Tyree Jackson Out 8-to-10 Weeks with Back Fracture

PHILADELPHIA - Tyree Jackson used every bit of his 6-foot-7 frame to leap in the air to make a brilliant catch in the end zone during Tuesday's practice against the New England Patriots before landing hard on his back on the end line, knocking the wind out of the quarterback-turned tight end.

After a few minutes, the big man was able to get up under his own power and head to the sideline with the belief that the cost for trying to make the spectacular play was being ruled out of bounds.

Turns out that it's much more than than that for Jackson, who suffered a fractured bone in his back.

The good news is that it's a non-surgical injury, according to a league source, and the Eagles expect an 8-to-10 week rehab period for one of the stars of summer.

Jackson was a quarterback at the University of Buffalo, who has made the transition to tight end after signing a deal with the Eagles and he's shown amazing potential at the position with a high ceiling as a player.

“I just love football and I felt like that was where my opportunity to get back into the NFL and to have an opportunity to play football would be that,” Jackson said earlier in camp when talking about his transition. “That’s all it really took was to know that, so that’s why I made the switch. I always kind of had that in the back of my head as something I could basically do based off my size.”

Already deep at tight end with Dallas Goedert, Zach Ertz, and Richard Rodgers at the position, the Eagles were facing a tough decision on Jackson when it came to the cutdown to the final 53.

The organization could risk losing a promising developmental prospect by exposing him to waivers or keep him on the back end of the roster in sort of a redshirt season.

The silver lining to the injury could be stashing Jackson on injured reserve and re-starting the developmental process next spring. The downside to that is Jackson would not be able to practice all season after the 10-week rehab period ended.

To be eligible for short-term IR, Jackson has to first make the 53-man roster before being shifted to injured reserve.

“He’s come a long way,” Goedert said when discussing Jackson. “Even from OTAs to now, he’s improved tremendously. He’s been impressive blocking and his routes have been good. He’s a huge target. He’s got long arms and he’s had great hands all camp.

“That transition is tough going from quarterback to tight end. There’s a lot to learn but it seems like he’s learning it very fast and he’s doing a great job.”

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.