The Eagles are going to rest their starters for Friday night’s preseason finale, reportedly, which is a bummer, but not unexpected.

We likely will not see Jalen Hurts, or anybody else of intrigue on either side of the ball, but if we’re trying to boil this down to some singular unit of Posidelphia, then at least the Birds are healthy. Seriously. They made it out of camp relatively unscathed.

At Philly Voice, Jimmy Kempski mentioned that the Eagles went into last year’s season opener with the following guys injured:

  1. RT Lane Johnson
  2. RG Brandon Brooks
  3. RB Miles Sanders
  4. DE Derek Barnett
  5. DT Javon Hargrave
  6. LT Andre Dillard
  7. WR Alshon Jeffery
  8. S Will Parks
  9. WR Quez Watkins

Insane, wasn’t it? It was like a continuation of the horrendous bad luck the Eagles dealt with the year prior. We were ready to fire the blue medical tent into the sun before the season even began (and of course it devolved from there).

When you look at it that way, you can accept the boring nature of this preseason. We only got one public practice session. The other was cancelled because of the weather. Training camp at Lehigh and West Chester is long gone. The preseason games turned out to be mostly meaningless exercises.

But isn’t it easier to accept that when you know the Eagles are going into this season with a squad that is in much better health than last season?

As of right now, the only issues the Birds are dealing with are:

  • working Rodney McLeod back from knee surgery
  • getting Ryan Kerrigan in the mix following thumb surgery
  • Shaun Bradley, K’Von Wallace, Genard Avery – managing groin issues
  • getting Davion Taylor back from a calf injury
  • properly handling a minor Fletcher Cox groin issue
  • Craig James with a foot injury
  • working Dillard back from knee injury (even though he’s not going to be a starter)
  • Jason Huntley’s rib injury

The only long-term injury suffered in camp was Tyree Jackson, the fractured bone in his back. We’re still waiting to see what the Birds do with him.

But otherwise, you’ll take that second list over the first list any day of the week. It’s mostly second unit guys trying to get back on the field full time, and it’ll have a quirky impact on the 53-man roster choices, with the Birds needing to cement their depth at the expense of fringe players in other positions.

The other thing to consider is that the Eagles haven’t had any significant COVID issues in camp. Alex Singleton and some guys missed time early, but it’s been smooth sailing since. The majority of players are vaccinated, and while some remain un-vaxxed, the Birds have avoided the type of situation Buffalo is currently dealing with, which included COVID cases and fines for two receivers who weren’t wearing masks.