As the Eagles held their first real practice in their short week before Sunday’s game in Washington, they were without several key starters.
Lane Johnson (ankle), Derek Barnett (ankle) and Nelson Agholor (knee) were all absent Thursday.
All three are in serious danger of missing the upcoming game.
Meanwhile, Jalen Mills (elbow) and Jordan Howard (shoulder) were back on the field after being listed as limited in Wednesday’s estimation. Howard still hasn’t been cleared for contact and can’t play until he is.
• Johnson suffered a high ankle sprain in the win over the Giants and is fully expected to miss this upcoming game. Fourth-year offensive tackle Halapoulivaati Vaitai took first-team reps at right tackle next to Brandon Brooks on Thursday. Despite an offer to move sides earlier in the season from Jason Peters, the Eagles are sticking with Big V at right tackle. This way, they don’t weaken two spots.
• Agholor revealed on Wednesday that he actually hurt his knee in Week 6 against Minnesota and what happened late in the fourth quarter against New England just aggravated the existing injury. He is in danger of missing his second straight game and his third in four weeks with a knee injury he hopes won’t eventually need surgery.
While the Eagles had six receivers at practice on Thursday, three of them were on the practice squad. Robert Davis was bumped up from the practice squad Thursday morning and will need to play on Sunday in Washington against his former team.
The Eagles went into last week’s game with just three active receivers and it was a disaster. Alshon Jeffery and JJ Arcega-Whiteside both got hurt and the Eagles finished the game with Greg Ward as their only healthy receiver, although Josh Perkins was able to take snaps there.
• Barnett injured his ankle in the Miami game and still somehow managed to finish the game and play 50 snaps. Think about that; he was able to finish a game with an injury that will probably force him out for at least two full games. That’s impressive.
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Without Barnett last week, Vinny Curry started and played well. Josh Sweat rotated in and also made some plays.