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The Philadelphia Eagles are already down their starting right guard. Now it looks as if they’ll be without their starting left tackle on Monday night (Sept. 27) against those hated Dallas Cowboys.
According to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, Jordan Mailata sprained his knee at practice and won’t be able to play this week. That means Andre Dillard would draw the start and be in charge of protecting Jalen Hurts’ blind side. Dillard, the third-year player out of Washington State, missed most of the preseason with a knee injury.
Dillard entered 2021 training camp in a battle with Mailata for the starting job, but lost it due to injury and inconsistent play. He was the 22nd overall pick of the 2019 NFL draft, a guy the franchise saw as the heir apparent to Jason Peters at the time. It just hasn’t worked out the way everyone had hoped.
“Andre had a great camp. Andre missed some time, and during that time the chemistry with the one offensive line was able to build,” head coach Nick Sirianni told reporters on Aug. 31. “It’s a good problem for us to have. We have two left tackles that can really play and can start in my opinion all across the NFL.”
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Brandon Brooks Set to Miss Eight Weeks
Sirianni had hinted at Brooks missing at least three weeks when the Eagles placed him on injured reserve earlier this week. Now it appears that timeline is a lot longer than first anticipated.
The three-time Pro Bowler will miss eight weeks as he recovers from a torn pectoral muscle. His offensive linemate, Lane Johnson, inadvertently spilled the beans on Brooks during his media availability on Thursday (Sept. 23).
“He’ll rehab and be ready to go here, whatever the timeline is, I guess eight weeks,” Johnson said.
Meanwhile, rookie Landon Dickerson will get the start in place of Brooks. There had been some talk of Nate Herbig taking over at right guard, but the coaching staff is putting its trust in the team’s second-round pick. Dickerson saw 33 offensive snaps in relief of Brooks in Week 2. Now he’ll be making his first NFL start under the bright lights on Monday Night Football (Sept. 27).
“I didn’t feel like my play was satisfactory,” Dickerson said of his play in Week 2. “My goal is to play to the standard that the coaching staff and everybody, my teammates, have set around here. That’s the ultimate goal, to play to that standard and at a high level.”
Update on Zach Ertz’s Status
Zach Ertz tested positive for COVID-19 on Sept. 20 and his status for Week 3 remains up in the air. Sirianni called him “questionable” earlier this week and told reporters that the team is “double-planning” for two different scenarios: one with Ertz, one without Ertz.
“You have to have double-plans out there. And so, without getting too much into that, it’s just everything has to be double-planned,” Sirianni said. “You have to back it up of what you want to have in. Do you want to be in 12-personnel, do you want to be in 11-personnel? And so you just have to back up everything.”
The 12 personnel refers to two tight end sets, something that has been a big part of the offense dating back to Doug Pederson. The Eagles inked veteran Richard Rodgers to the practice squad on Sept. 21. Rookie Jack Stoll is on the active roster behind starter Dallas Goedert.
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