Philadelphia Eagles: Eric Wilson headlines a spooky inactive list

The Philadelphia Eagles‘ Week 8 inactive players list was always going to look markedly different than in weeks past.

With Joe Flacco now a member of the New York Jets, Miles Sanders on IR, Zech McPhearson out, and both Jordan Howard and Richard Rodgers being called up from the practice squad for game day action, players like Gardner Minshew, who has been inactive all season long, would finally suit up in a midnight green uniform, while other would spend their first game of the season in street clothes.

What many a fan didn’t expect, however, was to see the team’s starting middle linebacker, Eric Wilson, as a healthy scratch heading into arguably the most winnable game of the season.

I guess on-field performance does contribute to playing time in Jonathan Gannon’s defensive scheme after all.

Eric Wilson may not be long for the Philadelphia Eagles.

According to Pro Football Focus, Eric Wilson is the fourth-worst graded linebacker in the NFL.

He holds an overall defensive grade of 35.0, a run-stuffing grade of 26.7, and a coverage grade that is comparably higher at 51.9, likely influenced by his Week 4 interception, but is still well below league-average.

But wait, it gets worse.

According to Pro Football Reference, Wilson has been targeted 21 times in coverage so far this season and has allowed 18 catches for 169 yards and a touchdown, including a brutal 99 yards after the catch.

Yikes.

Now granted, is that poor play all on Wilson? No. None of the Eagles’ linebackers are playing particularly well in a defensive scheme that is allowing the fourth-most rushing yards of any team in the league and routinely sees opposing quarterbacks complete 80 percent of their passes versus Jonathan’s Gannon’s soft zone, but Wilson has looked particularly bad when compared to his peers, which is incredibly frustrating, considering his experience in the scheme and cap hit.

Could we see Wilson released midway through the season in the hopes of getting back a compensatory pick? If a player like Davion Taylor steps up in Week 8, I think that’s a very real possibility.

Ultimately, the Philadelphia Eagles’ idea to shake things up heading into Week 8 is a sound strategy. The team’s collective on-field performances haven’t been good, and they have a ton of young linebackers who are seeing their playing time limited by Eric Wilson’s presence in the rotation. Will it, however, actually lead to wins? That, my friends, is the $3.5 million question.