Eagles are 'Hopeful' Josh Sweat Will Be Back for Playoffs

The star edge rusher suffered a scary neck injury on Jan. 1 and missed the regular-season finale vs. the Giants

Nick Sirianni is optimistic that the Eagles will get back edge rusher Josh Sweat for the divisional round of the playoffs.

Sweat was carted off the field and briefly hospitalized after suffering a scary neck injury less than six minutes into the game against the New Orleans Saints on Jan. 1. He then missed the regular-season finale win over the New York Giants that clinched the NFC East and the No. 1 seed in the conference for Philadelphia.

Sweat tweeted after the injury that he expected to be back sometime this season and the Eagles, although they will likely be favorites against whomever they play on the weekend of Jan. 21-22, like all teams at this stage need to win to move on.

“I know he is feeling better and that’s obviously a long way from when we all had to watch him have to be carted off,” Sirianni said on Tuesday. “I know he’s feeling better. He made a push to play last week, we felt like it wasn’t in his best interest to play last week.

“... Are we hopeful he’ll play in two weeks? Yeah. I don’t want to say, ‘Yes, he’s going to play,’ but we’re really hopeful and we really feel good that he will.”

Sweat had a career year with a personal high of 11 sacks and was graded out as the No. 7 edge rusher in the NFL by Pro Football Focus.

With Sweat unable to go against the Giants, veteran Brandon Graham played a season-high 44 snaps, and fellow old head Robert Quinn, returning from arthroscopic knee surgery, played in 18 snaps. 

Hybrid SAM/Edge Patrick Johnson also chipped in with 14 snaps. The three combined for just two assisted tackles by Graham and a QB hit from Patrick Johnson.

Sweat's production opposite Haason Reddick when it comes to a pass rush that produced a franchise record 70 sacks should not be underestimated.

"Anything can happen, but we know he’s trending in the right direction of getting healthy, and that’s a good thing because he brings so much to this defense,” Sirianni said. “We feel his presence every time he’s out on that field, and I know that the offense that’s playing against them has to account for him on every play.

"So we’re hopeful. He’s definitely doing better. Thank God that he is, and we’ll take it one day at a time, but we are hopeful.”

-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Football 24/7 and a daily contributor to ESPN South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen