Eagles news: NFL insider provides update on Andre Dillard recovery time

Any mention of an injury always forces an interested party to pause while scrolling through the timeline, and this past Thursday, that was again true. News spread like wildfire as the word out of the NovaCare Complex this past Thursday was fourth-year offensive tackle Andre Dillard had fractured his left forearm at practice. As is the case, the immediate response was the usual back and forth over how long the recovery time might be.

Fortunately, the news turns out to be along the same lines as what we expected. Number 77 will miss some time, but he should be available for, as Mike Garafolo reported, “the majority of the season”.

NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport provides another update on Eagles tackle Andre Dillard.

Many of us, following the news of Dillard’s injury, threw on our stethoscopes and did an immediate Google search to determine the length of time that it should take one to return to 100 percent after remedying a broken bone in the forearm. Admittedly, we had no idea which portion of the bone was broken. Some of us didn’t even know how severe the break was, but we all determined that four or five weeks (or something along those lines) would do the trick.

According to NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport, those theories are relatively accurate. Here are the details from a Monday afternoon tweet from his official account.

"Eagles OT Andre Dillard will undergo surgery to repair his broken forearm (on August 6th), sources say, with the procedure aimed at stability. The timetable of 4-6 weeks of recovery remains the same."

On Tuesday, shortly before much of the East Coast’s first-shifters put a bow on their workday, the Eagles announced Andre Dillard would be placed on the team’s injured reserve.

Per league rules, he’ll need to sit out for, at minimum, the first four games of the season. He’s still listed as the team’s backup left tackle on their depth chart, but during an earlier sit-down with members of the Philly media, offensive coordinator Shane Steichen stated there’s a plan in place and that the details of the said plan would be kept in-house.

In terms of the recovery timetable, the lower end of that spectrum speaks to him being physically ready for a return sometime around Week 5. The Eagles have a road date scheduled versus the Arizona Cardinals on October 9th. If the six-week theory is correct, we’d expect Dillard’s recovery time will end sometime during the bye week before Philadelphia returns in Week 8 of the regular season to meet the Pittsburgh Steelers one day before Halloween during a home date at Lincoln Financial Field.

Fortunately, he’s a depth piece as they have a wonderful contingency plan already built in. Their starter at left tackle is one of the best in the NFL at his position, Jordan Mailata. History has taught is that teams can never have too many good offensive linemen. Fingers are crossed that Dillard returns sooner rather than later.