With Eagles’ Rodney McLeod probably out Sunday, Corey Graham ready for bigger role

"Next man up'' was to the Eagles last season what "Remember the Alamo'' was to Texans after Col. William Travis and his outnumbered band of volunteers bravely held off the Mexican army for 10 days at the Battle of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution in 1836.

The Eagles suffered one injury after another to seemingly irreplaceable players, yet managed to prevail and win the franchise's first NFL title in 57 years.

So, it was just another day at the NovaCare office Wednesday as the Eagles prepared for Sunday's road game against the 2-1 Tennessee Titans without starting safety Rodney McLeod, who likely will miss the game – and probably a few more — with a right knee injury suffered against the Colts.

"Obviously, Rodney is a key part of this defense, and we hope to have him,'' said middle linebacker Jordan Hicks. "But we'll see what happens. We have confidence in whoever steps out there on the field.''

McLeod was injured midway through the third quarter of the Eagles' 20-16 win when he and teammate Jalen Mills were trying to make a tackle on Colts running back Nyheim Hines. Mills inadvertently hit McLeod in the right knee with his helmet.

At his Wednesday morning press conference, head coach Doug Pederson said the Eagles were "waiting on one more test result to come back'' on McLeod.

The Eagles are hoping McLeod's injury is just a bone bruise, which probably would sideline the 28-year-old safety for two or three weeks. If it's something more serious, however, like a nondisplaced fracture, he could be out 4-6 weeks or longer.

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Asked what changes if McLeod can't go, the Eagles' other starting safety, Malcolm Jenkins, said, "Not much. We plug in the next guy or I just play free and strong by myself. We'll be fine.''

Jenkins was joking, of course, about playing both positions by himself. If McLeod can't play, Corey Graham, the team's No. 3 safety, would move into McLeod's spot.

The 33-year-old Graham, who has 66 career starts, played 370 snaps with the Eagles last season after signing with the team in the preseason. He re-signed during training camp this summer and played 103 snaps in the first three games, including 47 last week.

"I was already playing,'' Graham said. "It's just that, instead of playing 30-40 plays, I'm going to have to play 60.

"This is the NFL. Injuries happen. You always have to be prepared to play more. It's not really a big deal.''

McLeod and Jenkins are one of the league's top safety tandems. But there shouldn't be much drop-off with Graham in there.

"With this defense, especially with our safeties, we use three-safety sets a lot of time anyway,'' said safety and special teams ace Chris Maragos, who still is recovering from his 2017 knee injury and is on the team's physically-unable-to-perform list.

"Corey's been playing this game for a long time and he has a good feel for this particular defense,'' Maragos said. "It's pretty fluid how those guys rotate. So, if Rodney can't play, Corey will be just fine. He's a tremendous player and has great command of the defense. He's just a savvy player.''

If it is determined that McLeod is going to be out for more than a game or two, the Eagles likely will have to make a roster move to add another safety.

After Graham, the only other safety on the roster is Deiondre' Hall, whom the Eagles acquired from the Bears in an early-September trade. Hall has been used strictly on special teams the last two games. He missed the first game while serving a one-game suspension from the league.

If McLeod is going to be out for any extended time, the most likely move would be signing Tre Sullivan off the practice squad. Sullivan said Wednesday he hasn't heard anything about a possible promotion.

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"I don't know anything about Rodney's injury,'' he said. "I don't know what the plan is upstairs [if he can't play]. I can only control what I can control, which is making sure I'm doing my job out on the practice squad.''

Said Pederson: "We do have a plan for it [if McLeod can't play]. We like where we're at and we like our options.''

The Eagles will be facing a Titans team Sunday that is averaging 32.7 rushing attempts per game and has a quarterback – Marcus Mariota – who is nursing an injury to his throwing elbow.

Tennessee coach Mike Vrabel said Wednesday that Mariota's sore elbow "is improving.'' But the Titans clearly are going to be looking to run the ball a lot against the Eagles.

Jenkins said that whatever the Titans do, the Eagles will be equipped to deal with it, with or without McLeod.

"We've got a roomful of versatile guys that can play multiple positions,'' he said. "We have a ton of packages that we can put out there based on what we need. No concerns there.''

Next man up.