On Monday, the Eagles placed starting inside linebacker DeMeco Ryans on injured reserve, which will end his season. The third-year Eagles defender suffered an Achilles injury in Sunday's win against the Houston Texans.
Ryans was injured as he intercepted a pass from Houston quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. The injury happened without contact and hurt so bad that Ryans dropped the ball before being touched and the Texans recovered the fumble. Ryans was carted off of the field as most of the Eagles defense honored him.
Ryans will enter the final year of his deal next off-season and will likely need to take a pay cut to stay in Philadelphia. While that may not seem likely, the injury gives the Eagles a lot of leverage if the team is willing to renegotiate his contract.
The Eagles will likely replace Ryans with Casey Matthews, who is in his fourth season with the team. Philadelphia also has Emmanuel Acho and Marcus Smith on the roster. The team has been using cornerback Nolan Carroll as the inside linebacker in dime situations.
In a corresponding move, the Eagles have signed safety Chris Prosinski to the 53-man roster. More on him later.