Eagles’ Richard Rodgers Cleared To Practice
The Eagles already have Zach Ertz on a historic reception pace and second-round rookie Dallas Goedert behind him, but the defending Super Bowl champions plan to further strengthen their tight end group.
Richard Rodgers has missed all of this season because of a knee injury, but he will return to practice this week and be in line to come off IR, Zach Berman of Philly.com tweets.
This is an interesting move because it means one of either Mike Wallace or Mack Hollins now must remain on IR all season. Although Philadelphia’s depth chart at receiver now includes Golden Tate, it’s notable the team will bring Rodgers off IR nevertheless.
Wallace is out with a broken fibula sustained in early September but was a candidate to return this season. Hollins has missed the entire season but is also an IR-return option and may be likelier to see the field down the stretch than Wallace.
The former Packers target signed with the Eagles in April on a one-year, $880K deal. He has 21 days to be activated. He caught 58 passes for 510 yards and eight touchdowns in 2015 but hasn’t come particularly close to reaching those numbers since.
Eagles CB Ronald Darby Done For Year
Eagles cornerback Ronald Darby is out for the year with a torn ACL, the team announced on Monday. Darby injured his right knee in the third quarter against the Cowboys on Sunday and further testing confirmed the team’s worst fears. 
The Eagles were already without corners Sidney Jones and Jalen Mills on Sunday thanks to injuries, so the loss of Darby leaves them extra thin at cornerback. Before the injury, Darby started in all nine of the Eagles’ games and tallied 43 tackles plus one interception.
Darby was among the 30 best cornerbacks in the NFL this season, according to the advanced metrics at Pro Football Focus. The timing of his injury is especially rough with the Saints being the next team up on the schedule. After handing a 51-14 drumming to the Bengals – a game that cost defensive coordinator Teryl Austin his job – the Saints’ offense is looking as potent as ever.
The Eagles will likely sign at least one cornerback this week in order to improve their depth in the secondary. If Mills and Jones can’t play this week, they’ll have to rely on Rasul Douglas, fourth-round pick Avonte Maddox, UDFA Chandon Sullivan, and Cre’Von LeBlanc to pick up the slack.
Darby is in the final year of his rookie contract, so his season-ending injury could have a serious impact on his market. Before the ACL tear, Darby profiled as one of the best cornerbacks available in the spring.
Eagles RB Darren Sproles Suffers Setback, Will Miss Multiple Weeks
Sunday, 8:55am: Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that Sproles is expected to miss multiple weeks (one estimate suggested an absence of three to four weeks). The Eagles will be cautious with him so that when he returns to the field, he will be back for good. The way Sproles’ injury was handled by the team’s medical staff may be cause for concern, as we detailed yesterday.
Thursday, 11:39am: Earlier this week, Eagles head coach Doug Pederson said he expected Darren Sproles to play on Sunday versus the Cowboys. Unfortunately, those plans were derailed after the running back aggravated his hamstring injury (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter). 
Sproles has not been on the field since hurting his hamstring in practice prior to the Eagles’ Week 2 game. Sproles showed significant improvement this week and the team believed that Sproles would be able to resume punt-return duties against the Cowboys. Instead of facing Dallas and joining Wendell Smallwood and Corey Clement in the backfield rotation, Sproles’ outlook for the rest of the season is now in question.
Sproles’ 2017 was shortened by multiple injuries in September, meaning that he has played in just three games over the last two years. He already cashed in on a $1MM guarantee for this year, but Sproles is eager to resume the form that earned him three straight Pro Bowl nods between 2014-2016.
On the plus side, Eagles tackle Lane Johnson resumed practice this week after recovering from a Grade 2 MCL sprain. Pederson is hopeful that Johnson will play, but that would mark a faster-than-usual turnaround from the injury.
Eagles Notes: Staff, Hollins, Rodgers, Wallace
After the Eagles won the Super Bowl this past year, they did something unusual. The team completely overhauled their medical staff, and replaced their head athletic trainer. The move was “virtually unprecedented”, according to Jeff McLane of Philly.com, and McLane raises some interesting questions about the decision.
McLane suggests that the decision to overhaul the staff could be contributing to the rash of soft-tissue injuries the Eagles have suffered this year. He also points out there’s been several “embarrassments” for the new staff, such as when they mis-diagnosed Jay Ajayi‘s torn ACL. Several players, including Darren Sproles, have taken much longer than expected to return from their injuries, and McLane thinks the moves could be responsible. It’s hard to tell one way or another, but it’s an interesting theory and it’s definitely curious that Philadelphia opted for a shakeup rather than continuity after a Super Bowl.
- Speaking of the Eagles, the team has a couple of tough decisions coming up. The team has three players on injured reserve working toward coming back, receiver Mack Hollins, tight end Richard Rodgers, and receiver Mike Wallace, and the team can only bring back two of them. “Chances are that Hollins is brought back first of the three”, according to Eliot Shorr-Parks of 94 WIP. Shorr-Parks writes that “the final decision between Rodgers and Wallace will be a tough one” and “the fact that the team traded for Golden Tate seems to indicate they don’t expect Wallace to contribute this season.” Wallace has expressed a recent desire to return, but it sounds like his 2018 could be over.
Eagles Down Two Top CBs In Week 10
- Both Sidney Jones and Jalen Mills are going to miss Sunday night’s Eagles-Cowboys game, but Corey Graham will return after missing four games, per Sirius XM Radio’s Adam Caplan (on Twitter). After claiming Cre’Von LeBlanc off waivers earlier this week, surely due to injuries affecting the aforementioned duo, the Eagles have seven corners on their roster.
Eagles Considered DB, DE At Deadline
- While the Eagles ultimately made only one trade (swinging a deal for Lions receiver Golden Tate), it sounds like the Birds may have targeted other positions before last week’s deadline. “You try to see if there’s a [defensive back] out there,” Philadelphia head coach Doug Pederson said today, per Zach Berman of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link). “You maybe see if there’s another pass rusher out there and then what are you giving up as a team?” The Eagles recently lost 2017 first-round pick Derek Barnett for the rest of the year, so adding another edge defender certainly wouldn’t have been out of the question.
Eagles Agreed To Tony Gonzalez Trade
The Eagles’ decision to trade a third-round pick for Golden Tate probably represented the top compensatory pick-related deadline deal, with the Lions taking a 2019 third-rounder and the Eagles likely betting Tate walking in free agency will net them a 2020 third. (Though, the Cardinals acquired a sixth-round pick (and cost the Vikings a 2019 third) by cutting Sam Bradford prior to Week 10.) This system also affects mid- or lower-tier free agents in March and April, when teams’ compensatory picks are attached to signings.
- An interesting what-if from a past trade deadline emerged recently. The Chiefs nearly traded Tony Gonzalez in 2008, months before he was actually dealt. Both the Eagles and Packers agreed to send a third-round pick to the Chiefs, and Jay Glazer of The Athletic (subscription required) notes it was going to be up to the then-32-year-old tight end to decide which team he preferred. (Gonzalez, per Glazer, initially wanted a trade to the Giants, but GM Jerry Reese refused to give up a third for the future Hall of Famer.) Then-Chiefs president Carl Peterson, though, changed the terms of the deal. Peterson, fired in December of 2008, asked for a second-rounder minutes before the ’08 deadline, Glazer adds, scuttling a potential Gonzalez trip to either an Eagles team that ended up in the NFC title game or Mike McCarthy‘s Packers — then in their first year of the Aaron Rodgers era. A livid Gonzalez then told Glazer he wanted to retire. However, he returned to a Chiefs team that finished 2-14 before new decision-maker Scott Pioli traded him to the Falcons the following year.
Minor NFL Transactions: 11/7/18
Here are Wednesday’s minor moves:
Houston Texans
- Claimed off waivers from Eagles: WR DeAndre Carter
- Waived: RB Tyler Ervin
New England Patriots
- Signed: OL Matt Tobin
Minor NFL Transactions: 11/6/18
Today’s minor moves:
Los Angeles Rams
- Activated from physically unable to perform list: LB Ogbonnia Okoronkwo
- Waived: LB Trevon Young
New York Giants
- Waived: WR Quadree Henderson
New England Patriots
- Waived: OL Cole Croston, DE Geneo Grissom
Philadelphia Eagles
- Signed: DT T.Y. McGill
- Waived: WR DeAndre Carter
Seattle Seahawks
- Promoted from practice squad: CB Kalan Reed
- Waived: LB Emmanuel Ellerbee
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/5/18
Here are Monday’s practice squad decisions:
Minnesota Vikings
- Signed: T Storm Norton
New England Patriots
- Signed: DE Ufomba Kamalu
Philadelphia Eagles
- Signed: De’Vante Bausby