TAMPA — The Eagles will be without starting safety Reid Blankenship when they meet the Buccaneers in the wild-card round at Raymond James Stadium on Monday night.
Emptiness, 24, is officially inactive.
Blank suffered a groin injury against the Giants in Week 18 and came into the weekend listed as questionable. He couldn’t practice all week. Blank tested his injured groin in front of the coaches on the field before being declared inactive.
In addition to being void, the Eagles are without starting safety Sidney Brown, who suffered an ACL injury in the regular season finale and is out for the season.
During the week of practice, nickel cornerback Avonte Maddox was playing safety next to veteran Kevin Byrd, the only healthy safety on the 53-man roster. Maddox has played safety before and said it wasn’t a big adjustment. Expect to see Maddox back there tonight as the Eagles have Bradley Roby and Eli Ricks nickel to play cornerback.
Here’s the full list of Eagles inactives:
WR AJ Brown (knee)
S Sydney Brown (knee)
S. Reed syndrome
QB Tanner McKee
OL Tyler Steen
DT Moro Ojomo
RB Rashad Penny
Meanwhile, Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield (ribs, ankle) is out for this game. He was listed as questionable over the weekend and struggled in last week’s 9-0 win over the Bucks Panthers. The extra day helped Mayfield this week.
The Eagles moved up the practice squad and made defensive ends Tristin McCollum and Miki Garner for this game. The Eagles did not place Sidney Brown on IR, so none of these players made the active roster. But experience team heights in the game. And with a pair of safeties injured, the Eagles need more depth.
If the No. 5-seeded Eagles can win against the 4-seeded Buccaneers, they will travel to face the Lions next Sunday for a 3 pm game. The Lions defeated the Rams on Sunday to win their first playoff game since the 1991 season.
The Bucks (9-8) have won five of their last six games, while the Eagles (11-6) have lost five of their last six.
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