Eagles-Vikings Final Injury Report: Philadelphia rules out 3 starters

The Philadelphia Eagles issued their third and final official injury report on Wednesday in advance of their Week 2 Thursday Night Football game against the Minnesota Vikings.

The Birds entered Week 1 with an entirely healthy 53-man roster. That’s certainly not the case this week.

The Eagles ruled three players OUT: starting running back Kenneth Gainwell, starting cornerback James Bradberry, and starting safety Reed Blankenship.

Gainwell being out means the Eagles will be without their lead back (by far) from Week 1. D’Andre Swift is the favorite to see the most RB touches in his absence. Boston Scott and Rashaad Penny — who was a healthy scratch in Week 1 — will also likely be mixed in to some extent. Penny could conceivably be RB2 in this configuration even though he was RB4 in the season opener; he offers more upside than Scott does.

Bradberry might’ve been able to play if this game was on Sunday ... but suffering a concussion ahead of a short week doomed him. This is the first game Bradberry will miss since the 2020 season, when he sat out while on the reserve/COVID list. It’s only his sixth missed game since his NFL career began in 2016. Bradberry will be replaced by Josh Jobe, a 2022 UDFA signing making his first NFL start. Jobe looked good in training camp to win the top backup spot at outside cornerback. The Vikings will undoubtedly be looking to test him.

Blankenship’s absence is ultimately a bit of a surprise since he only missed two snaps in the middle of Sunday’s game before returning. Kudos to him for toughing that out. With the adrenaline gone, he’s clearly in too much pain to play this week. Blankenship not playing is troubling since he’s the Eagles’ best safety by far. Now it’ll likely be Justin Evans and Terrell Edmunds starting on the back end. It’s possible that Sydney Brown could mix in as well ... but he didn’t even see any defensive snaps in Week 1.

The Eagles ruled one player QUESTIONABLE: Fletcher Cox.

Cox suffered a rib injury late in the Eagles’ season opener. Reports indicate he’s going to play through the pain. We’ll see if his snaps end up being more limited than usual. The team used a six-man DT rotation in Week 1 with Cox, Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Milton Williams, Marlon Tuipulotu, and Kentavius Street all logging defensive snaps.

Nakobe Dean was placed on injured reserve on Tuesday.

And so it could be Christian Elliss and Zach Cunningham starting at off-ball linebacker. Veteran Nicholas Morrow, who was called up from the practice squad, could also rotate in. Not a pretty picture.

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES INJURY REPORT (WEDNESDAY)

OUT

S Reed Blankenship (ribs)
CB James Bradberry (ribs)
RB Kenneth Gainwell (ribs)

QUESTIONABLE

DT Fletcher Cox (ribs)

...

RESERVE/INJURED

LB Shaun Bradley
LB Nakobe Dean
OT Roderick Johnson
CB Zech McPhearson

Dean is dealing with a foot injury and won’t be eligible to return until Week 6 at the earliest. Bradley, Johnson, and McPhearson are on track to miss the entire 2023 season by being placed on IR ahead of roster cuts to the 53-player limit. Charleston Rambo was recently waived from IR.

RESERVE/SUSPENDED BY COMMISSIONER

CB Isaiah Rodgers

Rodgers is suspended for the entire 2023 season due to gambling. He can apply for reinstatement next year.

MINNESOTA VIKINGS INJURY REPORT (WEDNESDAY)

The Vikings ruled out starting center Garrett Bradbury. He’ll be replaced by Austin Schlottmann, who our colleagues over at Daily Norseman described as “Just A Guy.” The Eagles’ defensive line really needs to take advantage of a weakened interior offensive line for the second straight game.

Starting left tackle Christian Darrisaw and starting edge rusher Marcus Davenport are questionable to play after being listed as limited in practice all week. We’ll see if they’re on the inactives list or not 90 minutes prior to kickoff.

OUT

C Garrett Bradbury (back)

QUESTIONABLE

OT Christian Darrisaw (ankle)
OLB Marcus Davenport (ankle)

...

RESERVE/NON-FOOTBALL INJURY

G/C Chris Reed

RESERVE/INJURED

WR Malik Knowles
LB William Kwenkeu
DL James Lynch
RB Kene Nwangwu