Doug Pederson: Ron Brooks out for year; C.J. Smith could see more reps

Doug Pederson confirmed Les Bowen’s report Monday morning that cornerback Ron Brooks is out for the season with a ruptured quadriceps tendon.

Pederson spoke to reporters Monday following Sunday’s win over the Vikings, and he said Brooks, who left the game in the first quarter, will have surgery in the next few days to repair the tendon.

Bowen reported that Brooks might not be fully healthy until July.

In the meantime, the Eagles will place Brooks on injured reserve and have an open spot on their 53-man roster. What they will do with it is still uncertain.

As Geoff Mosher reported, Aaron Grymes is supposed to come in to the facility on Monday for a workout. Pederson was asked about Grymes on Monday, and he was reticent to say much about his prospects of being signed.

“Until I hear anymore, we had him in camp and he hasn’t played ball, so we’ve got to see where he’s at,” Pederson said.

Pederson seemed more interested in working with C.J. Smith, who is already on the 53-man roster, and getting him more reps during practice in case the coaches want to use him during games going forward.

“Obviously we have C.J. Smith there, who we’ve activated,” Pederson said. “We’ve got to continue to look at getting C.J. more reps during the week.”

As far as what to expect from the defense this Sunday against Dallas, Pederson said it’ll likely be more of the same as when it’s been with Brooks out recently.

“I think it would be very similar to what we’ve seen,” Pederson said, “with Jalen [Mills] on the outside, Malcolm [Jenkins] coming down in the nickel spot, and Jaylen Watkins playing safety a bit.”

Any trades in the works?

“That’d be something for Howie,” Pederson said, coyly.

He touched on a few more key topics following Sunday’s win:

On Ryan Mathews’ fumbles

“It’s definitely a concern and we don’t want to see it especially in those situations, four-minute situations there at the end of the game. We’ve got to continue to either find out if he’s tired, where he’s at at the end of the game. … By no means am I down on Ryan at all. We just have to make sure that he understands he can’t obviously do that and put ourselves in a situation where we’re giving the ball back to the opponent.”

On low/dropped snaps

“A little bit center, a lot bit quarterback, actually. It’s something as a QB he just took his eyes off the ball, was looking at his read … and just didn’t look a the football. Kelce wasn’t perfect. A few were off to the right.”

On Halapoulivaati Vaitai’s second game

“I think learning from the week before, quite honestly. He detailed his work during the week, he practiced better, he used” his hands better, he was able to calm the storm, so to speak. … He played a fine football game. He played the type of game that we saw form him, and he’s capable of doing.”