Howard Smith – USA TODAY Sports
There may be more injury bugs circling the practice fields at the Philadelphia Eagles‘ Novacare Complex this summer than the dragonflies that are visible to the naked eye on the humid afternoons.
Already down to just seven healthy wide receivers before Thursday’s practice with special teams ace Jason Phillips also lost for the year with a torn ACL, to go with Jeremy Maclin and Arrelious Benn‘s matching ligament tears, the Birds’ offensive line was dealt another blow Thursday.
Second-year offensive guard/tackle Dennis Kelly will miss at least the entire preseason after undergoing back surgery to repair a herniated disc in his lower back. Kelly told reporters Thursday that he underwent the surgery on Monday, but the team has yet to make an announcement.
“It started bothering me last season,” Kelly said during an interview in the parking lot of the NovaCare Complex. “I thought it would get better with rest, but it didn’t, so I thought it would be better to have the surgery now.”
Kelly hopes to be ready for the season opener against the Washington Redskins on Sept. 9, but he struggled to even get into his car on Thursday morning. “I can move pretty well although it doesn’t look like it,” Kelly said.
While he isn’t a starting player on the offensive line, his injury is worth keeping an eye on given the up and down nature of Jason Peters‘ injury-riddled training camp after missing all of last season with a double ruptured Achilles tendon.
Kelly, 6-foot-8 and 321 pounds, started seven games at right tackle last season and three at right guard, but the Purdue product appeared in a total of 13 contests his rookie season. He was expected to be the top backup tackle this year behind starters Peters and rookie Lane Johnson.
Kelly’s injury puts third-year offensive lineman Danny Watkins in full fledged ‘put up or shut up’ mode as a former first-round draft choice and could put the onus on the team looking outside for help adding depth along the line.
The Eagles currently have 87 players on their roster, but general manager Howie Roseman didn’t appear to be in any hurry Thursday to fill them.
After losing Maclin and Benn to season-ending injuries, the Eagles likely will take a ‘next man up‘ approach to filling their void on the depth chart rather then adding a free agent anytime soon.
“We have some young guys on our roster [at wide receiver],” Roseman pointed out Thursday. “It’s important for us to get an evaluation of those guys and see what they’re about. We brought them here for a reason, we haven’t had a game situation yet and some of had flashes in practice so we’re looking forward to see what they do in a game.”
Matt Lombardo is also a sports radio host on 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia. Join the conversation and follow him on Twitter.
