Just How Healthy is the Eagles' Offensive Line?

The Thursday injury report had four players limited due to pre-existing injuries, and having all five starters play would help make it harder for Cowboys' pass rush to find mismatches

PHILADELPHIA – Your view of the Eagles' injury report on Thursday when it comes to the offensive line depends on whether or not you’re a glass-half-full type or a glass-half-empty sort.

Four of the five linemen were limited due to injury. The only one who wasn’t was right tackle Lane Johnson, who was designated as a resting player.

The other four were due to pre-existing injuries: Jordan Mailata (shoulder) and Landon Dickerson, Isaac Seumalo, and Jason Kelce, all three of whom are battling ankle injuries.

Perhaps the biggest concern of the three is Kelce.

The veteran center took to the practice field on Thursday showing no signs of a limp.

He went through some banding drills with the trainers and then ran some drills with offensive linemates. After several minutes of work, he turned and walked off the field accompanied by a trainer. The veteran center winced as he walked.

At that point, the open-to-watch portion of practice was over.

If you’re a glass-half-full person, Kelce will start on Sunday night when the Eagles host the Dallas Cowboys in order to grow his consecutive-starts-made streak to 128.

Glass-half empty person would wonder how long he will be able to play on a lower ankle sprain remains to be seen.

Kelce is as tough as they come, so playing 100% of the snaps is certainly doable.

Same with Dickerson and Seumalo, especially considering two things.

First, the Eagles have a bye coming out of the week and a chance to mend.

Second, this just isn’t the Eagles-Cowboys rivalry we’re talking about here, but a test of two good teams who could very well go down to the wire to determine who will win the NFC East, though the New York Giants look like they will have a say in that, too.

Yes, the NFC East is back – except for the Washington Commanders.

The Eagles don’t necessarily need a healthy offensive line, or one close to it, to be a factor in this thing. 

They have extraordinary depth that has been flexed the past two weeks, with Jack Driscoll covering at left tackle, Sua Opeta stepping in for a good percentage of snaps at both right and left guard, and Cam Jurgens spelling Kelce for three snaps against the Cardinals.

Opeta laughed before answering when asked on Thursday in the team’s locker room about the challenge of coming in cold when a starter gets hurt.

“It’s never easy,” he said, “but it’s the expectation.”

Sometimes you might catch Opeta doing a Sumo-style workout on the sideline as he stays loose by squatting low and dong trunk twisters.

“I try to move around as much as I can to stay warm,” he said. “This past game wasn’t bad because I went in early (when Dickerson went out) and was still warm.”

Dickerson was in and out against Arizona. That meant Opeta was, too.

The undrafted free agent from Weber State in 2019 has played in all five games this season. He has played 78 snaps (21%) after getting 163 last season, though Nate Herbig was here and he was ahead of Opeta on the depth chart.

Opeta has been needed quite this year and may have to be called on again against the Cowboys.

As for Mailata, if he can’t play or can’t play 100% of the snaps, Andre Dillard may be ready to return at left tackle. 

The 21-day practice window was open on the former first-round draft pick last week, so he would need to be activated from Injured Reserve and added to the 53-man roster if the Eagles want him to dress on Sunday night.

Mailata was wearing a black sleeve that covered his chest and shoulder. He said it would take some getting used to, but his range of motion still is not 100%.

Friday and Saturday will be big days for him to determine if he can play.

Certainly having all five starters in play against the Cowboys is paramount since they have they lead the league in sacks with 20 and have to of the best edge rushers working in tandem in the league with DeMarcus Lawrence and Micah Parsons that Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn likes to move around.

Parsons played against the Eagles only once last year and had a half-sack.

In 14 career games against the Eagles, Lawrence has just three but he is 9-5 versus them.

“They have good players,” said Johnson on Thursday. “Good linebackers, good pass rush, a complementary secondary, and the offense is doing good, too. They do a good job of moving guys around. They’ll move DeMarcus around, they’ll move Micah around and try to create mismatches to whoever.”

The key will be the Eagles having all five starters play so those mismatches aren’t as obvious.

That’s the glass-half-full view.

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.