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What’s going on with the Philadelphia Eagles and their undrafted rookie free agent players?
First it was Jerod Evans and Charles Walker who suffered injuries, which caused the Eagles to waive them with injury settlements. Now Jimmy Kempski of PhillyVoice reports the Eagles’ top ranked UDFA signing, Tyler Orlosky, will miss up to eight weeks due to an MCL strain suffered a few weeks ago during rookie minicamp.
Unlike Evans and Walker, it doesn’t seem like the Eagles will risk losing Orlosky. Multiple NFL Draft analysts had the West Virginia center as the third best player at his position. CBS Sports projected Orlosky to be a third round pick and had him ranked as their 95th overall prospect.
Orlosky should be able to be back in time for Eagles training camp later this summer. In the meantime, he’s going to miss valuable reps during spring practice. Orlosky seemingly faces an uphill battle to make the team given all the depth the Eagles have at center. Jason Kelce is still the team’s starter despite trade rumors and the Eagles re-signed Stefen Wisniewski to a multi-year deal. 2016 third-round pick Isaac Seumalo is getting the nod at first team left guard but he played center in college so he could be in the mix as well.
Here’s a reminder of the Eagles’ entire 2017 UDFA class, which was rated as one of the best in the league. As you can see, the class has really taken a hit by injuries.
C Tyler Orlosky, West Virginia, 95th, 3rd (Injured)
RB Corey Clement, Wisconsin, 196th, 18thDT Charles Walker, Oklahoma, 225th, 22ndQB Jerod Evans, Virginia Tech, 232nd, 12th
TE Billy Brown, Shepherd, 292nd, 18th
DL Winston Craig, Richmond, 324th, 29th
P Cameron Johnston, Ohio State, 376th, 4th
CB Randall Goforth, UCLA, 402nd, 20th
QB/WR Greg Ward, Houston, 633rd, 72nd
CB Jomal Wiltz, Iowa State, unranked
S Tre’ Sullivan, Shepherd, unranked
For more on the Eagles’ entire injury situation, check out my practices notes from Tuesday.
Injury updates: Sidney Jones is obviously hurt. Beau Allen is still recovering from the pectoral injury he suffered this offseason. I didn’t see Ron Brooks and Joe Walker participate much in practice. Both players suffered ACL injuries in 2016. Allen Barbre is still nursing a calf injury, as Pederson noted, and didn’t practice much. Jordan Matthews didn’t seem limited but apparently he’s still dealing with the ankle injury he suffered last season.