SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2026
The Philadelphia Eagles have officially ruled out Saquon Barkley and DeVonta Smith for Sunday's London game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Both are out with hamstring injuries. Friday's final injury report added three more names to the shelf — wide receiver Marquise "Hollywood" Brown (ankle), safety Marcus Epps (groin), and offensive lineman Drew Kendall (knee) — and listed defensive lineman Jonathan Greenard as questionable with an ankle injury.
We flagged the backfield emergency earlier this week when Tank Bigsby landed on IR and Barkley went down in the loss to the Rams, and Thursday's injury report preview had all of this trending toward bad. Now it's official: the Eagles are flying to London at 2-2, on a two-game losing streak, with a roster held together by tape and a plane manifest that has fans asking who exactly is starting.
The backfield nobody saw coming
Let's just sit with this for a second. Saquon Barkley hurt his right hamstring early in last week's 24-20 loss to the Rams, didn't practice all week, and is missing his first game of the season. Tank Bigsby, the backup, is on injured reserve with a core muscle injury. So the entire Philadelphia Eagles backfield for a game they're favored to lose is:
Will Shipley — the 2024 draft pick with 59 career rushing attempts and zero regular-season touchdowns. Dameon Pierce — who played five games last season (four with the Texans, one with the Chiefs), spent Eagles camp on the roster, got cut when they trimmed to 53, and just got picked back up this week. If Pierce starts, it's his first start since 2023. If Shipley starts, it's his first since 2024. Shipley is expected to get the bulk of the work — but expected to get the bulk and having ever done this in the NFL are two very different things.
For the season, Barkley has managed just 182 yards on 36 carries with no touchdowns — bottled up most weeks, and he also missed part of the Week 2 game against Tennessee with a stinger in his left arm. But a struggling Barkley and a backfield that has never done this before are separated by a very large canyon, and the Eagles are about to fall into it.
The offensive line is now a group project
As if the skill positions weren't enough, the offensive line has spent the week disintegrating in public. Lane Johnson announced his retirement on Tuesday. On Wednesday the Eagles traded center Cam Jurgens to the Baltimore Ravens. Drew Kendall, the man expected to start at center in Jurgens' place, is now out with a knee injury. So Jake Majors — signed to the active roster Friday — is likely starting at center on Sunday, with Markel Bell taking over at right tackle.
Read that again: a London game, with a starting backfield that has never started, behind an offensive line that has never played together, with Jalen Hurts trying to end a two-game losing streak. The Eagles also signed running back Carson Steele to the active roster Friday, because at this point why not.
The quarterback room turned over too
Buried in Friday's flurry of roster moves: the Eagles released veteran backup quarterback Andy Dalton. Philadelphia had acquired Dalton from Carolina back in March for a 2027 seventh-round pick; he played in one game, throwing his lone pass as an interception in that ugly 27-7 loss. He's been demoted behind Tanner McKee, who now backs up Hurts, with rookie Cole Payton — a fifth-round pick out of North Dakota State — also on the roster.
Hurts himself made his first appearance on the practice report this season with a calf injury, but he was a full participant and carries no game status. So he's fine. Probably. In a week like this, that word is doing a lot of work.
And the pass catchers? Also gone.
Smith didn't practice this week and will miss his second straight game. Brown's ankle takes away the deep threat. That leaves Dontayvion Wicks — who has 12 receptions on the season — as the de facto number one receiver, with Makai Lemon (10 receptions) and Elijah Moore in larger roles. That's the entire passing game: a second-year guy, a rookie, and vibes. Against a Jaguars team that's won two straight and sits at 3-1.
Epps' absence at safety doesn't help either, and if Greenard can't go, the defensive front loses a rotational piece at exactly the wrong time. The Eagles didn't practice any of the five ruled-out players at any point this week. This isn't gamesmanship. This is a hospital ward with a football team attached.
The London wrinkle
Here's the thing about London games: they're weird. The travel, the early start, the neutral crowd — favorites underperform there all the time. The Eagles were scheduled to land Saturday morning for the game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which gives them roughly a day to acclimate before kickoff. Jacksonville, meanwhile, is on the first of back-to-back London games — the Jaguars practically have a timeshare in England. One team is sleep-deprived and held together with athletic tape; the other one treats Heathrow like a second home.
The bottom line
A week ago this looked like a get-right game for a 2-2 Eagles team that still had its stars. Now it's a survival exercise. The defense has to hold a surging Jaguars offense down, Hurts has to carry an offense missing its top back and top two receivers, and a makeshift line has to hold up long enough for any of it to matter. Check our full Week 5 Sunday preview for how this one fits into the day — but this Eagles team doesn't look like a contender right now. It looks like a triage unit.
