The Philadelphia Eagles officially announced some roster news and injury updates ahead of their Week 4 road game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. An overview:
- WR A.J. Brown and LB Devin White were downgraded to out.
- WR Parris Campbell and WR John Ross were temporarily elevated from the practice squad.
Note: teams can temporarily promote practice squad players up to three times each in the regular season and an unlimited number of times in the postseason.
Let’s sort through this news on a player-by-player basis.
Brown was ruled questionable to play on Friday’s injury report. He has not played since Week 1. The Eagles will certainly miss him.
DEVIN WHITE
White wasn’t even on the injury report this week; he’s a brand new addition. The Eagles listed him with a “personal” designation ahead of a game against his former team. White was a healthy scratch the past two weeks. Sure seems like they might just cut or trade White at some point soon?
PARRIS CAMPBELL
The Eagles were in need of more wide receiver depth with Brown/DeVonta Smith both out and Britain Covey placed on injured reserve. Elevating Campbell gives Jalen Hurts a veteran option to work with. Campbell logged two targets in Week 3 and those resulted in two catches for 13 yards.
Campbell has now been maxed out on regular season practice squad elevations. The Eagles will need to sign him to the roster if they want him to play for them again. Of course, they’re hoping to not have to use him with DeVonta and A.J. expected to be back in action after the Week 5 bye. The Eagles also have multiple other receivers on their practice squad.
JOHN ROSS
The Eagles signed Ross, who spent time on their offseason roster, to the practice squad earlier this week. The team seems to value his familiarity with the system and having some experience working with Hurts. In theory, Ross brings big play ability to the table with his deep speed.
With these two PS elevations, the Eagles will have four receivers active on Sunday: Jahan Dotson, Johnny Wilson, Campbell, and Ross. This WR situation certainly isn’t ideal but the Eagles need to figure out to how make it work for one game.
(#JerseyNumberAnalytics note: Ross is wearing No. 38. Yikes. It’s not like he had much of a choice but just a tough look. Although maybe there’s something to it being the inverse of his previous number, No. 83? Also, it could demoralize the Bucs if they’re getting beat by a receiver wearing a number in the 30s.)
LANE JOHNSON
It’s probably worth noting that Johnson, who was also ruled questionable like Brown originally was, has not been downgraded to out. John Clark reports that things are trending in the direction for Johnson to start at right tackle.
