Eagles place Arryn Siposs on injured reserve, announce practice squad news

The Philadelphia Eagles officially announced transactions involving five different players on Tuesday afternoon.

An overview:

• P Arryn Siposs was placed on injured reserve.
• P Brett Kern and S Anthony Harris were signed to the practice squad.
• WR Auden Tate and S Marquise Blair were released from the practice squad.

Let’s sort through this news on a player-by-player basis.

ARRYN SIPOSS

Siposs suffered a lower-leg injury during the Eagles’ Week 14 win over the New York Giants as he heroically tried to turn a blocked punt into a first down. Siposs was carted off the field and is said to be “out indefinitely.”

By going on IR, Siposs will automatically miss the Eagles’ remaining four regular season games. He will be eligible to return for Philly’s first playoff game but it’s unclear if he’ll be healthy by then. It’s also possible that Kern could play well enough to a point where the Eagles don’t feel the need to activate Siposs even if/when he’s healthy.

OPEN ROSTER SPOT

By placing Siposs on IR, the Eagles have an open roster spot to work with. One would figure that’ll go to Dallas Goedert, assuming he’s ready to return. The Eagles have yet to activate his 21-day practice window but they could very well do that on Wednesday, if not sooner.

BRETT KERN

We already wrote about the Eagles signing Kern on Monday. There’s reason to believe the former All-Pro and three-time Pro Bowler punter could be an upgrade on Siposs.

In 2021, Kern ranked 19th out of 35 punters in net average (40.5) and 14th out of 35 by Pro Football Focus grading. For perspective, Siposs ranks 23rd (40.6) and 31st in those respective categories this season.

At the very least, the Eagles shouldn’t see much drop-off. Kern is a proven commodity as both a punter and holder.

The Eagles can temporarily elevate Kern to the game day roster up to three times in order to avoid having to free up a spot for him at the moment.

ANTHONY HARRIS

We wrote about the Eagles signing Harris earlier on Tuesday.

CJGJ will miss at least two more games while on injured reserve due to a lacerated kidney. Blankenship reportedly avoided an injury that will necessitate a trip to IR but he might miss a game or two.

When it comes to healthy options, the Eagles are down to just Marcus Epps and K’Von Wallace as full-time safeties. Epps is a quality starter but Wallace has been a liability more often than not when he’s had to play. It could be preferable to insert Harris ahead of Wallace. Or at least have them split playing time.

Speaking on Tuesday, Jonathan Gannon did not indicate if Harris will start at safety or not.

Despite being temporarily elevated twice while on the Denver Broncos’ practice squad earlier this season, Harris is still eligible to be bumped up up to three times with the Eagles. So, as is the case with Kern, the Eagles can avoid having to use a roster spot on Harris for the time being.

AUDEN TATE

Tate has bounced on and off the Eagles’ practice squad for about a month now. Perhaps the big-bodied wide receiver will be back again at some point.

MARQUISE BLAIR

The Eagles originally signed Blair, a 2019 second-round pick, to their practice squad about a month ago. He became expendable with the Eagles re-signing Harris.