Eagles injury report: Avonte Maddox is in a walking boot

Partly sunny skies and somewhere around 24-degree weather was the forecast when everyone in the City of Brotherly Love rose on Friday. The Philadelphia Eagles made their way to the NovaCare Complex and took part in an indoor practice. Perhaps you’ve heard. They have a pretty big game coming up in about nine days from the time of this story’s publishing.

The goals are both simple and obvious. Find the proper mixture of both practice and rest. Walk into Super Bowl LVII as healthy as humanly possible. Walk out on the winning side of the final score, and secure the second Vince Lombardi Trophy in franchise history.

13 Birds appeared on February 3rd’s injury report. Both veterans and some of the young guns enjoyed much-needed rest days, but there’s something that jumped out at everyone immediately.

The Eagles’ best slot cornerback, Avonte Maddox is walking around in a walking boot again.

Avonte Maddox is full of surprises. Say what you want about Jonathan Gannon. Hopefully, if you were skeptical, you’ve figured out that he’s a much better defensive coordinator than you’ve given him credit for, but there are a ton of Birds playing on the defensive side of the ball that are enjoying both impressive and productive runs under his watch.

Avonte has never played better. Though his leap was a surprise to some at first, he’s truly blossomed in J.G.’s scheme, becoming one of the key cogs in a very talented Eagles secondary.

Though there was no way to judge how long his recovery from his Christmas Eve toe injury would take, there were whispers that we would be lucky if he was back for the Super Bowl if Philly qualified.

Avonte did us one better. He was back in the lineup for the NFC Championship Game, but it appears that he’s still hampered by his toe injury to some degree. He showed up to Friday’s practice session in a walking boot. He didn’t participate in the Wednesday or Thursday sessions either.

There are four other Eagles that have sat idle o Friday: guard Landon Dickerson (elbow), tackle Lane Johnson (groin), center Cam Jurgens (hip), and defensive end Robert Quinn (foot).

There’s been no word of him sitting out of Super Bowl LVII. Hopefully, he’ll be good to go. Eight other veterans were given rest days on Friday as well: cornerback James Bradberry, wide receiver A.J. Brown, defensive tackle Fletcher Cox, defensive end Brandon Graham, center Jason Kelce, guard Isaac Seumalo, cornerback Darius Slay, and defensive end Josh Sweat.

We don’t mind that at all. Let’s get these guys to the big game as close to being 100% healthy as possible.