Jeremy Maclin’s status for Sunday’s home opener against the Ravens is up in the air, but he won’t practice today, Andy Reid said.
“He’s actually made progress here over the last couple days so that’s a good thing,” Reid said. “He’s feeling better. I wouldn’t list him as out today. That’s now how I’d list him, but he’s not going to practice.”
The Eagles are thin at wide receiver. Aside from Maclin, Riley Cooper continues to rehab from a fractured collarbone and won’t play. That leaves the Eagles with DeSean Jackson, Jason Avant, undrafted free agent Damaris Johnson and Mardy Gilyard.
Gilyard spent training camp with the Eagles. He’s been active for 11 NFL games, but those were all back in 2010 with the Rams. He played on special teams and has zero catches to his name. Johnson, meanwhile, played 13 snaps last week and had one reception for 10 yards.
Avant suffered a wrist contusion against the Browns, but appears to be fine.
Another area where the Eagles are thin is safety. They released Jaiquawn Jarrett to make room for Gilyard. Behind starters Nate Allen and Kurt Coleman, they’ve got David Sims, who was acquired from the Browns in a trade 12 days ago, and Colt Anderson, who tore his ACL in Week 13 of the 2011 season.
Anderson was inactive in Week 1, but appears ready to suit up.
“Colt’s ready to play. He’s there. He’s done everything that he can do to get himself ready to play in a game,” Reid said. “He’s gone through practice, he’s practiced fast, he didn’t have any setbacks, no swelling, soreness, any of that. The knee felt tight. So now he has an opportunity to possibly get in the game and contribute. That’s what he wants, and that’s what we want.”
Anderson is one of the best special-teams players in the league, but counting on him to provide safety depth is taking a bit of a leap. Remember, last year, before he got injured, he played zero defensive snaps.
And Sims has never played a snap of any kind in the NFL.
But if Coleman or Allen go down Sunday, the Eagles will count on one of them to step in.
Follow Sheil Kapadia on Twitter and e-mail him at skapadia@phillymag.com.
