Eagles eager to see Foles
On field or not, as both offensive units may be missing in action
Whether he plays or not, Nick Foles won’t be able to avoid Brandon Graham Thursday when the Jaguars entertain the Eagles in the second preseason game.
Foles is family to the core group of Eagles, having led them to the Super Bowl LII title two years ago. While it’s looking like the starters from either team will not see much action if any, look for Foles to get mobbed during warmups.
“How could I forget?” Graham said with a smirk. “He brought it back. It’s going to be cool. Hopefully we can get out there and we get to touch him a little bit and let him know we miss him.
“I’m excited for him. (Jacksonville is) big for Nick and his family. He worked his butt off. He kept his head down and kept working, waiting for his moment. His moment happened in a season where you didn’t think it would. You’ve got Carson (Wentz) playing out of his mind and then, bam, the stuff comes right at you, real fast. If Nick wasn’t ready, we would have never been to where we were at. Obviously, we had to give him a couple games to for him to kind of get on his feet. But I think he handled it well and I’m just excited for him, and excited to get to see him this week.”
The Eagles sat 20 starters for their preseason opener last week. With the casualty lists growing for each team, no one would be surprised to see another game full of substitutes.
The Eagles are certainly without the services of Pro Bowl right tackle Lane Johnson and Pro Bowl right guard Brandon Brooks. It’s almost impossible to believe the Eagles would put Wentz on the field, even for a series, behind an offensive line with Jordan Mailata and rookie Andre Dillard at the
tackles and Halapoulivaati Vaitai at right guard.
Or that the Jaguars would expose Foles, who they signed to a four-year $88 million contract, in a preseason game to the Eagles. The play of Sunday’s practice was Malcolm Jenkins intercepting a Wentz throw intended for Nelson Agholor and motoring up the field, where he was met by center Jason Kelce.
Kelce wrapped his arms around Jenkins and alertly tomahawked the ball out to make the event two turnovers in one.
That woke the players up. Cornerback Avonte Maddox
made a diving interception of a tipped pass intended for rookie J.J. Arcega-Whiteside. Safety Rodney McLeod, still not all the way back from torn knee ligaments, limped off the field after colliding with Arcega-Whiteside on the play. The Eagles waived-injured wide receiver Shelton Gibson, the 2017 fifth-round pick out of West Virginia, to make room cornerback Sojourn Shelton.
Gibson caught three passes for 59 yards in a 20game career, including a 48-yarder last year. He was primarily a special teams player.
Shelton (5-9, 177) is a product of Wisconsin, where he intercepted nine passes in a four-year career ending in 2016.