The Eagles placed DeSean Jackson on Injured Reserve on Tuesday afternoon. The team announced on Monday that Jackson would undergo surgery to repair a core muscle injury that he re-aggravated in Sunday's win over the Bears. A player is eligible to return to practice six weeks from the day that he's placed on Injured Reserve, but he must miss at least eight games (not weeks, games) before he can return to the 53-man roster. Each team can designate two players to return from their Reserve/Injured list.
Eagles Insider Dave Spadaro detailed on Monday how the Eagles must regroup offensively now that Jackson is out for the remainder of the regular season. Alshon Jeffery is the leading pass catcher among the wide receivers with 34 receptions for 353 yards and three touchdowns. Nelson Agholor also has three touchdowns on 32 receptions for 282 yards. Head coach Doug Pederson said on Monday that Jeffrey and Agholor have been "good," but not "great" this season.
"We just have to continue to work with these guys. Every week is a new week. Every week is a new set of challenges," Pederson said. "As we put game plans together, we do think about these guys and putting them into positions and look, sometimes you get in the game, and I'm the one calling the plays, and sometimes the game kind of steers a different direction than what you think during the week.
"But I think overall, these guys have been in a position to help and help us win, and have a lot of confidence in both those guys moving forward."
Tight end Zach Ertz is the team's receiving leader in 2019 with 46 catches for 527 yards along with two touchdowns. Fellow tight end Dallas Goedert has three touchdowns among his 21 catches for 221 yards this season. Since the Week 2 game in Atlanta, when Jackson played 11 snaps before exiting due to the initial injury, rookie running back Miles Sanders has five of the Eagles' seven pass plays of 30 yards or longer, including the two longest of 45 yards and 40 yards, respectively. The Eagles also have to try and find ways to get young receivers J.J. Arcega-Whiteside and Mack Hollins more involved. The two have combined for 12 catches and 139 this season.
"That's kind of what this week is for, for us as a staff on offense, is to see how we can maximize our potential that way," Pederson said.
