Eagles’ Zach Ertz in for Monday night game vs. Dallas Cowboys, Jordan Mailata out
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said he’s comfortable incorporating Ertz into the game plan even though Ertz missed most of the meaningful practices this week.
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The Eagles will have Zach Ertz in the lineup for Monday night’s primetime game against the Dallas Cowboys, but Jordan Mailata will be out with a knee injury.
The veteran tight end was activated off the COVID/Reserve list Saturday and returned to practice. He was placed on the reserve list Monday, but because he’s vaccinated, NFL rules allowed him to return after providing two negative tests 24 hours apart.
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said he’s comfortable incorporating Ertz into the game plan even though Ertz missed most of the meaningful practices this week.
“We didn’t know one way or the other with Zach early on in the week,” Sirianni said. “We kind of made a couple different plans with personnel groupings, just in the case that we got to today and he was ready to go. So he was, and I feel comfortable because he got to practice today, and he got a good practice in today, looked good out there, so confident that he’ll be able to step in and accomplish what we want him to accomplish.”
The Eagles also ruled out Mailata for the game in Arlington, Texas because of a knee injury suffered during Thursday’s practice. Sirianni said the injury isn’t serious enough for Mailata to go on injured reserve, which would suggest he won’t miss more than three games. Sirianni also confirmed Saturday that Andre Dillard will start in Mailata’s absence.
Dillard, the team’s first-round pick in 2019, hasn’t started a game since his rookie season. He came into training camp competing with Mailata for the starting left tackle job but was beat out. Sirianni said the 25-year-old has inspired confidence with his performance in practice this week.
“I’ve seen him be able to shut the pass rush down in our practice,” Sirianni said. “We gave him a couple different looks of different scout team players to go against, and I feel really confident in Andre, and he should feel confident in himself.”
The Eagles listed Rodney McLeod as out for the third week in a row. The veteran safety is still recovering from a torn ACL suffered last December. Boston Scott (illness) and Davion Taylor (calf) are both questionable going into Monday night.