Eagles

Eagles Wednesday: Doug Pederson on Darren Sproles, Golden Tate, and Jordan Mailata as a Running Back

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Nov 7th, 2018 · 11:43 AM EST

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Doug Pederson was back in front of the media today.

Some injury updates and a couple of notes on Golden Tate and other topics:

• Darren Sproles will practice this week and the Eagles “hope to” have him available to play on Sunday. He will be “day-to-day.”
• There is a backup plan at punter returner if Sproles can’t go. (DeAndre Carter was waived on Tuesday)
• Lane Johnson will practice and is expected to play against Dallas
• Golden Tate has been in the facility every day and is trying to get caught up on the playbook. “He’s been awesome.”
• Corey Graham is expected to “possibly get some practice time” this week. Sidney Jones seems to be a little further off.

On overlap in the skill sets of Golden Tate and Nelson Agholor:

“That’s the chess piece that we as coaches try to do each week, is who’s going to be on the field and the matchups and everything else. I think the skill sets – Nelson does some great things, straight-line speed, good route runner, a smart guy. Golden is kind of the same way, he’s probably a little more of the short to intermediate type guy, a little quick-twitch. They’ve used him out of the backfield before and things like that. Similar styles but also in some aspects a little different.”

More notes after the jump:

• Tim Jernigan will be brought along slowly, day by day, as they have a couple of weeks before they have to do anything with him (three before having to take him off NFI list)
• The Dallas rivalry is “exciting,” two great franchises, two great teams. Expects fans to be rocking the Linc Sunday.
• Jalen Mills is day to day, a “touch longer” away from returning
• Pederson “definitely had a say” in bringing in an offensive addition
• Sproles: “we’ve going to mix him in,” can be a big part of the game but they aren’t going to “feature” one runner exclusively
• Jordan Mailata as a running back is intriguing and “not out of the question,” has experiencing carrying a ball dating back to his rugby days.

Video:

Watch live as head coach Doug Pederson meets with the media. https://t.co/AxAP5zZaRu

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) November 7, 2018