By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor
Things may have been looking up after the Eagles injury report on Friday afternoon.
With just two players listed as out, the Eagles figured to get back key offensive contributors, including one that was previously reported to miss at least week one.
On Saturday afternoon, ESPN’s Adam Schefter threw some cold water on Eagles fans with his report that the team would not be having Miles Sanders join them on their trip to DC.
Source: Eagles’ RB Miles Sanders will not make the trip to Washington and, due to a hamstring injury that had him listed as questionable, is out for Sunday’s opener against the Washington Football Team.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 12, 2020
Sanders had posted a since-deleted tweet that read “Can’t catch a break” and followed that up with another since-deleted tweet that read, “Keep calm y’all lol I’m ready for the season”, both originally posed on August 11, that seemed to indicate the start of this injury issue.
The former Penn State back broke out when he took on the lead back role with the team following the season-ending injury suffered by Jordan Howard. He totaled 524 yards on the ground, 235 yards through the air and four touchdowns in the team’s final eight games of the season.
In addition to his stat-line production, Sanders grew as a blocker and was the team’s most effective deep threat late in the season.
The Eagles will now rely on Boston Scott, which they did at the end of last season, Corey Clement and potentially Jason Huntley, who was claimed off waivers last weekend.
Instead of promoting a running back from the practice squad, the Eagles went with line depth, promoting Sua Opeta and TY McGill for the week.
#Eagles have elevated DT T.Y. McGill and G Sua Opeta from the practice squad to the active roster for Sunday’s game against Washington.
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) September 12, 2020
The Eagles do have three backs (Elijah Holyfield, Adrian Killins and Michael Warren) on the practice squad and are able to promote any player to the active roster twice and send them back to the practice squad without exposing them to waiver or needing to sign them to the 53-man roster, so the Eagles could do this with a running back six weeks this season without losing any of those guys.