By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Staff 
The Philadelphia Eagles will begin their season without their top wide receiver. Adam Schefter of ESPN reported earlier today that Alshon Jeffery will miss at least the first two games against the Falcons and Buccaneers.
Eagles WR Alshon Jeffery is expected to miss at least the first two games of the season, but the team will activate him to the 53-man roster this weekend with optimism he could be back by week 3, per @mortreport and me.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 28, 2018
Jeffery will take a spot on the 53-man roster to start the season rather that being placed on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list. The reason that the Eagles will not place Jeffery on the PUP list is that they are hopeful that he will be ready to play in the Week Three matchup against the Indianapolis Colts. If the team were to place him on the PUP list, he would be ineligible to play until Week Seven.
Jeffery racked up 1,008 yards and 12 touchdowns through the 2017 season, averaging 14.6 yards per catch. He did this all with a torn rotator cuff that he suffered during last preseason. A side effect to winning a Super Bowl is a short offseason. With a longer offseason, Jeffery could have had surgery earlier and might well have been ready for Week One. I am by no means saying that a longer offseason would have been better, but rather that this is one of the reasons that repeating as world champions is so difficult.
In order to do just that this season, the Eagles will need Mike Wallace, Nelson Agholor, Mack Hollins and Shelton Gibson to step up and fill the gap Jeffery will leave for at least the first two games of the season. The Eagles may even choose to keep DeAndre Carter on the 53-man roster, if only for the first week of the season as the Eagles will have an extra roster spot while Nigel Bradham serves his suspension and sits out the first game of the season.
