Ronald Darby Injury: Eagles cornerback carted off field against Redskins

Eagles cornerback Ronald Darby suffered a very bad looking non-contact injury during Philadelphia’s Week 1 game against the Washington Redskins on Sunday afternoon. The team has officially ruled him out of the matchup with an ankle injury.

The injury occurred early in the second quarter. Darby was covering a wide receiver while the injury happened. He stayed down on the field for a long time before having to be carted off.

This is obviously very bad news for the Eagles. Darby, whom Philadelphia acquired in a trade with the Buffalo Bills this offseason, is the team’s best corner. The Eagles didn’t have a lot of talent at cornerback outside of him to begin with.

With Darby out, the Eagles are putting Patrick Robinson in his place on the outside. That’s a major concern considering Robinson really struggled at that spot in offseason practices. He was burned frequently by Eagles wide receivers during training camp.

The Eagles only activated three cornerbacks for the Washington game: Darby, Robinson, and Jalen Mills. Jaylen Watkins also has the versatility to play corner but that’s not an ideal option. 2017 third-round pick Rasul Douglas was kept inactive.

This sucks.

Stay tuned for more updates.

UPDATE: Here’s some more insight from @ProFootballDoc.

The best-case scenario after Darby rolled his right ankle in the second quarter while giving chase in coverage is that the cornerback will miss a chunk of the season.

By video, Darby misstepped awkwardly and his right foot/ankle remained in varus (turned in).

An attempt to reduce (realign the ankle) on the field did not appear successful. Darby was carted off with his foot in an air splint.

The best hope is Darby suffered a subtalar ankle dislocation without fracture and could come back this season. If it is an associated fracture and ankle joint dislocation, he will need season-ending surgery.