Philadelphia Eagles: Lane Johnson, Jordan Howard still not cleared

Philadelphia Eagles’ Lane Johnson and Jordan Howard haven’t been cleared for contact as of Friday.

Typically, a bye week gives an NFL team plenty of time for guys to rest up and get healthy. Unfortunately for the Philadelphia Eagles, that wasn’t the case. Weirdly, the Eagles seemed to have gotten more injured after the bye week, rather than gaining some guys back.

And this week, the team still cannot get fully healthy. While they are fortunate to potentially have their starting linebacker Nigel Bradham back in the mix, they seem to have some issues with getting some key offensive players back on the field this week.

Two weeks ago, Eagles’ running back Jordan Howard suffered a shoulder injury against his former team, the Chicago Bears. He was diagnosed with a stinger, which kept him out of last week’s game against the New England Patriots. It didn’t seem like Howard’s injury was too significant initially, but now his status is becoming alarming.

As of Friday, Howard has not been cleared for contact. And according to NJ.com’s Mike Kaye, Doug Pederson didn’t sound too optimistic about the Birds’ running back returning to the field this week either. Obviously, there’s still some time for things to change, but it sounds more likely that Howard will miss his second consecutive game this season.

On the offensive line, the Eagles lost Lane Johnson this week as well to a concussion. As the veteran All-Pro was carted away from the sideline before entering the protocol, it was expected he wouldn’t get back in the game. Now, it looks like he might not be able to return this week, either. Similar to Howard, Johnson has yet to be cleared to play, as he’s still in concussion protocol.

No decisions are final right now, as the injury report has not yet come out. But as Sunday inches closer, it’s beginning to look like the Eagles are going to be without two of their key starters once again this week as they take on the Seattle Seahawks.