On Monday, Eagles head coach Doug Pederson said that tight end Dallas Goedert is going to “miss some time” on his ankle injury. Speculation began on what the injury might be, with the dreaded high-ankle sprain being floated by some as a worst-case scenario. On Tuesday morning, Eagles beat writer Jeff McLane reported that the injury is actually a fracture and not a sprain. This is actually good news.
To be clear, I’m not saying that Dallas Goedert having a fractured ankle is good for anyone, especially him. It’s just that a minor fracture is a quicker recovery than a sprain.
While the word “fracture” is always frightening to hear, it may not be the worst outcome in this scenario. A high-ankle sprain can sideline a player for more than a month and has an average recovery time of approximately 4-to-6 weeks. If this fracture is, in fact, a slight one, Goedert can potentially return to the field in 2-to-3 weeks. And NFL insider Tom Pelissero backs up McLane’s report that this is a “very small fracture” and that the injury will not require surgery.
While yet another injury is not ideal for an Eagles team that is already dealing with a mountain of them and is not exactly playing well right now, this news could have been worse. The best-case scenario now is that Goedert heals quickly, misses the next two games, and is able to return for a Week 6 matchup against the Baltimore Ravens at home.
When Goedert left the game on Sunday, the Eagles leaned more on 11 personnel packages (1 RB, 1 TE) as opposed to their usual 12 personnel packages (1 RB, 2 TE). The natural assumption would be that they would do that again this week, but they may also be without wide receiver DeSean Jackson, leaving them depleted at wide receiver, as well.
Look for Richard Rogers to once again see extended playing time in the Philadelphia offense, which is not something I thought I would be writing again this year. It also isn’t ideal for a team and an offense that is already struggling.
If Jackson isn’t able to play and Alshon Jeffery isn’t ready to return, Carson Wentz will be taking the field with Miles Sanders, Zach Ertz, Greg Ward, John Hightower, Richard Rogers, Deontay Burnett, and, I guess, J.J. Arcega-Whiteside on Sunday. The San Francisco 49ers have their own fair share of injuries, but they managed to blow out a bad Giants team last week anyway.
