Cornerback Sidney Jones has spent a long time recovering from the torn Achilles tendon he suffered in March and the time has come for the Eagles second-round pick to show how that process has gone.
Jones will be practicing with the Eagles this week for the first time since he was drafted and defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz provided a mixed bag of an answer when asked what he expects to see from Jones. Schwartz said that he thinks Jones has kept up on everything the team’s been doing and has a good handle on it, but that there’s a lot of catching up to do after so much time off the field.
“I think we’ll see pretty quickly that he has a good grasp of what he’s expected to do and that’s really working on his rehab and keeping his ears open and his eyes open has been his No. 1 job description over these last six months, I don’t even know how long it’s been,” Schwartz said in comments distributed by the team. “I’ve been really proud of what he’s done there. I would be very surprised if he can’t go in and execute what we’re asking him to do. It’s just going to be physical. I mean, there’s certainly a lot of rust that goes into -- all due respect to our trainers, they are not a challenge to cover, and he’s only been working with those guys. So we’ve got to take each step along the way. It’s almost like the first week of OTAs for him. It’s not even really a first week of training camp. It’s more like first week of OTAs for him. So technique-wise, conditioning-wise, all those things are going to come into it. And he’s got a little bit of time. He’s been up to every challenge we’ve given him so far, so we look forward to seeing him on the field.”
Jones is able to practice for three weeks before the Eagles will have to make a choice about putting him on the active roster. That decision may be impacted by other roster needs, be they injuries in the secondary or elsewhere, but Jones will get a jump on preparing for 2018 if nothing else.
