Avonte Maddox Injury Already Shaping Up to Be a Disaster for Eagles

Avonte Maddox went down with an injury in the second quarter of Thursday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings. That’s never good to see, and especially now that we don’t have C.J. Gardner-Johnson to move into the slot to fill in.

Mario Goodrich stepped into Maddox’ spot and was immediately exposed for the game’s first touchdown. It was a downright ugly rep from Maddox’ backup.

Avonte Maddox Injury Update

Update – Thu Sep. 14, 10:00 p.m. ET: Avonte Maddox has officially been ruled out for the remainder of the game.

That was already bad, then it got worse. The next drive it was announced that Maddox was heading back to the locker room to get x-rays on his shoulder. Yikes.

Mario Goodrich is a 2022 undrafted free agent who never played a snap last season. He was good during the preseason, but not the kind of blow-you-away good that builds any optimism for a guy who we’ve never seen in a game that matters.

And now we have seen him in a game that matters. And what we saw was brutal.

Of course, we’re also already thin in the secondary. Reed Blankenship is out. James Bradberry is out. And even Sydney Brown has been banged up in this game.

Secondary depth was one of the few areas of concern on this Eagles roster heading into the season, and it’s already rearing its ugly head.

We couldn’t keep Gardner-Johnson and it’s not like we didn’t make an effort to add depth — Brown and Terrell Edmunds were great additions. But it wasn’t enough, and we had to just hope the starters were going to stay healthy.

That hasn’t happened, and we’re starting to feel the impact.

If Maddox is going to be out long-term, we need to make a move like we did last year and find someone other than his backup to step up as the starting slot corner. Goodrich is not ready, and he simply can’t be the answer. Especially not with how slowly we’ve started the year anyway.

Defensive coordinator Sean Desai may need to get creative, but since we’re playing on Thursday night he at least has a long week to do it.

Of course, the best solution would be Maddox’ x-rays being clear and getting him back on the field as quickly as possible.

We can’t afford to rely on wishful thinking and good fortune though, so Desai needs to prepare himself and the Eagles defense for the worst.