Eagles Bracing to Be Without Key Defender in Week 3 After Practice No-Show

The Philadelphia Eagles may be missing one of the key members in the secondary heading into Sunday’s pivotal matchup against the New Orleans Saints.

The Saints have been one of the more shocking stories in the NFL as they are off to a 2-0 start and scored 40-plus points in back-to-back games against the Carolina Panthers and Dallas Cowboys.

With that in mind, the Eagles' defense knows they must play their A-game to get back into the win column. However, they might not have starting safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson for Sunday’s game.

According to ESPN’s Tim McManus, Gardner-Johnson or star wide receiver A.J. Brown was seen at the start of Friday’s practice. The veteran safety did not practice on Thursday and was listed with a foot injury.

On Friday, Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Philadelphia head coach Nick Sirianni said Gardner-Johnson “tweaked” something in his foot on Thursday. McLane adds that the injury happened during Thursday morning's walkthrough.

This isn’t ideal news for the Eagles’ pass defense as they’ve allowed 242 passing yards per game (sixth-worst in the league). Gardner-Johnson has produced 11 combined tackles and allowed two receiving touchdowns.

With that in mind, if Gardner-Johnson doesn’t play on Sunday afternoon, the Eagles could start Tristin McCollum, who has played three defensive snaps this season.

But he has spent most of his time on special teams (43 snaps) through the first two games. Last season, McCollum played in three games and had six combined tackles.

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