Andre Dillard put on IR, Now Who Backs up Jordan Mailata?

PHILADELPHIA – Sometimes the best-laid plans get flushed down the toilet anyway.

The Eagles didn’t trade backup LT Andre Dillard this summer because he provided a top-shelf insurance policy in case of injury to starting LT Jordan Mailata, kind of like the last season's knee sprain that forced him out of a pair of games.

Dillard, though, suffered a non-displaced forearm fracture in practice last week, had surgery, and on Tuesday, was placed on Injured Reserve. He must miss at least four games, but the timetable with his injury is four to six weeks.

Now what?

Offensive coordinator Shane Steichen wasn’t shedding any light on matters.

“I think we have a plan for that,” said Steichen on Tuesday. “I'd rather keep that in-house, to be honest, going forward. For competitive advantage reasons we want to keep that in-house, but we feel good with the group we have backing up.”

The Eagles have yet to make a corresponding move to replace Dillard on the roster.

The best option is probably Le’Raven Clark, who is on the practice squad after spending the past two summers with the Eagles.

Clark, 29, wasn’t consistent during camp and then missed four practices with a hamstring injury. He has the experience of 16 starts during his five seasons in the league and has played in 51 games.

For a made-to-win roster, that sort of experience might be something the Eagles choose to lean on should something dire happen to Mailata.

Josh Sills, 24, is already on the roster. The Eagles kept him over Jack Anderson when whittling the roster to 53. Anderson was claimed quickly by the New York Giants.

So, the possibility of Sills cannot be discounted.

“When you talk about Sills, he's 6-5, he's 330 pounds, he has long arms,” said GM Howie Roseman. “He's powerful, he's versatile. He can play inside or outside. I'm not putting him in Canton - I'm starting to listen to my own description, and it sounds unbelievable. But the guy has talent in his body.”

Sills played tackle during the preseason, though he was primarily a guard at West Virginia for four years before transferring to Oklahoma State for two seasons.

Jack Driscoll probably isn’t an option because he seems locked in as Lane Johnson’s backup at right tackle and spent the summer taking reps there.

Moving Johnson to left tackle probably isn’t prudent, either, since Johnson hasn’t played there during his nine seasons in the league. The Eagles don’t like moving multiple players to cover for one injury when it comes to the O-line.

They did it last year, however, when Johnson missed time to get a handle on his anxiety and depression, with Jordan Mailata moving to RT and Dillard stepping in on the left side.

Of course, the best option of all is for Mailata to stay healthy until Dillard can return.

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.