Eagles Injury Update: Mack Hollins still rehabbing, Miles Sanders sidelined

The Philadelphia Eagles are still dealing with the injury bug as a few key guys are sitting out of OTAs.

The mystery lives on for select Philadelphia Eagles players this offseason. With OTAs set to kick off for the third week, the team has yet to get fully healthy once again. It’s not a big deal for some guys who were expected to miss this time (Fletcher Cox, Brandon Brooks). However, some younger guys have something to prove during the offseason but haven’t had the opportunity to do so yet since they are dealing with some sort of injury.

Being that OTAs are voluntary, not everybody is expected to participate. Typically, veterans who have been around for a while tend to take extended time away from the team. While that’s not an ideal scenario, there can be some good behind it. When a veteran misses time, that gives the next-man-up and beyond an opportunity to get some extra reps against stronger opponents.

Unfortunately for some younger guys, they will miss that opportunity if they just so happened to be sidelined due to an injury. Right now, the Eagles have two specific players who have missed all of the OTAs sessions due to their circumstances. On Monday, Eagles’ head coach Doug Pederson offered a brief update on those players, while being as discreet as possible regarding the injury.

Miles Sanders has yet to debut

The Eagles selected Penn State running back Miles Sanders with the first of their two second-round picks this past draft. While Sanders had the opportunity to get started in Philly during the rookie mini-camp sessions for a weekend, he ended up suffering a setback. According to Coach Pederson, Sanders is dealing with a lower-body injury.

At the start of last week’s OTA sessions, it was reported that Sanders’ mystery injury just so happened to be a hamstring strain. According to the report, Sanders could practice as early as last week, but the Eagles have yet to confirm that report. On Monday, Pederson refused to label the injury as anything beyond a ‘lower body’ issue, but he did make it clear that he intends on being careful with Sanders, and prefers to not rush him back under any circumstances.

Another update on Mack Hollins

Perhaps the biggest mystery on the Eagles has been the absence of Mack Hollins. Last season, Hollins started the offseason benched due to a sports hernia surgery. Eventually, he would return for training camp and made his way out onto the field for week one of the preseason, but after that, Hollins would disappear once again. Come to find out, Hollins suffered a groin injury, which required another surgery.

Assuming Hollins would be back midway through the year, many were surprised to find out that he wouldn’t even play during his second season. Now as Hollins is entering somewhat of a make or break year with the Eagles, everybody is getting antsy for his return. Unfortunately, nobody knows when that is. Pederson mentioned on Monday that yes, Hollins is still rehabbing from his injury. At the very least, Pederson expects Hollins to return by training camp. We’ll see when the time comes, but so far it’s hard to expect Hollins to be back soon.