Heading into their Week 6 matchup against the New York Giants on Thursday, the Philadelphia Eagles will likely be missing starting offensive lineman Landon Dickerson, who has struggled to play at a Pro Bowl level to start this season.
On Tuesday, Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Dickerson could miss the next 1-2 games with an ankle injury. The 27-year-old left guard left Sunday’s game against the Denver Broncos with said injury and was initially listed as questionable to return.
However, Dickerson never returned to the field and was replaced by Brent Both. According to Dave Zangaro of NBC Sports Philadelphia, Dickerson was seen in the locker room after the game with his left ankle wrapped up.
While Eagles fans hate to hear that Dickerson is hurt, they would be perfectly okay with him sitting out the next two games to get healthy. They know that for this team to get where it wants to go, the offensive line has to be at 100 percent.
Based on how their schedule falls over the next few weeks after a tough five-game stretch, the Eagles should actually consider resting Dickerson for more than two games.
Eagles Must Consider Sitting Landon Dickerson Until Week 10
The fifth-year offensive lineman has clearly not looked like himself this season, as he’s battled through multiple injuries going back to the summer. Heading into last week’s contest against the Broncos, Dickerson’s PFF pass-blocking grades were poor in the first four games of the season.
In fact, his best pass-blocking grade through the first month of the season was 56.7 against the Kansas City Chiefs, which isn’t saying much. But his worst was 39.9 in Week 1 against Dallas, which makes sense as he was coming off a knee injury. He was also dealing with a back injury at the time, too.
During his short appearance against Denver, the three-time Pro Bowl guard had an overall 84.3 offensive grade (12 snaps). However, it was only a short amount of time on the field.
Based on McLane’s report, Dickerson would miss this week’s game and next week’s game vs. the Minnesota Vikings and could be back for Week 8 against the Giants. However, if Toth plays well over these next two games, Philadelphia should not be in a rush to put Dickerson back on the field.
After their second game against the Giants in Week 8, the Eagles have a Week 9 bye before returning to the field in Week 10 against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. With how Green Bay’s front seven has performed, you’d love to have a well-rested and close to 100% healthy Dickerson to hold down the fort in the interior offensive line.
While you respect Dickerson for being an ironman and fighting through injury, sometimes as a team, you've got to protect a player from himself. At this point in the season, Dickerson is only doing himself and the team harm by fighting through injury. If you’re the Eagles coaches, you'd rather have Dickerson for the second half of the season, which will be a dog fight.