The Philadelphia Eagles officially announced two roster moves ahead of the team’s Week 8 Sunday night game against the Washington Commanders.
Note: teams are permitted to temporarily elevate up to two practice squad players per game. A the player may be promoted up to three times in the regular season and an unlimited number of times in the postseason.
Let’s break this news down on a player-by-player basis.
Saquon Barkley will play against the Commanders despite being listed under “did not participate” on Wednesday and Thursday before being upgraded to limited on Friday. It remains to be seen how much of a workload he can handle; Barkley was clearly playing through discomfort from his hamstring and back injuries in Week 7. He was ultimately limited to 10 snaps Monday night.
Jaydon Blue, who was promoted from the practice squad earlier this week, is the only other Eagles running back on the roster. The Eagles previously activated him for Week 6 but didn’t play him despite injuries that knocked them to Dameon Pierce (now on injured reserve) as the only backfield option in that game.
With the addition of Mitchell, the Eagles now have three running backs for Sunday’s game. He can also be a kick returner with Britan Covey.
This is Mitchell’s second temporary elevation this season. He only has one left.
Reiger is set to make his debut with the Eagles after originally joining Philadelphia’s practice squad on Aug. 31.
The Eagles are currently busted at edge rusher, sort of. It’s not to the point that their edge rushers aren’t suited up for Sunday’s game. But it’s to the point where Jalyx Hunt and Jonathan Greenard saw fewer snaps than normal in Week 7. Nolan Smith is also coming off a concussion while Arnold Ebiketie has played mostly because of other injuries at his position.
Reiger likely won’t play much, if at all, on defense but he’ll be around for deep purposes in addition to contributing on special teams.