4 Questions the Eagles Need to Answer on Thursday Night

3. Is Sydney Brown Ready to Play?

I alluded to Reed Blankenship’s injury early, and this means we’ll likely see Sydney Brown play the first defensive snaps of his NFL career.

I don’t expect Brown to start — he exclusively played special teams snaps in Week 1 while Terrell Edmunds was the safety to rotate in on defense when Blankenship or Justin Evans was off the field.

But there was room for Edmunds to play 10 defensive snaps last week, with neither of the starters getting a 100% share of the available reps.

Brown will have the chance to slide into Edmunds’ role, getting in a few reps when the starters need a breather, and we’ll get to finally see what he’s made of in real game situations.

Brown’s potential is undeniable, but considering his mediocre performance in the preseason, it’ll be interesting to see just how far along he is in his development.

You’re not necessarily going to worry if a third-round pick isn’t game-ready right from the jump, but this game could give us an early look at whether we should consider Brown a potential contributor in 2023, or whether he should be looked at as more of a long-term project whom we hope to see on the field more in 2024.