Meniscus surgery didn’t stop Landon Dickerson from enjoying a beer with his fellow linemen at Eagles practice

Just one day after undergoing meniscus surgery in his right knee, Landon Dickerson was back on his feet playing Santa Claus.

At the end of the second joint practice with the Cleveland Browns in the sticky, 90-degree August heat on Thursday, Dickerson strode across the field with a slight limp and a special delivery. He wore a black sleeve over his surgically repaired right leg, which was partially obscured by a kelly green Eagles cooler bag he carried in his right hand.

Dickerson approached Lane Johnson and a trio of Browns offensive linemen, including Joel Bitonio, Wyatt Teller, and Jack Conklin, and plopped the cooler on the ground. He bent over, unzipped the bag, pulled out cans of Miller Lite one by one, and distributed them to the group for an impromptu happy hour.

» READ MORE: Eagles guard Landon Dickerson to undergo surgery, will be week to week with meniscus injury

Evidently, Dickerson’s injury didn’t impact his sense of humor.

“It looked like a Gatorade can to me,” Bitonio said jokingly after practice.

To an outsider, witnessing a mobile Dickerson one day removed from the operating table might have felt like seeing a unicorn. To Cam Jurgens, though, it’s Dickerson’s status quo.

“Feels like Landon,” Jurgens said. “That’s our guy. Never count him out. That’s the toughest guy I know.”

Jurgens would know. Dickerson has dealt with a slew of injuries over the years, including a left knee issue that knocked him out of the NFC championship game last season. Jurgens had been sidelined with a back injury at the beginning of the game and entered in relief of Dickerson, who started at center, in the second half.

Both players were determined to catch that flight to New Orleans. Two weeks after the Eagles’ win over the Washington Commanders, Dickerson and Jurgens played through the pain in the Super Bowl.

“It helped me knowing I’m going through something that’s tough and struggling to get through it,” Jurgens said. “It [stinks], but at the same time, I know the guys to the right and left of me are going through stuff, too, and I’ve got to push through because I’m dealing with something, but they’re dealing with something. You deal with it together. You’ll get through it together.”

They did, and they underwent offseason surgery on their respective injuries. Approximately six months later, Dickerson went back under the knife, this time to address his other knee after suffering an injury to his meniscus in the Eagles’ public practice Sunday night at Lincoln Financial Field.

League sources confirmed to The Inquirer that Dickerson is considered week-to-week and could be available for the Sept. 4 season opener against the Dallas Cowboys. Johnson expressed a sense of relief Wednesday that Dickerson’s injury wasn’t as serious as it initially appeared.

“When you see him the way he fell, he’s had a lot of surgeries, and him saying one thing, how he feels,” Johnson said. “So it was alarming, but I’m glad that we got a good-case scenario out of all things. I know they’re going to do a good job rehabbing him and bringing him back.”

While 22 days between the surgery and the season opener doesn’t seem like much time, Dickerson has epitomized toughness throughout his five-year NFL career.

Since the Eagles selected Dickerson in the second round, No. 37 overall in the 2021 draft out of Alabama, the three-time Pro Bowl left guard has missed only two games because of injury. The Eagles rewarded his efforts and availability with a hefty four-year, $84 million contract extension last offseason.

“Man, I think that guy’s just made of rubber,” tackle Jordan Mailata said. “It doesn’t matter what injury he’s going through during the game. He’s just going to keep pushing through. It’s inspiring. It’s very inspiring. Because then I hurt a finger or I hurt a toe, and I say, ‘Oh, that hurts.’ And he’s playing out there with one leg, one knee, and you just say, ‘All right, you’ve got to toughen up.’

“Man, I don’t know what it is. There’s something different about him, the mentality. Just to go out there and lay it all [on the line].”

The Eagles have contingency plans if Dickerson isn’t ready to start by Week 1. Brett Toth seems to be the primary option among them for now. The 28-year-old offensive lineman assumed all of the starting snaps at left guard in practice Thursday for a second straight day.

Toth has played just 224 offensive snaps in 20 games over the course of four seasons, suiting up at left guard (61 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus), center (30), right guard (27), and right tackle (102). At 6-foot-6, 304 pounds, Toth may be less experienced and less imposing than the 6-6, 332-pound Dickerson, but Jurgens had high praise for the new lineman to his left.

“He’s doing good,” Jurgens said. “He’s such a smart guy. He’s been in the league for a long time. He’s very cerebral. So that’s another thing. He sees everything. He knows everything.”

Time will tell if the Eagles will require Toth’s services as the starter. For now, Mailata is just grateful that Dickerson is back in the building, even if he wasn’t invited to post-practice beers.

“Just very happy to see his bubbly face in the building and his energy,” Mailata said. “Glad everything’s going OK.”