the Eagles have erred on the side of caution for all injuries this year so far.  I'll be honest, there's a part of me that wants Hurts to play and to hopefully beat Dallas on Xmas Eve just to clinch the 1 seed.  Then he could have 4 weeks to fully rest and heal if need be.

We only need 1 win to win division and clinch the division ... but I'm greedy, I absolutely want to beat Dallas (because, well, losing to Dallas always sucks!) and NO (to yield the best possible draft slot possible with their pick).  And then hopefully our backups go out and get a W against NY to close out the year such that we end the regular season 16-1.  

Hurts leading us to a W on Saturday would be awesome.  You know what would be even more awsome?  Minshew leading us to a W in Jerruh world!  That would be priceless! 

2 hours ago, time2rock said:

We only need 1 win to win division and clinch the division ... but I'm greedy, I absolutely want to beat Dallas (because, well, losing to Dallas always sucks!) and NO (to yield the best possible draft slot possible with their pick).  And then hopefully our backups go out and get a W against NY to close out the year such that we end the regular season 16-1.  

Hurts leading us to a W on Saturday would be awesome.  You know what would be even more awsome?  Minshew leading us to a W in Jerruh world!  That would be priceless! 

Minshew leading us to a W would def be priceless!  But I do think our chances are well diminished if Minshew plays. My only solace is that this will be a relatively stress-free game given that we don't need to win this week and that if Minshew plays, we'd be playing with house money.

Interesting that Wallace is now on the injury report. So Blankenship could be back but Wallace could be a doubt. One in one out in the safety room. 

14 hours ago, EaglesAddict said:

Does anyone think Hurts will actually play this week?  Or is what Siri and Hurts himself are saying about having a "chance" to play just gamesmanship in an effort to make Dallas prepare for 2 QBs?  

For what it's worth, Eagles beat Bob Grotz of the Delco Times stated in an article that some people from within the Eagles organization say that Hurts is lobbying hard to play and that some folks think he will win that argument.  I can post a link to the article but it's a paywall article (I saw it because it gave me one free view, lol).

Of course, last year Hurts said he was 100% playing against the Jets only to be overruled and sat.  I suppose the big question is if Hurts can worsen his shoulder by playing...or if it's more along the line of delayed healing and pain tolerance.  If he can worsen it, then no way he plays.  If it's just pain tolerance mostly, there's a legit chance he plays.

Ultimately, though, the Eagles have erred on the side of caution for all injuries this year so far.  I'll be honest, there's a part of me that wants Hurts to play and to hopefully beat Dallas on Xmas Eve just to clinch the 1 seed.  Then he could have 4 weeks to fully rest and heal if need be.