While the Eagles will seemingly be expecting slot corner Bradley Roby and right guard Cam Jurgens back after the bye, not all the injury news is positive.
Dallas Goedert is expected to miss four weeks with a fracture.
The news would seem to be even worse with second-year linebacker Nakobe Dean. Mike Garafolo reports he left before the half in the Cowboys game due to what has been determined to be a Lisfranc sprain.
#Eagles LB Nakobe Dean has been diagnosed with a Lisfranc sprain, sources tell me and @RapSheet. Dean, who called the defensive signals to start this season, will see a foot specialist to determine a course of action but he’s expected to be placed on IR. pic.twitter.com/SE2sEykwLW
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) November 8, 2023
Dean has already missed time this season and has appeared in just five games. He will almost surely head to IR with the injury.
From some past experience: Jalen Mills suffered a similar injury and was placed on IR in 2018. Cre’Von LeBlanc also suffered the injury prior to the 2019 season and went on IR. Mills missed the final eight games of the season (plus two playoff games). LeBlanc missed the first 12 weeks of the 2019 season. It should be noted that the IR minimum stay back in those seasons was eight weeks, though both players wound up missing more than that.
In his first seasons seeing playing time, Dean’s biggest impact has come against Washington. He recorded 13 tackles despite having a tough day in coverage.
As a unit, the linebacker room would surely miss the depth that Dean gives them.
That said, the tandem of Zach Cunningham and Nicholas Morrow has appeared to be the team’s best linebacker duo as they’ve rotated through guys due to injury.
It is not known how the Eagles would look to address the depth issues at this time.
