Eagles Injury Notes: Darby Ready to Return?

Ronald Darby’s recovery from the dislocated ankle he sustained in the Eagles opener is coming down the home stretch as coach Doug Pederson said Friday that he's been doing well, and running a little bit more now.

"He’s another one that could be close, but at the same time, just want to make sure he's 100%," Pederson said.

Philadelphia’s health in the secondary will improve before then with Jaylen Watkins closing in on a return from his hamstring injury, which required him to miss the last four games.

"We have some guys like Jaylen Watkins [who] is getting healthy now," Pederson explained. "We're getting some more depth there, so I don't want to rush any of these guys back without them being fully healthy [and] fully healed."

Watkins stepped in while Darby continued to miss time with a dislocated ankle, but don't expect to see him back practicing this week.

"As of right now, probably not," Pederson said when asked if Darby would practice next week. "But, again, he's close. We'll see next Monday when they get back where he's at again, and just making another evaluation at that time."

Pederson said Darby traveled with the team so he could get his treatment and rehab on the road with the team getting the weekend off following their Thursday night win in Carolina.

Pederson also gave a brief update on another member of the secondary, Sidney Jones, who is currently on the on the reserve/NFI list. Jones is he's recovering from a torn Achilles' that he suffered at his Pro Day on March 11. He had surgery March 20th and had hoped to be ready to play sometime in October, but Pederson said no no decision has been made about his 2017 availability.

"It hasn't," said Pederson. "Again, keep the message the same with him. I don't want to rush him back. He's still doing a good job with his rehab and his conditioning. Again, want to make sure that he's fully cleared, medically, before we stick him back out on the field."

He is eligible to come off the reserve/NFI list after sitting out the first six games.

Here are some more injury updates to come from Pederson’s media availability:

• Running back Wendell Smallwood is progressing and could practice next week. Pederson said it’s not out of the question for Smallwood to play Monday Night against Washington based on his progress: “He's close. I’ll tell you, he's close. Then on Tuesday, when the players are in the building we'll see. He's got some time now to rest. But I would anticipate him maybe doing a little something next week in practice, but not 100% yet with him. So that's kind of where I'm at.”

"It's going to lead up to game time again with him. He is feeling much better. He's been running, doing those things, but it's going to be a game-time [decision],"

• Pederson said special teams ace Chris Marogos would need more tests: "In Maragos' case, we still need a few more tests, I guess we'll put it that way, just to get some more information on him," said Pederson.

• Linebacker Jordan Hicks is expected to return this week. Hicks missed second half of the game because of a ankle injury: "Jordan's going to be okay. And we'll expect him this next week in practice," Pederson said.