Source: Eagles’ Zech McPhearson suffered a regular season-ending Achilles injury in the preseason tie

Eagles cornerback Zech McPhearson will miss at least the regular season with a torn Achilles, according to a league source who confirmed a CBS Sports report on Friday.

The third-year player out of Texas Tech went down with the injury in the first half of the Eagles’ 18-18 tie against the Cleveland Browns on Thursday and had to be carted off. McPhearson was the Eagles’ top reserve outside cornerback and a core special-teams contributor last season.

McPhearson, a fourth-round pick in 2021, played 80% of the Eagles’ special-teams snaps last season and logged 99 snaps on defense behind the veteran cornerback duo of Darius Slay and James Bradberry.

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The Eagles entered the summer with significant depth at corner, but McPhearson will be a meaningful loss. After playing nickel cornerback in college, McPhearson started camp in the slot with the first-team defense while usual starter Avonte Maddox recovered from a lingering toe injury. The move inside signaled that McPhearson would have more value as an interchangeable depth piece with experience playing inside and out.

Without McPhearson, second-year undrafted corner Josh Jobe figures to be the first outside corner off the bench. Fourth-round rookie Kelee Ringo also is more than likely to make the team and be in the mix as well. The competition for backup slot cornerback will be interesting to watch without McPhearson, with last year’s backup Josiah Scott needing to fend off contenders such as Mario Goodrich, Greedy Williams, and Eli Ricks for the final few spots on the roster.

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McPhearson is the second key special-teams contributor to suffer a season-ending Achilles injury in as many weeks; linebacker Shaun Bradley suffered the same injury in the Eagles’ preseason-opening loss to the Baltimore Ravens last week.

The Eagles, who have rested nearly all of their starters the last few preseasons, left the home game against the Browns with several lingering injury concerns.

Rookie defensive tackle Moro Ojomo and wide receiver Tyrie Cleveland needed to be taken off the field on a stretcher. According to the team, Ojomo was diagnosed with a concussion and Cleveland was diagnosed with a concussion and neck sprain after both players had movement in all of their extremities on the field.

First-round rookie Nolan Smith and slot receiver Olamide Zaccheaus also went inside with apparent injuries, but both returned to the sideline in uniform and Smith said his hurt shoulder would be fine.