PHILADELPHIA – Buried in the context of the Philadelphia Eagles‘ final injury report before Monday night’s Super Bowl LVII rematch against the Kansas City Chiefs was some good news involving star tight end Dallas Goedert.
As expected Goedert was ruled out of the game after fracturing his right forearm against the Dallas Cowboys on Nov. 5 but the Eagles’ ensuing bye week enabled the organization to roll the dice in the hopes that Goedert might be ready for the rematch against the Cowboys in North Texas set for Dec. 10.
“There is a reason he’s not an IR yet,” head coach Nick Sirianni said before practice on Saturday when asked about the TE1, who has been on the field watching his teammates this week.
Sirianni is overly cautious when it comes to injuries to his players and always avoids any kind of timetable but it’s clear the organization’s chief medical officer, Dr. Arsh Dhanota believes Goedert has an excellent chance to return at the front of projected time spans offered by those outside the NovaCare Complex.
“We have high hopes that Dallas is going to be back,” the coach said. “Again, I don’t know when. I think that’s unfair to Dallas.”
The general consensus from the sports medical professionals who haven’t seen Goedert personally was four to six weeks while an injured reserve stint is at least four games.
The bye turned four weeks into three games for the Eagles and Goedert is a good enough player that Philadelphia feels it’s worth carrying him on the 53-man roster and making him inactive on game day for a few weeks.
The other big news for the Eagles was the return of Cam Jurgens, who was officially added back to the roster from IR after missing the past five games.
Jurgens will start at right guard after Sua Opeta held down the fort for four games and rookie Tyler Steen got his first NFL start against the Cowboys.
Also set to return against the Chiefs after missing three games is veteran slot cornerback Bradley Roby, who had been taking first-team reps and will be expected to get the bulk of the work inside although rookies Sydney Brown and Eli Ricks could still get some work as Roby continues to ramp up.
Tight end Grant Calcaterra will also be back in the lineup after missing the Dallas game while in the concussion protocol, a big get-back for Philadelphia with Goedert sidelined.
The Eagles had started the practice window on safety Justin Evans this week but ruled the safety out for a fifth consecutive game on Saturday. While injured Evans has been supplanted as a starting safety by trade pickup Kevin Byard.
Any potential practice-squad elevations will be made on Monday before the game.
