Philadelphia Eagles LB Jordan Hicks out for the season
The Philadelphia Eagles will be without LB Jordan Hicks for the remainder of the season.
The Philadelphia Eagles may have won the game on Monday night against the Washington Redskins, but they lost a big part of their defense. On just the second play of the game, middle linebacker Jordan Hicks was helped off the field. At the time, the injury was unclear. After the Eagles sealed the deal against the Redskins, Hicks got his diagnosis of a ruptured Achilles, which will end his season.
The loss of Hicks will take a major hit on the Eagles defense. As if they didn’t already have depth problems at linebacker, they now lose their heart of the unit. Hicks has been suffering minor injuries on and off all season. Just last week he was pulled out from the game against the Carolina Panthers for a calf injury. He was limited in practice last week and was questionable for yesterday’s game. Although it is tough to predict an injury like that to occur, the Eagles still may regret the decision to play him on Monday.
The Timetable:
A ruptured Achilles calls for a trip to the injured reserve immediately. Obviously, the Eagles will plan to move on without Hicks returning until next season. Middle linebacker Joe Walker has been filling in for Hicks over the last couple of weeks when he was out. Walker finished Monday night’s game with only one tackle.
The Eagles will have to figure out if they plan to move on with Walker as the starter or not. Although they have limited options, a decision needs to be made quickly. Last week, they worked out a few free agent veteran linebackers who could potentially be signed for the remainder of the season. They also called up rookie Nathan Gerry from the practice squad when they placed safety Chris Maragos on the injured reserve.
No matter what the Eagles plan to do, you can still expect a major effort from the outside linebackers. Nigel Bradham has been a major contributor along with Mychal Kendricks. Let’s also not forget Najee Goode’s solid night on Monday filling in for Kendricks, who was out with a hamstring injury. Goode finished the game with five tackles.
The Eagles have been playing this season with the next man up mentality, and they need to continue to do so. Obviously, this team leans more on the defense to make major stops so they need all the strength they can get without Hicks. Whether they trust their young guys on the roster already or have interest in a free agent veteran, the Eagles will have to make a move as soon as possible.