The Eagles have been healthy for most of the 2022 season, but the injuries are starting to pile up.
Add two more to the roster for Saturday’s game in Dallas. Right tackle Lane Johnson and nickel cornerback Avonte Maddox will miss time, head coach Nick Sirianni confirmed Monday afternoon.
Johnson has reportedly torn a tendon in his abdomen and Maddox is out indefinitely with a toe injury.
With two games left in the regular season, the Eagles are preparing for the playoffs, but they have yet to win this number. 1 seed in the NFC. A win over their last two games will be enough.
Here is an overview of their options to replace these two important players:
Replace Lane Johnson
1. Starting Jack Driscoll at right tackle
When Johnson had to leave the Cowboys game in the second half, the Eagles played Driscoll in his place. Driscoll played the last 11 snaps against the Cowboys and according to ProFootball Focus, he gave up a rush.
Driscoll, 25, is in his third season in the NFL and was once a worthy fourth-round pick the Eagles used to draft him in 2020 from Auburn.
During his NFL career, Driscoll played guard and tackle and appeared in 35 games with 14 starts. Here is how these 14 departures are distributed: 8 to RG, 5 to RT, 1 to LT. Driscoll has only started one game this season and that’s a left tackle against the Cardinals. Of his five career starts at right tackle, one came last season and four came as a rookie in 2020.
Driscoll’s only start at right tackle last year came against the Chiefs. It was the first game Johnson missed to deal with his sanity and Driscoll found out just before the game he was starting. In that game, he gave up five pressures on 61 pass blocks.
The following week, Jordan Mailata returned from injury and the Eagles kicked Driscoll inside right guard, where he started the next eight games before suffering an injury of his own. Driscoll is solid.
If Driscoll were to start in Johnson’s place, here’s the line the Eagles would use:
LT: Jordan Mailata
LG: Landon Dickerson
C: Jason Kelsey
RG: Isaac Seumalo
RT: Jack Driscoll
2. Move Mailata to right tackle, Andre Dillard to left tackle
After that first game without Johnson last season, the Eagles turned things around for the next two games without him. They plugged in Mailata at right tackle and replaced him at left tackle with Dillard. Mailata and Dillard are both better on the left side but Mailata is a better option on the right.
The problem with this option: While it may give the Eagles their best five-lineman combination, it theoretically weakens the line in two different places. It’s something OL coach Jeff Stoutland has traditionally tried to avoid.
Mailata was good at right tackle last year but gave up a sack to Haason Reddick when they faced the Panthers. You may remember when Reddick signed in Philadelphia as a free agent, Mailata made sure to tell him he was on the right side when the two were facing each other and he was more on the outside. comfortable on the left.
If the Eagles think there’s a chance Johnson will miss some of the playoffs — they’re hoping he’ll be back — that option might be more appealing. They might get extended workout reps in this setup, which might be better in the long run.
If so, this is what it would look like:
LT: Andre Dillard
LG: Landon Dickerson
C: Jason Kelsey
RG: Isaac Seumalo
RT: Jordan Mailata
3. Play Dillard at right tackle
The last option does not seem extremely likely. It was 2019 when the Eagles tried to play Dillard at right tackle and it was a disaster. He only lasted one half against the Seahawks on that attempt before being called off. Since then, Dillard has played exclusively on the left side and has been the Eagles’ left tackle and left guard this season.
Most teams have a backup tackle that can play either side, but the Eagles have a unique setup. Dillard has been their LT/LG replacement, while Driscoll has been their RT/RG replacement this year.
In an ideal world, Dillard would have the versatility to plug in and play the right tackle, but that doesn’t seem like a real option:
LT: Jordan Mailata
LG: Landon Dickerson
C: Jason Kelsey
RG: Isaac Seumalo
RT: André Dillard
“Obviously everything will be on the table, whatever we think is best for us,” Sirianni said Monday. “I like that Jordan has some versatility. I like that Andre and Jack are very good substitutes. We have a lot of faith in them to go out there and be able to do their job.”
Avonte Maddox Replacement
1. Play Josiah Scott nickel
After Maddox suffered a toe injury against the Cowboys, backup nickel cornerback Josiah Scott played the rest of the game in his place and struggled. Scott was harassed a bit by the Cowboys and CeeDee Lamb. ProFootball Focus charged Scott with 3 catches for 76 yards.
This is Maddox’s third major injury this season and in each of the previous two instances the Eagles have simply put Scott on the roster. In the six games Maddox has missed this year, Scott is averaging 47.8 snaps per game.
While that’s admittedly a flawed way to judge a player, Scott ranks 107th among PFF cornerbacks in the NFL out of 121. Maddox is ranked 24th. That’s a huge drop with the playoffs looming.
2. Play CJGJ to the nickel, Reed Blankenship to safety
Eagles safety CJ Gardner-Johnson has now missed four games with a lacerated kidney he suffered in the first half against the Packers, but is eligible to return off IR this week. Of course, there is no guarantee that this will happen.
“It’s always going to be about where he is, because that’s something you don’t mess with,” Sirianni said. So when he’s healthy, he’ll go. We’ll know more as he performs some of these tests.
“Just because he’s eligible to come back doesn’t mean he will, although I know he will. Again, all the guys will, so we’ll see. It’s going to be something we look forward to. just results when he passes these tests.
But if Gardner-Johnson is able to return this week or soon, the Eagles will have the opportunity to play him safe in the lows and move him to the nickel in subsets. Then Blankenship would be on the field as a safety. Remember, in his first three years in the NFL, Gardner-Johnson was one of the best nickel corners in the NFL. This season, he’s had six interceptions while learning to play volley safety.
“Obviously he has a lot of versatility,” Sirianni said. “I think the same thing, you kind of asked when he got here, it was like fine, he didn’t play it safe. Well, he showed he could play it safe. Well, he hasn’t played nickel in over a year. Well, he can do that too.
We’ll take it one day at a time as well and cross that bridge when we get there when we know it’s healthy and ready to go. Chauncey is very versatile and can do a lot of different things, and that’s obviously a very good thing for us.
Why would the Eagles be willing to move multiple plays this time around? Well, they may feel more comfortable playing Blankenship for safety than playing Scott for corner nickel. Blankenship has played very well for an undrafted rookie this season and if CJGJ is going to slip to play nickel, the Eagles will need a safety they trust to replace him.
3. Other Options
Those listed above are most likely to replace Maddox but there are others. If the Eagles would rather trust a veteran safety than Blankenship, they have Anthony Harris on their practice squad. He was a full-time starter for the Eagles in 2021 and while his game hasn’t been spectacular, he’s at least a veteran who knows the scheme inside out.
They might even sign someone on the street. Old friend Cre’Von LeBlanc recently tweeted that he was healthy and ready for his next opportunity. He’s been a solid nickel corner during his career.
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