Vaitai Out with Sprained MCL, Pederson Addresses Agholor

PHILADELPHIA (973espn.com) - The Eagles’ loss in Seattle was painful on a number of levels and a literal sense for a number of players who were lost to injury at CenturyLink Field.

Among the walking wounded the most serious of the injuries seems to be to right tackle Halapoulivaati Vaitai, who was labeled as week-to-week by coach Doug Pederson on Monday with a grade-2 MCL sprain.

Typically when Pederson uses that terminology, it’s a multi-week injury and the coach has already acknowledged that the versatile Allen Barbre would kick out to right tackle against Green Bay next Monday night with veteran Stefen Wisniewski slotting into Barbre’s typical left guard position.

“Moving forward, it looks like we'll go back to our preseason thought: move Allen over there and give him the week of reps over at right tackle,” Pederson said. “Then you've got Wiz and Isaac [G Isaac Seumalo] at the [left] guard spot and then keep [G/T Matt] Tobin available.”

In other injury updates, running back Ryan Mathews was listed as 'day-to-day' with a right-knee injury, and backfield mate Darren Sproles has a fractured rib and will not practice for a few days but Pederson indicated his break was in a “safe area” and the veteran should be able to go against the Packers.

Cornerback Leodis McKelvin, meanwhile, is in the NFL's concussion protocol while defensive end Connor Barwin has a bone bruise in his knee and will also miss a few days of practice but should have the Green light against Green Bay.

The Eagles also made a roster move, releasing cornerback Aaron Grymes and elevating Paul Turner from the practice squad, an indication that Philadelphia could be pumping the brakes on struggling receiver Nelson Agholor, who admitted he is struggling mentally after another poor performance against the Seahawks.

“I will definitely have a conversation with Nelson, and I'll address (his playing time) as we get later into the week,” Pederson said. “But those are definitely concerns that I have, now that he’s obviously come out and said that publicly. My concern is for him as an individual, as a person, and I want to make sure that he's in a good spot. Hey, listen, put football aside; we all know about that. But I want to make sure that he, as a person, is doing good, so we'll have that conversation during the week.”

-John McMullen covers the Eagles and the NFL for 973espn.com. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen