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The Philadelphia Eagles are set to get a significant boost to their pass rush.
Jonathan Greenard appears ready to make his Eagles debut on Monday night against the Bears, even though the offseason acquisition is listed as questionable. Why is there optimism Greenard will play on Monday?
The Eagles listed Greenard as a full participant in practice, the first time Greenard has been a full participant since he injured his pectoral prior to training camp over two months ago. This is a positive sign Greenard will make his debut Monday, even in limited snaps.
How will Eagles use Greenard?
The pass rush will be strengthened by Greenard's presence, even though Greenard isn't expected to play the full contingent of snaps. The Eagles will rotate Greenard into the lineup with Nolan Smith and Jalyx Hunt. Even if Greenard starts, how many snaps he plays is unknown.
"He's definitely not ready for a full workload," Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said earlier this week. "He's not only coming off inactivity, he's coming off an injury. His injury for a good bit -- the first, I don't know, four to six, seven weeks -- he really couldn't do a whole lot conditioning wise either.
"So yeah, he's nowhere near ready for a full load."
The depth of the pass rush is strengthened too with the Greenard, Smith, and Hunt rotation. Who the fourth edge rusher is will be determined by the amount of snaps played, but Arnold Ebiketie has played 35% of the snaps and A.J. Epenesa is at 16.3%. Ebiketie may get the nod as the No. 4 edge rusher.
Eagles won't have Hollywood Brown this week
Brown missed the past two practices with an ankle injury and was ruled out for Monday. He's played just 17 snaps this season, which all came in Week 2, and doesn't have a catch in two games.
With Brown out, the Eagles will be down to four wide receivers on Monday. Darius Cooper is already in line for more snaps and Makai Lemon is still expected to be the WR3 based on Sean Mannion's comments from earlier in the week.
Elijah Moore has been inactive for the first two games, but with Brown out he may take over his snaps in the rotation. Brown has not played a special teams snap this season, so it's fair to wonder if Moore will be on special teams if he's not on the inactive list.
Zack Ertz set for Eagles return
Dallas Goedert (knee) will be out on Monday and is expected to miss several weeks. The good news regarding Goedert is the Eagles didn't put him on injured reserve, so he's only expected to miss a few more games (injured reserve stint is a minimum of four games).
With Goedert ruled out, Ertz is expected to be a practice squad elevation for this week and expected to be the TE1 on Monday night. Ertz said there will be obstacles in his return, but is ready to go.
Markel Bell is the No. 3 tackle
Fred Johnson is out with a knee injury, so Bell will play if Lane Johnson or Jordan Mailata have to miss a play. Bell was assumed to be the No. 3 tackle, but tthat was unknown unless he or Johnson had to enter the game.
The starters on the offensive line played every offensive snap in the first two weeks, meaning the starting offensive line combination for the week. Bell has played eight snaps in his brief NFL career, all on special teams.
The full injury report
OUT – WR Marquise Brown (ankle), TE Dallas Goedert (knee), T Fred Johnson (knee)
QUESTIONABLE – OLB Jonathan Greenard (pectoral)
The full practice report
DNP – WR Marquise Brown (ankle), TE Dallas Goedert (knee), T Fred Johnson (knee)
LIMITED – RB Will Shipley (foot)
FULL – RB Saquon Barkley (stinger), RB Tank Bigsby (abdomen), DT Jalen Carter (wrist), OLB Jonathan Greenard (pectoral), S Andrew Mukuba (knee), WR DeVonta Smith (hamstring), G Tyler Steen (shoulder)
*Greenard is the only full or limited participant in Saturday's practice listed with an injury designation.
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