Injuries are something that every team has to deal with. For the New York Jets, they have learned that lesson all too well in 2023.
Losing Aaron Rodgers and Alijah Vera-Tucker for the season with Achilles injuries certainly has altered the plans for their organization. Once believed to be a potential Super Bowl contender, the Jets now sit at 2-3 and are trying to find a way to simply end their decade-long playoff drought.
In order to do that, the team needs to be healthy to thwart some of the better teams on the schedule. One of those teams is their Week 6 opponent on Sunday. The Philadelphia Eagles may be 5-0 but their health across the roster has certainly come into question as of late. With kickoff set for 48 hours from now, let’s look at the latest injury updates for both teams.
New York Jets Injuries
The most important injury news this week is that the team not only lost Alijah Vera-Tucker for the year with an Achilles injury, but they did not get better news on the injury front this week either. Pro Bowl cornerback D.J. Reed did not practice Friday, did not clear protocol and is OUT for Sunday’s game.
Two additional players that were ruled out by the team were corners Brandin Echols and Justin Hardee – two special teams starters. Sauce Gardner, Michael Clemons, and Xavier Gipson are all questionable for Sunday’s contest as well.
AVT’s injury is certainly a hard pill to swallow, but the Jets are relatively healthy going into this next matchup. The same cannot be said for their opponent.
Philadelphia Eagles Injuries
New York may be relatively healthy going into Sunday’s contest but the same can not be said for the Eagles this week. All-Pro cornerback Darius Slay suffered a knee injury in the team’s 23-14 win over Los Angeles last week and he is now OUT for Sunday’s battle with the Jets.
If that’s not enough, the team also saw ninth-overall pick Jalen Carter miss the last two practices due to an ankle injury and is also OUT. Slot receiver Quez Watkins and Justin Evans are also expected to be out with hamstring injuries.
Both Carter and Slay are two incredibly important defenders for Philadelphia. Carter has helped the Eagles improve to the top-ranked run defense while Slay’s big play ability makes him a dangerous player to gameplan against – even if he’s having a down year by his standards.
For the Jets, the absences of Slay and Carter means that their top offensive players can be schemed to get the ball a little bit easier. Running may still be difficult, but without the defender with the most pressure, it could give Gang Green a better chance to move the ball consistently.
