Eagles’ Avonte Maddox ruled out vs. Washington Commanders, Josiah Scott likely to fill in as slot cornerback

The Eagles will be without Avonte Maddox for Monday night’s game against the Washington Commanders.

The team’s starting slot cornerback missed the week of practices with a hamstring injury that popped up after the Houston Texans game and was ruled out Saturday by Eagles coach Nick Sirianni.

“It’s not looking like he’s going to go,” Sirianni said Saturday morning. “Obviously, we’ll give you the report later today, but it’s not looking like he’s going to go for this game.”

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Maddox missed two games earlier this year with an ankle injury and was replaced by backup defensive back Josiah Scott. Even though Scott is dealing with his own ankle injury, Sirianni said the plan is for Scott to fill in for Maddox once again Monday night. Scott did not have an injury designation and was a full participant in practice.

Scott said Saturday his game experience earlier this season helped his comfort level with the rest of the Eagles secondary.

“I feel like you learn a little bit more about yourself and the guys around you,” Scott said. “You see them out there and you work sparingly with them in the offseason, but being out there in actual real games, you get to get the work and see how people play. I definitely learned that.”

The Eagles are relatively healthy coming out of a stretch in which they’ve played just two games in 29 days, but cornerback has been impacted by injury. Along with Maddox, reserve corner Josh Jobe was ruled out Saturday.

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The team still has a couple options if Scott’s ankle proves to be a hinderance. Zech McPhearson is the lone healthy backup cornerback on the active roster, but C.J. Gardner-Johnson has experience playing in the slot dating back to his first three years with the New Orleans Saints.

Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon could drop Gardner-Johnson down into the slot and put K’Von Wallace on the back end to fill Gardner-Johnson’s safety spot. The decision to use Scott in that position over Gardner-Johnson when Maddox first missed time this season came down to continuity and confidence in Scott, Gannon said.

“Josiah does a good job for us,” Gannon said last month. “That’s a tough spot, like I’ve talked about with you guys, and he handles it well. He’s got the skill set that you’re looking for as a nickel. I thought he played well. The other thing that goes into that, you don’t want a trickle-down effect as far as hey, ‘This guy has got to go here, this guy has got to go here.’ I just thought where we’re at as a unit, that was the best way to go and that’s how we’ll continue to proceed.”