Jones’ injuries have Schwartz scrambling

PHILADELPHIA >> The Eagles drafted Sidney Jones in the second round of the 2017 draft, aware that he was injured, convinced he would make a full recovery.

Two seasons later, they are dealing with that choice and waiting for the talented cornerback to play consistently and without injury or pain.

Though Jones gave the Eagles what he could Sunday in a 29-23 overtime loss in Dallas, he was not around for the end of the game, reporting a hamstring injury.

By Tuesday, Jim Schwartz all but admitted that the Eagles knew what they were investing in all along.

“You look at him like he’s a young player that’s had to battle through a lot of injuries,” the Birds’ defensive coordinator said. “You have to take last year out of the equation because we knew going in what we were going to get. We bought that issue. So we certainly don’t hold that against him in any kind of way.”

They bought that issue, but they made it clear on draft day and at every subsequent opportunity that they believed Jones to be a value pick, a star defensive back in waiting. Yet Jones has not made an interception this season, nor has he been routinely declared fully healthy thanks to recurring hamstring injuries since October.

By Sunday, he would admit that the Cowboys could see that he couldn’t run, thus explaining why he was pulled from the game.

“There are a lot of players who experience injuries early in their career,” Schwartz said. “The hardest time to experience injuries is when you’re new to a team. The spotlight is on you. You’re a high draft pick and you get hurt.

“A guy comes in drafted high and everybody is expecting him to come in and be a key contributor and he’s just not able to for whatever reason. We put Sid in that category. He’s done some really good things for us this year playing the nickel early in the season. There was some on-thejob training, but by this time I would’ve thought he would’ve really taken off. He got injured and wasn’t able to do it. Then he had to move outside with our injuries.

“We’ll be patient with it. He’s working as hard as he can to contribute to the team, and we know that.”

The Eagles could be patient, but they needed more from Jones Sunday in a game that may have doomed their postseason chances.

“He was going good early in that game,” Schwartz said “He made some good tackles for us. Then he started feeling (pain) a little bit. The trainers took him in. After the half, they thought he would be ready to go again. He was out and made a couple nice plays for us, and then it was pretty obvious that he wasn’t running the way he could.”

Jones has recovered from the Achilles injury that suppressed his draft value. And he has tried to give Schwartz’s injury-challenged secondary a boost. But he has not yet played to secondround expectations.

“Like all our other players, he’s game and he’s out there battling trying to do whatever he can to help the team,” Schwartz said. “He knows the position we’re in with our corners, and he’s trying his very best. But it’s up to us at times to be able to say, ‘OK, let’s call it a day.’ And that’s what we had to do late in that game.”

••• The Eagles had plentiful ways to win, and to lose, in Dallas.

As it would happen, they lost when Rasul Douglas tipped a Dak Prescott pass before it ricocheted to Amari Cooper for the winning touchdown in overtime.

That left the Birds’ coaching staff with one additional task this week: Reassure Douglas that football can be that way.

“He felt such a responsibility,” Schwartz said. “You need to have a short memory for a corner. But there are no other plays after that. I really don’t worry too much about Rasul. That is one of the things he’s good at, putting some stuff behind him and moving on to the next. It’s just tough when you’re moving on to getting on the bus.”

So, it’s onto a plane … and a game in Los Angeles Sunday.

“That’s just one play in that game,” Schwartz said. “That’s the way every game goes. There are so many different plays within a game. You can point to every one of those as the turning point of the game. Those guys know that. He took it tough. It’s a gut punch. It’s life in the NFL. You need to bounce back from it. It was a tough way to finish a very important game.”

••• With former Eagles quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo being fired Tuesday by as the Vikings’ offensive coordinator, talk likely will bubble about him being reunited in some way with Carson Wentz.

Coincidentally or not, Eagles offensive coordinator Mike Groh already seems to be crafting a stump speech. The theme: Under his watch, Wentz is not having a bad season.

“I think Carson’s completion percentage is up almost 10 percentage points over the last year,” Groh said. “I know that was something we set as a goal to improve upon. He’s done a great job with that. That’s almost unheard of at this level, to be able to increase your completion percentage the way he’s done. You’re never going to complete them all, but obviously that’s the goal.”