Eagles Have Slew of Players Return to Practice

By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor

On Thursday, Doug Pederson announced that a few Eagles would return to practice.

Those Eagles returning to practice were Darren Sproles, Rasul Douglas, Sidney Jones and Chandon Sullivan.

Eagles fans may want to temper their expectations, for Sproles as he was expected to play the Wednesday prior to the Cowboys game before aggravating his hamstring again just one day later. He has missed 10 of 11 contests this season. His playmaking ability has been missed, especially in the return game. He will also be a welcome addition to the screen game along with newly added wideout Golden Tate.

In game one of this season, Sproles passed Steve Smith Sr. and Marshall Faulk on the all-purpose yardage leaderboard. He is currently sixth all time in the category and is only 457 yards behind Tim Brown for fifth.

Douglas would likely be the Eagles top corner outside this week against the Redskins. While he has not faired well in his starts, he has a history of making big plays in limited snaps. Fans can be sure that Colt McCoy will make some bad passes and Douglas has shown the skill to jump on those mistakes. He played a few snaps against the Giants last week, but only as an emergency backup since he was still trying to heal from his own injury.

Jones has missed four games now with two different injuries. If he is able to go, it will be interesting to see where he plays. While he has been playing in the slot for most of the year, the Eagles will likely still be without Jalen Mills and may look to move Jones to the outside.

Chandon Sullivan being healthy is good news for the Eagles. If he is able to play, the Eagles will have five corners available. That means they would have two healthy corners on the bench, something that hasn’t happened since the beginning of the Saints game. According to the Eagles depth chart, Sullivan would be the number three corner, assuming both Jones and Douglas play.

Even Nigel Bradham, with his recent broken thumb and surgery earlier this week, practiced and it seems that his hope of continuing to play will come true.

Pederson also said that Jalen Mills, Avonte Maddox and Jordan Hicks are further away with Hicks being further off than the other two. He termed these three as “day-to-day”.

Michael Bennett and Jason Peters were among those who did not practice today, but given the update from Pederson, the two veterans are likely just out for some additional rest and should not be in danger of missing the Redskins game.