TAMPA — The Eagles will be without starting safety Reed Blankenship when they face the Buccaneers in the wild-card round on Monday night at Raymond James Stadium.
Blankenship, 24, is officially inactive.
Blankenship suffered a groin injury in Week 18 against the Giants and came into the weekend listed as questionable. He was unable to practice all week. Blankenship did test out that injured groin on the field in front of trainers well before inactives were announced.
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In addition to being without Blankenship, the Eagles are also without rookie safety Sydney Brown, who suffered an ACL injury in the regular season finale and is out for the season.
During the week of practice, nickel cornerback Avonte Maddox was playing safety next to veteran Kevin Byard, who is the only healthy safety on the 53-man roster. Maddox has played safety before and said it wasn’t a huge adjustment. Expect to see Maddox back there tonight because the Eagles have Bradley Roby and Eli Ricks available to play nickel cornerback.
Here’s the complete list of Eagles’ inactives:
WR A.J. Brown (knee)
S Sydney Brown (knee)
S Reed Blankenship (groin)
QB Tanner McKee
OL Tyler Steen
DT Moro Ojomo
RB Rashaad Penny
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Meanwhile, Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield (ribs, ankle) is active for this game. He came into the weekend listed as questionable and had trouble getting through the Bucs’ 9-0 win over the Panthers last week. The extra day likely helped Mayfield this week.
The Eagles elevated practice squad defensive backs Tristin McCollum and Mekhi Garner for this game. The Eagles did not put Sydney Brown on IR, so neither of these players was signed to the active roster. But practice squad elevations reset in the playoffs. And with the injuries to a couple safeties, the Eagles needed more depth.
If the No. 5-seeded Eagles are able to pull out a win against the No. 4-seeded Buccaneers, they would travel to face the Lions next Sunday for a 3 p.m. game. The Lions took down the Rams on Sunday, winning their first playoff game since the 1991 season.
While the Bucs (9-8) have won five of their last six entering the playoffs, the Eagles (11-6) have lost five of their last six.
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