First official practice for Jones since Achilles tear
To be thankful for where he is, Sidney Jones has to return to where he was, that fateful pro day last March at Washington.
Widely considered a top-10 draft pick, the Huskies cornerback backpedaled with a vengeance, then broke to his right. Bang, that was the end of all functionality in his left Achilles’ tendon (https://youtu.be/Cv-BQTFSco).
Jones slid 10 picks into the second round, where the Eagles scooped him up. The injury cost him roughly $9 million, based on the salary given to cornerback Marshon Lattimore, the 11th pick in the draft.
On Wednesday, Jones’ first official practice with the Eagles, he became a touch emotional recalling the “long road back.”
“I haven’t played football since my last college game, which is about a year ago,” Jones said. “This is just the first step. And I can’t wait for the future.”
Jones is fighting the impulse to rush himself back into shape. He thought he was ready to practice a month ago.
The Eagles have gotten such solid play from veteran cornerbacks Jalen Mills and Patrick Robinson, along with rookie Rasul Douglas, selected late in the third round, there was no need to fast-track Jones.
Jones said he didn’t participate in all the team activities Wednesday, yet felt good at the end of the day.
Ideally Eagles head coach Doug Pederson wants to increase the workload of Jones —
as much as the rookie can handle.
“I’ll see him more on special teams and service teams,” Pederson said. “And see where he’s at. We’ve watched him through his progression and training these last few weeks and now we just want to see him in football conditions, the true transition of stopping and starting and making a play on a ball and seeing his instincts and things like that, things we obviously haven’t been able to monitor this season.
“It’s definitely a win-win for both sides.”
The Eagles can activate Jones from injured reserve at any time before their last three games. Whatever happens, he’s happy to be back on the field with some of the guys who encouraged him. Jones thanked injured offensive tackle Jason Peters and linebacker Jordan Hicks, among others, for helping him fight through the rehab.
“It was a blessing for today,” Jones said. “It’s been a long road to even play football. I can’t even describe how happy and excited I
am. It’s been a long road. I’m just happy to be back with my team.”
Jones, by the way, still got a pretty decent deal. His four-year contract is worth up to $6.1 million, including $3.3 million guaranteed.
The Eagles made no announcement but Carson Wentz had his torn ACL repaired, per an ESPN report.
The typical timetable for a return from such a procedure is six-to-nine months.
Pederson said the addition of linebacker Bryan Braman, a special teams terror, will reduce the special teams role of starting linebackers Nigel Bradham and Mychal Kendricks.
“This was a good opportunity at this time to shore that end of it up,” Pederson said.
Braman played all 48 games for the Eagles from 2014-16. When the Eagles chose not to re-sign him, he joined the Saints. Braman reached an injury settlement with the Saints in September.
••• Referee Brad Allen and his crew work the EaglesGiants game Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
The home teams are 9-3 in games worked by Allen
this season, the Eagles (at Washington), Ravens (Oakland) and Vikings (Atlanta), the only road winners.
The Giants are one of Allen’s home winners this season, as they defeated the Chiefs, 12-9.
With a win Sunday, the Eagles clinch at least the No. 2 seed, a first-round bye and home game in the NFC playoffs.
An Eagles win and an unlikely Vikings loss to the Bengals, and the Birds clinch the No. 1 seed throughout the conference playoffs.
The Eagles also can clinch the second seed with a tie, and a Rams (at Seattle) loss or tie, and a Saints (Jets) loss or tie plus a Panthers (Packers) loss or tie.
The Eagles can all but seal a trip to Minneapolis in February with injuries to the quarterbacks of the teams in playoff contention.
The Giants have secondworst point differential in the league, as they’ve surrendered 122 more points than they’ve scored.
They’re 31st in scoring offense and 27th in scoring defense.
Eli Manning has completed 63 percent of his attempts with 15 TDs, nine interceptions
and an 82.4 rating despite the loss of Odell Beckham Jr. to injury.
When Steve Spagnuolo replaced head coach Ben McAdoo, who was canned after a 10-2 start, he discussed with ownership his plans to go back to quarterback Eli Manning, benched after 210 straight starts.
“He left it up to me and my gut right then and there was to put Eli back in,” Spagnuolo said. “My gut said that Eli Manning should be the quarterback.”
The Giants are 2-11. They’ve lost six of their last seven games in the series with the Eagles.
NOTES: Pederson expects left guard Stefen Wisniewski, who exited with an ankle injury last Sunday, to be OK for the Giants although he didn’t practice Wednesday. Safety Rodney McLeod (quad) was limited at practice. Brent Celek didn’t work although it wasn’t injury related … The Eagles are the latest “worst-to-first” turnaround team in the NFL, adding to the list in which at least one team has won its division the season after finishing in or tied for last place in 14 of the past 15 seasons.