Eagles place Derek Barnett on injured reserve, sign Vikings practice squad defensive end

The Philadelphia Eagles officially announced two roster moves on Tuesday afternoon. An overview:

• DE Derek Barnett was placed on injured reserve.
• DE Janarius Robinson was signed from the Minnesota Vikings’ practice squad to the Eagles’ active roster.

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

DEREK BARNETT

Barnett suffered an ACL injury during the Eagles’ Week 1 win over the Detroit Lions. He is out for the rest of the 2022 season. He has a realistic chance to be ready for the start of next year’s campaign.

JANARIUS ROBINSON

Robinson, 24, was a fourth-round pick (No. 134 overall) by the Vikings in the 2021 NFL Draft. He played college football at Florida State, logging just eight sacks in 34 games.

Though not super productive, Robinson drew some intrigue due to the combination of his size and athleticism. Spider graph via Mockdraftable:

Robinson missed his entire rookie season after suffering a leg injury. He failed to make Minnesota’s roster this year after seemingly struggling in preseason games. Pro Football Focus had Robinson graded 158th out of 165 defensive ends (minimum 20% snaps played). Robinson ranked 93rd out of 143 players in PFF’s Pass Rush Productivity metric.

Pre-draft scouting report on Robinson via NFL.com:

Traits-based edge defender with the potential to play standing or as an even-front end. Studying tape can be a frustrating exercise, as the same player doesn’t always show up from game to game. He’s an agile athlete with rare length and has the traits necessary to make plays on the next level, but his wingspan often goes to waste due to a lack of skilled hand usage, and he seems content to put it in cruise control in certain situations. He has the physical tools and athletic ability necessary to play in the league, but his ceiling and floor could be defined by his motor and willingness to put the work in that is necessary for improvement.

Presumably, the Eagles are not signing Robinson to be an instant contributor. Barnett’s injury opens up a spot for Tarron Jackson to move up on the depth chart. The Eagles only kept three defensive ends active in Week 1: Brandon Graham, Josh Sweat, and Barnett. Jackson figures to take Barnett’s role with Robinson being kept inactive for now.

The Eagles playing the Vikings less than a week after making this signing is a nice side bonus to adding Robinson. One would imagine the coaching staff will look to pick his brain on Minnesota’s machinations.

That being said, it’s not like the Eagles signed Robinson mainly for espionage purposes. Signing Robinson away from the Vikings’ practice squad requires the Eagles to both 1) guarantee him three weeks of salary and 2) have his roster spot count against the 53-player limit for three weeks.

Speaking of roster spots, the Eagles still have one opening after never making a corresponding move in the aftermath of placing Andre Dillard on injured reserve last week. The team could look to promote punt returner Britain Covey to the roster if they don’t want to risk losing him. Or they could look to promote Le’Raven Clark to the roster if they want more offensive tackle depth while Dillard is out.