Larry Henry Jr
One of the Philadelphia Eagles continuous strengths over recent years has been their defensive line, but after Sunday’s season-opening win in Detroit, Jonathan Gannon will be without one of his veteran pass rushers for the rest of 2022.
Derek Barnett will miss the rest of the season after suffering a torn ACL in Sunday’s 38-35 road win over the Detroit Lions. Barnett, 26, has been with the Eagles since being drafted No. 14 overall in the 2017 NFL Draft, logging 21.5 sacks and 147 combined tackles over the past five seasons.
Barnett signed a two-year contract extension with the Eagles in March and remained a valuable piece in Gannon’s defense this summer. However, the loss of Barnett will now force others to step up, mainly Tarron Jackson, who is the projected replacement for the former University of Tennessee product.
“[DE] Derek [Barnett] will be out, and he tore his ACL,” Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said Monday. “Obviously, that’s a big blow for us. I love the way Derek Barnett comes to work every single day and plays with grittiness and toughness and nasty. I am a huge Derek Barnett fan, and he’ll be missed. So that sucks. I hate that for him. I hate that for this team. And again, like I said, he’ll be missed. I can’t tell you how much I think of Derek.
“With that being said, it’s part of this game,” he added. “I hate that part of this game because I’ve had to live that with injuries myself from when I played in college, and I hate that part of this game. But it is part of this game. [Eagles Executive Vice President/General Manager] Howie [Roseman] and his staff have done a great job of making us deep at the O- and D-Line. We have some good options there. We have good right there. [DE] Tarron [Jackson] wasn’t up yesterday, but how quickly it can turn from you not being up for a game to you having a significant role.”
The Eagles have ample depth on the defensive line with Fletcher Cox, Javon Hargrave, Josh Sweat, and Brandon Graham as the current starters. Jackson, Jordan Davis, and Milton Jackson will also be pushing for snaps as the Eagles now prepare for a Week 2 showdown with the Minnesota Vikings at Lincoln Financial Field.
You can follow Larry Henry on Twitter (@lhenry019) and e-mail him at [email protected].
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