Eagles injury update: The latest on Jalen Hurts, Kenny Pickett from Thursday’s practice

Eagles injury update: The latest on Jalen Hurts, Kenny Pickett from Thursday’s practice originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (concussion) was not at practice on Thursday afternoon during the early portion open to reporters.

His status for Sunday’s game against the Cowboys is very much in question.

Meanwhile, backup quarterback Kenny Pickett (ribs) was practicing with some extra padding around his midsection.

Thursday’s practice was the Eagles’ first practice of the week. They held a walkthrough on Tuesday and had a day off on Wednesday for Christmas. Despite the day off, the Eagles had to put out an estimated injury report Wednesday. On that estimated report, Hurts was listed as a non-participant, while Pickett was listed as limited.

Earlier in the day, Nick Sirianni was extremely evasive when asked multiple times about the status of his top two quarterbacks.

“We got a plan of what we want to do,” Sirianni said, “and we’ll see how today goes and how warmups go and how individual goes and then into 7-on-7 and team.”

The Eagles’ head coach allowed that some of the evasiveness was because they still don’t know enough information but some of it was in the name of competitive advantage.

The Eagles will put out another injury report later this afternoon.

Hurts suffered his concussion in the first quarter of the Eagles’ loss to the Commanders on Sunday in Washington. He tried to remain in the game but was checked out and then eventually ruled out. He remains in the concussion protocol.

Pickett replaced Hurts in that game but suffered a ribs injury. He needed X-rays after the game and further tests to start the week. After the game, Pickett said he wasn’t concerned about his status for the following week.

Against the Commanders, Pickett completed 14 of 24 passes for 143 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. The Eagles had to settle for four second-half field goals as the Commanders came back and won the game.

The last time a different quarterback other than Hurts started a regular season game for the Eagles was late in the 2022 regular season when Gardner Minshew lost back-to-back games to the Cowboys and Saints. But that could happen this week.

On Thursday morning, the Eagles brought back quarterback Ian Book to the practice squad as some insurance at the position. Book was with the Eagles in 2022. He will be behind Tanner McKee on the Eagles’ depth chart. McKee has been the Eagles’ third-stringer since he was drafted last year in the sixth round. While McKee has not played in a regular season game, he had a strong training camp this summer.

Nakobe Dean (abdomen), who was listed as a DNP on Wednesday, was practicing on Thursday.

Will Shipley (concussion) did not practice on Thursday and remains in the NFL’s concussion protocol.

The two players listed as full participants on the injury report to start the week — WR Britain Covey (neck) and DE Bryce Huff (wrist) — practiced again. Huff’s practice window opened last week. He is coming back from wrist surgery on Nov. 21.

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