By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor 
When Doug Pederson met with the media on Monday, he faced many questions that could be anticipated: updates on the injuries to Corey Clement, Isaac Seumalo and Josh Sweat, how he felt about the poor officiating, not going for the two-point conversion and Carson Wentz’s inaccuracy among others. There was one question he did not see prepared for, questions about Sidney Jones.
When asked about the other injuries, Pederson noted that Clement and Sweat were still waiting on MRI results and Seumalo is “day-to-day”, but when asked about Jones, he had a far more puzzling response.
“Yeah, Amari is obviously a tremendous receiver and he has done some great things there for Dallas. Yeah, ok. Yeah, um… I gotta be careful because… yeah. Amari is a great receiver. He is hard to defend and, early on in the game, I thought Sidney did a nice job defending a couple passes, a couple tackles in there, so you’ll have to continue to ask Sidney on the rest of it. ”
you’d think he was answering a question about Amari Cooper with that response. When asked follow-up questions about Jones, he replied with an answer about how he was a “tremendous” player in college and then, after another question, about how the secondary was thin and that they think they can get Avonte Maddox back this weekend. Nothing more was shared about Jones. I might argue that Doug shared nothing at all other than he made a few plays early in the game Sunday.
Pederson seemed to be caught off-guard for some reason and commented that he needed to be careful there. His simply saying that raised eyebrows. That is not a response that is typically given for an injured player. It was no “we need to wait on MRIs” or “I haven’t talked to the doctors yet”. Why does he need to be careful? Was Jones lying to staff and hiding an injury that the staff was unaware of? Had the medical staff missed something and allowed an injury to get worse? Maybe it is some combination of the two and maybe there is a whole different reasoning. No matter the case, something is going on in the Eagles clubhouse.
Jones started the Cowboys game off pretty well making some nice tackles and breaking up a couple of passes prior to being removed from the game. Following halftime, Jones returned to the field, but he was more of a liability than a help. Jones was obviously favoring one leg for the entire second half and, as a direct result, he was not making plays. Jones could be seen visibly limping by the fourth quarter, so it’s no surprise that the Cowboys kept throwing at him.
It seems like Jones never really got over that hamstring injury he suffered early in the season yet he has returned to the field twice now. At this point, the Eagles may be better off sitting Jones out of games until he is actually healthy. A practice squad level player in DeVante Bausby or Chandon Sullivan still has a better chance than a corner running on one leg every play. Who knows, maybe one of the two new guys can develop and become a long-term backup option.
The team is doing itself no favors allowing Jones no time to heal from his physical injury and leaving him in the game to confidence shattered throw after throw. Philadelphia Phillies fans often argue that the way that some prospects like Dominic Brown or Darin Ruf have been handled stunted their development and kept them from reaching their potential. If the Eagles continue to allow Jones to run on an injured leg and be a target for opposing offenses, the same might soon be said of Jones.
