The 12-1 Eagles have been examined, analyzed and rightfully praised from just about every angle this season. Jalen Hurts has taken the leap. The defense is excellent at all three levels. The coaching is on point seemingly every week. Amazing GM work from Howie Roseman.
But there hasn’t been much mention about how healthy they’ve been to date. And it doesn’t matter which “team healthiness” site or metric utilized. And, of course, being healthy, particularly at this stage of the season, is vital.
Dr. Matt Provencher, who runs ThePredictors.com and his “Banged-Up Score” (BUS) Rankings, which measures NFL team health and factors in player quality, is used at Fox Sports and has the Eagles as the fifth-healthiest team in football entering Week 15.
The famous @ManGamesLostNFL Twitter account released this photo this week.
(@ManGamesLostNFL)
Not only have the Eagles stayed very healthy, the cumulative quality of Philadelphia’s players who have been shelved due to injury has been lower than almost every team in football.
However, it’s not all been gravy for the Eagles on the injury front. The injury bug has infiltrated the safety room at 1 Novacare Way in Philadelphia. Chauncey Gardner-Johnson suffered a lacerated kidney in Week 13’s win over the Packers. He’s still on IR. Then, just last week, his stand-in, Reed Blankenship, sprained his knee in the win over the Giants.
Suddenly, the Eagles are reeling at the safety position.
And they have a time-tested remedy for the problem. Enter Anthony Harris, one of the most fascinating practice squad players in the NFL today. The former undrafted free agent out of Virginia erupted in Minnesota with the Vikings in 2019, tying for the league lead in interceptions with six before being hit with the franchise tag that offseason.
After a down year relative to expectations, the Vikings didn’t extend or re-sign their franchise player, and Philadelphia inked him to a deal the following March. He appeared in 14 games last season and had one interception to go along with three pass breakups. Harris was re-signed entering the 2022 campaign, but was released after the Gardner-Johnson acquisition.
Now he’s back to patch the back end of…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CBSSports.com Headlines…