Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Report: Eagles’ Rodney McLeod out for season, straining team’s safety net

Starting safety's loss would be a significant blow. Also, it isn't clear that all those much-anticipated healthy Eagles offensive weapons are all that healthy.

Philadelphia Eagles' Rodney McLeod lies on the field after an injury during the second half of an NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts, Sunday, Sept. 23, 2018, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Philadelphia Eagles' Rodney McLeod lies on the field after an injury during the second half of an NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts, Sunday, Sept. 23, 2018, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)Read moreMatt Rourke

It never seemed likely that Eagles starting safety Rodney McLeod would play Sunday, or in the next few weeks, after suffering a knee injury when Jalen Mills' helmet hit McLeod's kneecap in Week 3's victory over the Indianapolis Colts, but it appears the team is looking at a worst-case scenario.

Head coach Doug Pederson is expected to update McLeod's condition Friday, in the wake of an NBC Sports report that McLeod has had MCL surgery and will miss the rest of the season. The Eagles declined to respond to the report.

McLeod, 28, has been a solid starter since he signed as a free agent in 2016, especially in tandem with Malcolm Jenkins. McLeod has started 33 of 35 games. His backup is veteran Corey Graham, who already plays quite a bit in Eagles sub packages, so someone will need to step up and take Graham's spot. The only other backup safety is Deiondre' Hall, who joined the team Sept. 1 in a trade with the Bears. Tre Sullivan is on the practice squad.

"We haven't heard anything [official] yet, but obviously, missing him is a big loss for our defense," Jenkins said after Thursday's practice. "Corey in particular gave us flexibility to create all these different packages. He's a veteran player, can play [McLeod's] snaps. At the end of the day, our defense doesn't change. It'll be another guy who will be able to step up and create different packages, or a number of guys. … We've got a lot of versatile guys."

McLeod's status wasn't the only dark cloud on the horizon Thursday. Much of the narrative leading into the Eagles' game against the Tennessee Titans in Nashville has concerned how the Eagles expect to get back key weapons. Pederson said Wednesday that running backs Jay Ajayi and Darren Sproles "are feeling really well," and wide receiver Alshon Jeffery was cleared for contact and practiced fully Wednesday for the first time since offseason shoulder surgery.

Ajayi (back) practiced Thursday but Sproles (hamstring) and Jeffery did not. Jeffery was ill, according  to the practice report.

If Sproles really is going to play for the first time since the season opener, he would usually need to be healthy enough to practice first. It makes no sense to sit a 35-year-old running back and returner for two games, then send him back out there not fully healthy.

Defensive lineman Michael Bennett, who missed Wednesday's practice with an unspecified illness, practiced Thursday.