Making Sense Of the Eagles’ Inactives

The following Eagles are inactive for today’s 4:05 game against the Cardinals: Jeremy Maclin, King Dunlap, Riley Cooper, Nate Menkin, Trent Edwards, Vinny Curry and Dion Lewis.

Maclin re-injured his hip in the second half of last week’s win over the Ravens and was ruled out on Friday. That will mean more snaps for Jason Avant and Damaris Johnson. The Eagles only have four receivers active (DeSean Jackson, Mardy Gilyard are the others). We could also see them use plenty of two tight-end sets with Brent Celek and Clay Harbor.

On the offensive line, Dunlap is sidelined with a hamstring injury, meaning Demetress Bell will get his first start of the season. Dennis Kelly and Steve Vallos are the two backups. Kelly will be the swing tackle, and Vallos was signed last week as a backup center/guard. Dallas Reynolds will make the first start of his career in place of Jason Kelce, who’s out for the season.

For the second straight week, the Eagles are going with two active quarterbacks in Michael Vick and Nick Foles.

Once again, Dion Lewis is inactive. Bryce Brown and Chris Polk are your backup running backs to LeSean McCoy.

No surprises on the defensive line. Second-round pick Vinny Curry has yet to dress this season. It’ll be interesting to see if Brandon Graham gets more snaps. The Eagles once again have nine defensive linemen active.

Curtis Marsh is back at cornerback. He’ll presumably play in dime. The Eagles have yet to use the “Nickel Nnam” package with Nnamdi Asomugha on a tight end and Marsh outside. But today’s not the day to break that out.

Should Kurt Coleman or Nate Allen go down, either David Sims or Colt Anderson would replace them.

A couple significant injury notes for the Cardinals. They’ll be without veteran safety Adrian Wilson and tight end Todd Heap. Heap has been their leading receiver with eight catches for 94 yards through two games.

Follow Sheil Kapadia on Twitter and e-mail him at skapadia@phillymag.com.