Philadelphia Eagles debate table: Can we call Sidney Jones injury prone?
The Philadelphia Eagles are, again, looking to head into a stretch of games that will be played without their second-year cornerback Sidney Jones IV. Is it too early to call him injury prone?
The Philadelphia Eagles invested a lot of faith in the 43rd-overall selection of the 2017 NFL Draft, Sidney Jones IV. They made a decision to draft a cornerback with a second-round selection despite the fact that they were fully aware that he probably wouldn’t be available immediately.
Jones had a successful and mostly injury-free career with the Washington Huskies. He started 12 of the 13 games he appeared in as a true freshman. That led to 13 starts as a sophomore and another 14 as a senior.
Three injury-free collegiate seasons in the Pacific-Northwest produced 145 tackles, nine interceptions, 30 passes defensed and six forced fumbles. From there, he made the decision to forego his senior season and go pro.
He would have been a first-round selection had he not torn his Achilles tendon during Washington’s pro day. That’s, perhaps, where things changed forever.
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Jones would, indeed, make an appearance as a rookie, in the 2017 season finale versus the Dallas Cowboys, but he was inactive during Philly’s Super Bowl run. That brings us to 2018.
A promising future is now on pause.
As the offseason progressed, it became more and more apparent that Philly wanted to go the route of placing Jalen Mills and Ronald Darby on the outside at corner, and they wanted to place Sidney Jones on the inside as their starting slot corner.
For the first month of the 2018 season, that proved to be a smart decision, but after an ankle injury in Week 5 and, now, a hamstring injury in Week 6, there are concerns.
Sure, he was healthy at Washington, but was that Achilles injury a freak occurrence or a sign of things to come? At this point, it’s too early to call him injury prone, but as talented as he is, it won’t matter much if he’s continually spending game after game on the inactive list.
Next. Eagles still need more efficiency on defense. dark
If you’re an Eagles fan, you have to hope for the best, but trust and believe this is a subject that may get some more attention as we move forward. For now, the Eagles will most likely move forward with rookie Avonte Maddox in the slot and fellow second-year corner Rasul Douglas, last year’s 99th-overall selection, possibly getting a ton of work at safety.