Seumalo Out, Wisniewski To Start Against Colts

The starters are expected to play into the third quarter in Indianapolis.

Stefen Wisniewski. (Jeff Fusco)

Stefen Wisniewski. (Jeff Fusco)

UPDATE: The Eagles have waived wide receiver Hunter Sharp with an injury settlement.

Original Story

Isaac SeumaloJordan MatthewsCarson WentzMike Martin, Aaron GrymesHunter Sharp, and Alex McCalister will not play in Saturday’s preseason game in Indianapolis. Lane Johnson, who is dealing with a back injury, is expected to play.

Seumalo is day-to-day with a strained pectoral, while Stefen Wisniewski will take his place at starting left guard. Pederson is not counting out Wisniewski for a starting job on the offensive line.

Pederson also plans for the starters to play into the third quarter, and possibly the entire third quarter. Dorial Green-Beckham will play with the first-team offense, which Pederson wants to see improvements from.

“You definitely want to see points, number one,” Pederson said. “You want to see execution, [we] got to eliminate the penalties from last week. That kind of hurt us there at the end of the half even though we got three [points], sort of stymied that drive before that one. This has been the first time we’ve practiced the starters all three days with sort of an in-season type mentality. The mistakes should be at a minimum, the guys will be ready to go and you just want to see that cohesiveness with the offensive line, Sam lead the way and then obviously score touchdowns.”

Green-Beckham’s role will be small to start out. He will only play the ‘X’ receiver spot, and he’ll be part of a small package before Pederson can expands his role.

Pederson also noted that he will give rookie running back Wendell Smallwood a “good look” in the first half and said the coaching staff will “be smart” with his playing time. Pederson is comfortable with the current running back situation so far.

On the defensive side, Pederson says there’s enough to evaluate Mike Martin, who hasn’t played in the preseason yet due to a knee injury.

“He’s a veteran guy that understands how to play, how to get himself ready to play,” Pederson said. “He’s also in a position where you’re probably not going to lean on him for more than 15, 20, 25 snaps a game. And that’s what you want out of him, and just getting him to the game on Sunday’s is obviously where you want to be and what you want to do.”

Pederson was also encouraged by how Stephen Tulloch has done after two practices with the team. Like Green-Beckham, Pederson is limiting Tulloch to lining up at one spot at linebacker.