Eagles Inactives List Vs. Bills Includes A Surprise

Josh Uche is inactive. For the fifth straight time.

A.J. Dillon is inactive. For the eighth straight game.

That probably doesn’t qualify as big news, given how the Eagles have been phasing out the outside linebacker and running back for the past month or more.

This is the news coming out of the Eagles’ release of their inactive list for Sunday afternoon’s game against the Buffalo Bills: Michael Carter is inactive. The Eagles are citing personal reasons, and that is has nothing to do with an injury.

There are three trickle downs from Carter’s absence.

First, it is the first time the Eagles have made their veteran DB inactive since acquiring him from the New York Jets at the trade deadline in early November.

Second, Carter has experience playing against the Bills and quarterback Josh Allen. In fact, Carter has beaten Allen twice in his career, both times at New York’s stadium in North Jersey.

Rookie Gets An Opportunity

Third, sitting Carter means an opportunity for rookie Mac McWilliams. The cornerback, picked in the fifth round last spring, had been inactive for the previous seven games and in 10 of the last 11. He’s played just 15 defensive snaps all season.

There’s no guarantee he will play many defensive snaps against the Bills, because Carter wasn’t playing many of those, either, when he was active. There could be a special teams role for McWilliams, however.

On Saturday, the Eagles elevated cornerback Brandon Johnson from the practice squad. It is the undrafted rookie free agent’s second straight elevation from the practice squad. Just 22, he spent his first college season at Oregon, then his last three years at Duke, which, ironically, is where Carter went to college.

“I think he’s got all the tools, quickness, and ability to cover,” said Carter. “And then, the guys our size, being willing tacklers and everything like that. (He’s) not afraid of contact so I feel like he’s just putting it together and doing that at the right time.”

In addition to Uche, Dillon, and Carter, the Eagles’ other inactives are quarterback Sam Howell, who will serve as the emergency quarterback behind Jalen Hurts and Tanner McKee, linebacker Nakobe Dean, who is battling a hamstring injury, and right tackle Lane Johnson, who will miss his sixth straight game with an ankle injury.

Inactives for the Bills include receiver Keon Coleman, kicker Matt Prater, safety Jordan Poyer, who was a seventh-round pick of the Eagles all the way back in 2013, defensive tackle Jordan Phillips, offensive tackle Tylan Grable, tight end Dalton Kincaid, and defensive tackle DaQuan Jones.

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