The Eagles made two roster moves ahead of their Week 1 home matchup against the Washington Commanders, and the biggest one sends rookie tight end Eli Stowers to injured reserve.
Philadelphia also temporarily elevated wide receiver Britain Covey from the practice squad. Teams can elevate up to two practice squad players for a game, and each player can be elevated three times during the regular season and an unlimited number of times in the postseason.
Stowers’ week was already headed in the wrong direction before the IR move. He was limited in practice because of a hamstring injury, showed up questionable on Friday’s injury report, then got downgraded to out on Saturday after the Eagles listed him with both hamstring and quadriceps injuries.
By placing him on injured reserve, the Eagles made it official that Stowers cannot return to the active roster until after Week 4. That leaves Dallas Goedert, Johnny Mundt, and E.J. Jenkins as the tight ends still available on the roster.
The timing of the injury is a little unusual because Stowers told reporters on Friday that he expected to play.
Even if he had been healthy enough to dress, the expectation was that he would not have been active for this game. He was fourth on the depth chart at tight end, and he had a quiet summer in both training camp and the preseason.
He also does not bring much of a special teams résumé, with just six total ST snaps over five years of college football. Jenkins, by comparison, has been praised by the Eagles for what he can do in that phase.
Now Stowers avoids the possibility of being a healthy scratch, which would not have been a great look for him or the Eagles after he was selected in the second round of the 2026 NFL Draft.
We’ll see whether Stowers can get back on the field once he’s healthy.
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