Injuries Hit the Eagles Secondary; Will Parks Out Multiple Weeks
PHILADELPHIA - The injuries keep piling up for the Eagles with two members of the secondary being added to the M*A*S*H report before the team practiced on Wednesday.
Starting outside cornerback Avonte Maddox, who has been lining up with the first-team opposite Darius Slay, is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury. It's a much murkier outlook for versatile safety Will Parks, who will miss some time in the regular season.
With the official part of training camp over, reporters are nor permitted to watch team drills but it's likely that either Sidney Jones or Rasul Douglas will work with the starters while Maddox is absent.
With 11 days until the opener against the Washington Football Team, the day-to-day designation is a positive one for Maddox being able to go on Sept. 13.
The same is not the case with Parks, who is expected to miss multiple weeks with a hamstring injury, according to a source.
NFL Media is reporting that Parks' injury could be a four-to six-week thing, putting injured reserve in play for the Philadelphia native who is expected to be a key player in Jim Schwartz's big-nickel packages.
Parks was also penciled in as the top backup behind starting safeties Rodney McLeod and Jalen Mills, a role that will likely shift to fourth-round rookie K'Von Wallace in the short term. He's also been the personal protector for punter Cameron Johnston with McLeod likely the fill-in there.
The final new injury on Wednesday was defensive tackle Hassan Ridgeway (lower body), who was listed as day-to-day.
Quarterback Carson Wentz missed a third straight practice with what is believed to be a slight hamstring tweak.
Defensive tackle Javon Hargrave (strained pec) was out doing some conditioning work while running back Miles Sanders (lower body), wide receivers Jalen Reagor (shoulder) and Quez Watkins (upper body) were on the field but not participating.
Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz admitted it's been an "imperfect storm" for Hargrave, the team's prized free-agent acquisition in the offseason, who missed all of training camp.
"If we would have had a complete off-season and he would have missed the time in camp, you'd feel real good about just plugging him in," said Schwartz prior to Wednesday's practice. "But you combine no off-season, new to the scheme, new to the team... I mean, he was introducing himself to the locker room in the beginning of training camp.
"... When he's healthy, he'll be up to speed pretty quickly. I'm excited about him. I think he's going to be a great addition to us. He's a great complement for the other guys we have."
Those not seen on the field were defensive ends Derek Barnett (ankle), Vinny Curry (lower body), and Genard Avery (knee).
Barnett seemed to be ramping up during Saturday's indoor practice where he was participating in individual drills but has since slowed down again. Watkins, meanwhile, was also back Tuesday after missing a little time and has scaled back again.
John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Monday and Friday on SIRIUSXM’s Tony Bruno Show with Harry Mayes, and every Tuesday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SBNation Radio. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
Get the latest Eagles news by joining the community. Click "Follow" at the top right of EagleMaven page. Mobile users click the notification bell. And please follow @kracze on Twitter.
