Philadelphia Eagles: No Tuesday night football for Landon Dickerson

Ah, what a wonderful Sunday. The Philadelphia Eagles removed both of their players from the COVID list, their injury report came back with a clean bill of health, and, after having the Philadelphia 76ers game postponed, fans in the greater Delaware Valley could pack it in early for a long winter’s night.

… well, it was nice while it lasted.

After removing both Quez Watkins and Jason Huntley from the COVID list earlier in the afternoon (read about those simpler times here), the Eagles broke their social media silence by announcing that Landon Dickerson, the team’s rookie left guard, had been placed in COVID protocol and will be out for the team’s Week 15 bout against Washington, which technically will be played in Week 16, but I digress.

At 2 pm, the world looked like the Philadelphia Eagles’ oyster, but now? Now, fans will watch the injury reported with bated breath, hoping that no one else is a game-day scratch.

The Philadelphia Eagles will surely miss their ascending young guard.

When Landon Dickerson was initially inserted into the starting lineup, he was one of the worst guards in the NFL, according to PFF. Call it an unfortunate byproduct of missing all of training camp due to a December ACL injury, but when Dickerson initially took the field in Week 2 as an in-game replacement for Brandon Brooks, he certainly looked like a rookie.

But once Dickerson kicked it over to the left side in place of Isaac Seumalo, who suffered a season-ending injury midway through Week 3, things all seemed to come together for the collegiate All-American.

On the year, Dickerson has only surrendered two sacks and four penalties on 735 offensive snaps. He’s held up well against the pass, performed even better against the run, and has formed a fantastic left side of the line sandwiched between Jordan Mailata and Jason Kelce. Factor in the impressive showings by Jack Driscol at right guard, and the future looked incredibly bright for the youngsters on the Eagles’ offensive line, even if Nate Herbig probably shouldn’t be snapping the ball at center anytime soon.

But hey, who really pays attention to offensive linemen, right? Don’t people say a good offensive lineman is one no one notices? Well, I guess that adage will be tested in the Eagles’ first bout against Washington, as they’ll be forced to go with either Sua Opeta, Brett Toth, or maybe Le’Raven Clark in place of the 37th overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. While all three of those players have been with the Eagles for the vast majority of the season – Toth was waived for a minute back in November – but they’ve combined to play 24 offensive snaps for the Eagles so far this season, so it’s really anyone’s guess as to how well they will hold up.

*sigh* wasn’t moving the game back supposed to help players get more healthy not land more players on the COVID list? I know that’s not really how this is supposed to go, but it certainly doesn’t feel too good.

Ultimately, this was going to hit the Philadelphia Eagles sooner than later. COVID is taking the sports world by storm, and it feels like a borderline inevitability that even more Philadelphia athletes will find themselves sick before things calm down once more (if that ever happens). If Landon Dickerson is the only Eagles player out come Tuesday it’ll certainly be a bummer, but believe you me, things can certainly get worse, as Washington will tell you.