Staying Healthy at the Top of Eagles' Preseason Wish List

PHILADELPHIA – It should be made clear at the top that the decision on who to play or not play in the preseason, and for how long they play, isn’t just up to Eagles coach Nick Sirianni.

General manager Howie Roseman has a voice in that, too.

“Everything is a group effort,” said Sirianni on Sunday night. “…we talk through everything together. What we want to see, who we want to see play because we all have to help make that decision.”

So, keep that in mind when Jalen Hurts is parked on the sideline Friday night against the New York Jets in the preseason finale. Or the entire starting offensive line is wearing baseball hats.

Now, that may nor may not happen.

The group decided on Monday to release four players: WRs Hakeem Butler and Jhamon Ausbon, C Harry Crider, and CB Lavert Hill. One more player has to go prior to Tuesday at 4 p.m.s

As far as what the lineup will look like on Friday night, Sirianni isn’t showing his hand.

He will wait until he sees how the next two days go when the Eagles and Jets practice against each other on Tuesday and Wednesday leading up to their Friday game (7:30 p.m.) at MetLife Stadium.

“I actually felt really good about the schedule and the organization of joint practices (against the New England Patriots last week), Sirianni said. “So much so, that we're using a very similar format against the Jets this week.”

There are 16 days between Friday and the start of the regular season on Sept. 12 in Atlanta.

That’s a long stretch for most of the Eagles veterans, and Hurts, between snaps, especially if they take a seat on Friday night.

Defensive end Brandon Graham pretty much confirmed what everyone ha suspected since training camp began for the Eagles, with their shortened practices and sparse appearances from the starters.

“He’s just trying to make sure we get to Week 1,” said Graham. “In the past, injuries have happened for this team. So, you gotta take a new approach. He’s a new coach, and he’s trying to make sure we’re the healthiest and fastest that we can be for Week 1.

“So, how we practice and how we do things behind closed doors, like the extra conditioning and all that other little stuff, he’s happy with. We’re going to make sure we keep going so we can get to Week 1.”

Yes, good work can be had in practices against other teams.

Graham said that, against the Patriots, there were more reps in two days than they had seen in training camp.

“I ain’t gonna lie, after the day was over, I was getting ready to go to sleep because we were that worn out,” said Graham. “That’s how it was. The intensity was high. So, I think they’re very valuable.”

Can they duplicate actual game reps when everything is live?

It depends.

No teams are scheming against each other.

But there isn’t any live action involving quarterbacks and Hurts obviously possesses a skill set that is difficult to know when to blow the whistle since he can make plays with his legs and take off running when a play breaks down.

And without any tackling to the ground, though sometimes that happens, evaluations can be difficult for running backs, like Miles Sanders.

“I love the way joint practices are going,” said Sanders. “I think they’re very important as far from a team aspect, starters, we’re all getting a lot of reps in these joint practices. I know you may not see all of us playing in a preseason game, but we’re definitely getting a lot of work in the joint practices, which is mostly the starter that’s practicing, and that’s just as much work as playing in a game.”

Sanders believes preseason games are more for others than starters.

“The preseason games are also for opportunity for the younger guys and the guys that’s been drafted later and guys that have gone from team to team trying to make a team, it’s giving them more reps to put out there and hopefully keep their journey going and their career going,” he said. “As far as the joint practices, I think we’re getting a lot of good work in out there.”

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.

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