Eagles activate Andre Dillard’s practice window ahead of Jordan Mailata potentially missing Week 5

Philadelphia might be getting their backup left tackle back as their starter is in jeopardy of missing at least one game.

The Philadelphia Eagles have some good news and some bad news.

The bad news is that they’re in jeopardy of missing starting left tackle Jordan Mailata for their Week 5 game against the Arizona Cardinals.

Mailata suffered a shoulder injury early in Week 4. Nick Sirianni indicated that he has a chance to play this week but NFL insider Mike Garafolo said he “doesn’t think we see” him suit up.

The good news is that the Eagles might have Mailata’s top backup option back in the lineup. The team officially activated Andre Dillard’s 21-day practice window on Wednesday morning.

The Eagles placed Dillard on injured reserve on September 6 after he suffered a broken forearm during practice. Since Dillard has spent four games on injured reserve, he is now eligible to be activated to the active roster.

The only question is if Dillard is healthy enough to play. At the time of his injury, it was said he would be out for “four-to-six weeks.” He is currently on the short end of that recovery timeline.

Though he won’t appear on the official injury report since he’s still on injured reserve, Dillard will be able to practice with the team this week. With practice being limited to media access, we might not get a great gauge of how much he’s actually practicing.

If Mailata is out and Dillard isn’t ready to play in Arizona, the Eagles will roll with Jack Driscoll as their starting left tackle. He did OK while having to fill in at that position on short notice last week. Driscoll’s top backup could be undrafted rookie free agent tackle Josh Sills. The Eagles could also opt to temporarily elevate Roderick Johnson from the practice squad to handle the backup LT role.