Eagles Have Interesting Roster Decisions to Make for Chicago

With the expected return of Dallas Goedert to the 53-man roster, the Eagles might have to choose between Anthony Harris and Christian Elliss on Sunday

PHILADELPHIA - The Eagles have an interesting decision to make when it comes to the game-day roster in Chicago on Sunday.

With heavy rain pelting South Philadelphia, the team practiced indoors Thursday with one open roster spot and two practice squad elevations at their disposal.

Star tight end Dallas Goedert was back in his familiar position of leading his position group through drills. If everything goes according to plan for the rest of the week, Goedert will be activated from injured reserve on Saturday and take up the Eagles' open roster spot.

One of the PS elevations had to go to new punter Brett Kern in the wake of Arryn Siposs’ ankle injury and the other would seemingly go to one of two players: recent special teams stalwart Christian Elliss or safety Anthony Harris, who returned to the organization this week when he was signed to the PS.

The Eagles, of course, are without starting safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who is on IR with a lacerated kidney and not eligible to return until at least Jan. 1 against his former team, the New Orleans Saints.

Dallas Goedert leads the tight end drills at Eagles practice on Dec. 15, 2022 :: Ed Kraca/SI Fan Nation Eagles Today

Undrafted rookie Reed Blankenship was filling in admirably for Gardner-Johnson but he went down with a knee injury in the win over the New York Giants last Sunday.

Philadelphia feared the injury was significant to Blankenship and dodged a bullet with the Middle Tennessee State product being diagnosed with a sprain that could cost him multiple weeks but was not serious enough to consider IR, a decision that puts players on the shelf for at least four games.

Blankenship missed practice Thursday although he was on the field helping during drills by throwing the football to the other safeties. He was also moving relatively well.

In the short term, Jonathan Gannon and the defense could simply go to K’Von Wallace, who replaced Blankenship against the Giants and performed admirably in a season-high 46 snaps, making five tackles. Or they could elevate Harris, a 2021 starter at the position who has a long history with Gannon dating back to their days together in Minnesota.

Remember, Chicago is No. 1 in the NFL in rushing offense because of the athletic ability of second-year quarterback Justin Fields but No. 32 in passing because the organization hasn’t put any significant weapons around its young QB.

Wallace’s strength as a player is run support while Harris is the better center fielder.

If you elevate Harris that means you can’t elevate Elliss, who has given the much-maligned special teams' coverage units a big lift against both Tennessee and the Giants with four tackles. Despite playing in only two games Elliss is only three tackles behind the team leaders on special teams: Kyron Johnson and Zech McPhearson, who each have seven.

The Eagles have only one PS elevation left to use on Elliss and will ultimately have to promote him onto the 53 for the upcoming playoff run if he continues to excel in the third phase. The same will hold true for Kern after the team uses up his three PS elevations.

GM Howie Roseman could play the juggling game this week and put off the decisions until later but will likely have to expose some of the typical inactives – think Ian Book, Trey Sermon, Janarius Robinson, and Tyree Jackson now that Goedert is back – to waivers to make room for Elliss and Kern on the active roster.

The team may also wait on Harris until the more explosive Dallas Cowboys are on the docket for Christmas Eve while hoping for the returns of both Gardner-Johnson and Blankenship shortly thereafter.

-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 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