Ronald Darby Out For Season With Torn ACL

By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor

For much of the season, fans were not happy with how the cornerbacks were playing. That play is likely to get worse as Ronald Darby suffered a torn ACL in the game against Dallas Sunday night.

Coach Pederson announced that CB Ronald Darby is out for the remainder of the season due to a torn ACL. pic.twitter.com/cqLeadqoIu

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) November 12, 2018

Darby had registered 43 tackles, 12 passes defensed, a stuff and an interception on the season prior to the injury against Dallas. He could be seen on the field attempting to keep up with his man after suffering the tear, but went down once the play was complete.

For those counting, the IR will now be at nine players. 10 if you include Destiny Vaeao, who was waived after being placed on IR. The Eagles could fill a practice squad with the players they have placed on IR, and that doesn’t include Tim Jernigan or Chris Maragos.

The Eagles dealt with injuries last season, but they did not deal with as many as they have already this season and the injuries hadn’t all occurred at the same position as they have in the secondary, at tackle, wide receiver and running back this season.

With Jones and Mills still sidelined by injury and Avonte Maddox filling in as the second safety, the Eagles are down to just four cornerbacks. Two of those three cornerbacks have already been cut by NFL teams this season. Undrafted rookie Chandon Sullivan, third-year backup Rasul Douglas and the newly acquired Cre’Von LeBlanc make up the new cornerback group. With the trade deadline past, the only acquisitions left to be made are corners that have gone through 10 weeks of the season without being signed by any other NFL team.

Missing four of your five starting secondary players is not a good spot to be in, especially when you are heading into the Superdome next week to take on Drew Brees and the Saints.

Darby is set to be a free agent this offseason. The likelihood of him getting that big contract is now far lower than when he was the premiere healthy corner on the market. The Eagles were likely to net a third-round pick if he left without injury. The Eagles may be able to re-sign both Darby and Ajayi to fairly inexpensive “prove it” deals to keep them around, but if they sign those deals elsewhere, the Eagles lose out on what would otherwise have been higher draft picks. The Eagles will certainly be looking at the possibility of signing as many of their free agents as they can as Ajayi, Darby, Jordan Hicks and Brandon Graham are all key pieces set to leave this offseason.

For now, the Eagles need to find a way to assemble a complete secondary using a back-up and leftover parts that would otherwise not be on an NFL roster. Maybe they can find a diamond in the rough, but they need to do it fast to save this season.