Thursday WFT - Eagles Injury Report + More
Injuries are the No. 1 X-factor in determining how a team will be able to function every Sunday.
Next man up, many will cry! That's a great mentality to have but the truth is that for every team, in a few different positions, there's a huge disparity between starter and whatever's next.
Some teams in certain position groups can absorb a blow. Some can't.
The Washington Football Team could absorb a significant loss on their defensive line because they have so much talent and depth.
They could not handle a significant loss on their offensive line. That unit is taking on water even now, while relatively healthy.
The Eagles have been able to put duct tape on their offensive line with Jason Peters sliding back to left tackle after signing back as a right guard. The reason why they should be OK is because of studs like Lane Johnson and Jason Kelce. They can absorb a season ending injury to Brandon Brooks or Andre Dillard because it was one of the strengths of their team.
If Philadelphia were to lose Darius Slay - they'd be up a creek,
You get the overall point. Injuries are one thing. Injuries in certain areas are back breakers.
Now let's look at the Thursday injury report for both teams as we draw closer to game time.
Philadelphia: Alshon Jeffrey and Javon Hargrave both did not practice for the Eagles.
Doug Pederson's guys have several premium players that are limping into the season.
They've also lost several key players to injured reserve already.
Washington: Thomas Davis was the only player to not practice for Washington.
The entire injury report is included above. If you missed Wednesday's report, we have you covered here.
From earlier in the week, every team had to submit their protected list of players that could not be stolen by anyone else under the new rules.
As Albert Breer tweeted and the league's official personnel tracker report shows -- Josh Garnett, Cam Sims and Jeremy Reaves were three of the four players protected.
The list either cuts off because of spacing or somehow the WFT only protected three players but that's all we can see.
The way I read the Garnett protections is because we're not sure about the viability of Wes Schweitzer and Wes Martin.
Schweitzer missed a good deal of training camp and Martin seemed to be in the chateau bow-wow.
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Chris Russell is the Publisher of this site, a part of SI.com. He can be heard on 106.7 The FAN in the Washington D.C. area and world-wide on Radio.com. Chris also hosts the "Locked on Washington Football Team" Podcast and can be read via subscription to Warpath Magazine. You can e-mail Chris at russellmania09@Gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @Russellmania621