Fletcher Cox left last week’s game against the Los Angeles Rams with what was eventually revealed to be an oblique injury, but he returned and was able to finish the game. After failing to practice on both Wednesday and Thursday, Cox practiced in a limited fashion on Friday and was listed as questionable on the team’s official injury report.
Eagles head coach Doug Pederson said that the team would continue to evaluate Cox, and he will be a game-time decision on Sunday.
According to a team source, however, the Eagles would be “surprised” if Cox is unable to suit up for the Week 3 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals. The source did say the team could ultimately decide to play it safe and hold Cox out this week, but Cox is pushing to play. This meshes with what NFL insider Mike Garafolo reported on Friday afternoon:
Of course, this doesn’t mean that Cox is a lock to start and play his usual amount of snaps on Sunday. It’s not even a guarantee that he’ll be able to play at all. But things are trending in the right direction, and the Eagles made a pair of roster moves on Saturday that may give us some indication about their confidence in Cox and his health.
On Saturday afternoon, the Eagles announced they were promoting defensive back Grayland Arnold and wide receiver Deontay Burnett to the active roster:
This is notable because the team is NOT promoting defensive tackle T.Y. McGill to the active roster. Without McGill, that would leave the Eagles with only three defensive tackles (Javon Hargrave, Malik Jackson, and Hassan Ridgeway) for Week 3. McGill was among the four players on the team’s practice squad who was protected this week, as he has been all three weeks this season.
This could be a sign that the team is hopeful that Cox is able to play, especially since Hargrave probably isn’t ready to play a majority of the defensive snaps after missing most of training camp.
However, a lot can change in the next several hours. Wide receiver Jalen Reagor, who had thumb surgery earlier this week and is expected to miss approximately two months, has not yet placed on injured reserve. It’s possible that the team places Reagor on injured reserve and promotes McGill to the active roster to take his place.
We likely won’t know for sure until sometime tomorrow morning whether or not Cox is able to play, unless Adam Schefter or Ian Rapoport drop a note on Twitter around 1am updating his status, as they do every week for a number of players with questionable injury designations.
