Rodney McLeod Ruled Out vs. Falcons
PHILADELPHIA - The Eagles ruled out two players in advance of their Week 1 game against the Atlanta Falcons.
Veteran safety Rodney McLeod and rookie offensive lineman Landon Dickerson, who are both rehabbing from December ACL tears, will not play against the Falcons on Sunday.
McLeod has been practicing in a limited fashion with a bulky brace on his left knee since being activated off the PUP list.
The fact that McLeod was taken off PUP and put on the 53-man roster seems to indicate that the Eagles' medical believes he will be available either next week for the home opener against San Francisco or in Week 3 at Dallas.
Had the Eagles kept McLeod on PUP he would have been forced to miss at least the first six games and had he been moved to injured reserve once the initial 53 was set McLeod would have been eliminated for the first three games.
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Either second-year player K’Von Wallace or Marcus Epps is expected to start at safety opposite Anthony Harris against the Falcons.
Dickerson has also been limited in practice since coming off the NFI list from his torn ACL at Alabama. The same time frames described for McLeod are in play for Dickerson as well and until the second-round pick is ready, Nate Herbig will be penciled in as the interior game-day backup behind LG Isaac Seumalo, C Jason Kelce, and RG Brandon Brooks.
Brooks was limited in practice for much of the week due to a knee issue but the Eagles were just attempting to manage the veteran in order to get him to the game.
One player - second-year LB Davion Taylor, who missed a lot of training camp time with a calf injury - was listed as questionable but was a full-go for a scaled-back practice Friday after being limited earlier in the week.
-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on both PhillyVoice.com and YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
