The Eagles still have a week and a half before their divisional round game but Nick Sirianni has the team practicing on Thursday and Friday anyway.
And there was a bit of good news today: Josh Sweat returned.
Sweat, 25, hadn’t practiced since leaving the Saints game in the first half with a neck injury amid a scary scene. Sweat was stabilized, carted off the field and then taken to the hospital for precautionary reasons.
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But Sweat tweeted that he would return this season and it appears he was right. He missed practice all last week and didn’t play in the Week 18 regular season finale but appears to be on track to play next weekend when the No. 1-seeded Eagles host either the Buccaneers, Cowboys, Giants or Seahawks.
“Are we hopeful that [Sweat will] play in two weeks? Yeah,” head coach Nick Sirianni said on Tuesday. “Again, just like you said, I don't want to say yes, he's going to play. We're really hopeful and feel good that he will.
“Anything can happen, but we know he's trending in the right direction of getting healthy. That's a good thing because he brings so much to this defense. We feel his presence every time that he's out on that field. I know that the offense that's playing against him has to account for him on every play. We're hopeful. He's definitely doing better. Thank God that he is. We'll take it one day at a time.”
Several other notes from the open portion of Thursday’s practice:
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• Jalen Hurts (right shoulder) was at practice but was clearly limited. The Eagles didn’t have him throwing much during the portion of practice open to reporters, while the other quarterback were. The Eagles won’t play again until Jan. 21 or 22 so it appears that they’re trying their best to manage Hurts’ injury coming off the Giants game.
Hurts was sore coming out of that one and has been dealing with this shoulder injury since the Bears game on Dec. 18. The Eagles earned this bye week and it makes sense to take things easy with their MVP-candidate quarterback. But Hurts’ health remains the biggest concern heading into the playoffs.
• Lane Johnson (groin) was not practicing but was working on a side field with a trainer. Johnson hasn’t played since tearing his adductor against the Cowboys on Christmas Eve. Johnson is going to attempt to play through the pain in the playoffs but it’s unclear how well he’ll be able to play with the injury to his core. In the two games since the injury, Jack Driscoll has filled in at right tackle.
• No practice for Avonte Maddox (toe), Robert Quinn or A.J. Brown, who had a compression sleeve on his leg. It seems likely the Eagles held Brown out for precautionary reasons with a week and a half before the next game. Maddox’s toe injury is more serious. He was seen on Sunday still in a walking boot. Quinn returned from a knee injury in Week 18 and played well.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Brown said after practice.
• Running back Miles Sanders (knee) was practicing. That’s a good sign because Sanders has been dealing with that injury for a couple weeks. He has registered season low totals in snaps and snap percentages the last two weeks. Having a healthy Sanders in the playoffs would really help.
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