When the Philadelphia Eagles made the trade with the Baltimore Ravens for Tim Jernigan, it was already thought he was likely going to be a starter. Despite that fact, recent developments make his acquisition that much more important. Reports are surfacing that Beau Allen has suffered an injury to his upper body. IgglesBlitz is reporting that injury might turn out to be a torn bicep. Should that be the case, it could mean Allen will be out until mid-September, carrying his injury past the start of the 2017 season. Instead of going into panic mode and trying to pick up someone off the trash heap, the Eagles can not take a more measured approach when it comes to filling that hole and adding depth when we get closer to training camp.
Bad news for the Eagles, worse news for Beau Allen
While the Eagles are never going to be happy to lose a player like Allen for a long period of time, this is worse news for the player. The Eagles had managed to shore up their defensive line with the signings of Chris Long and the trade for Jernigan so the blown bicep is not a crippling problem for them. Allen, on the other hand was someone slated to at least compete for a starting spot on the Eagles.
Philadelphia got decent production out of Beau when you consider he was mostly someone who came in to give others a breather. He finished the season with 29 total tackles and 0.5 sacks. He also recovered one fumble for the Philadelphia Eagles and appeared in all 16 games for Philadelphia.
A seventh-round pick back in the 2014 draft, it's a safe bet the Eagles feel he is worth more than the money they've invested in him since he came to the team.
Who does this help?
Because football is a cut-throat world, there are indeed at least a couple of Eagles the injury to Allen could help. Chief among them is Aziz Shittu.
Shittu was a free agent signing in 2016 out of Stanford who didn't see the field last year. It is entirely possible Allen's injury could clear the way for the Eagles to decide they need to give the young defensive lineman a few more snaps in 2017. If there is one drawback to his game, it's that he leans more on quickness than power.
Perhaps he can become an alternative to the bull rusher approach many other Eagles defensive lineman will be coming with.
Justin Hamilton is another man in Philadelphia who could step up and see some more action in 2017. The real question is just how long the Eagles will have to play without Allen and whether they'll look outside the Philadelphia Eagles or within for his replacement in the rotation.
