Kelce Sets Target Date For Return
Photo by: Jeff Fusco.
If everything goes according to plan, the Eagles will have Jason Kelce and Evan Mathis back on November 10 against the Panthers.
Kelce is a little over a week removed from sports hernia surgery and is getting around well. He expects to be jogging by the end of the week and will begin lifting again once the inflammation goes down. The typical recovery time for this injury is a six-to-eight weeks. While it’s too early to know precisely when Kelce will be back, he has targeted the Monday night game against Carolina for his return, which would be just shy of the six-week mark post-surgery.
That happens to be the first game Mathis is eligible to play in. The All-Pro guard sounds very confident that he’ll be ready for that game.
The Eagles have four games between now and then: at home against the Rams and Giants and road tilts in Arizona and Houston. They could be getting two valuable pieces of the front back to kick off the second half of the schedule.
Kelce explained that he has been dealing with the sports hernia to some extent for “probably my whole NFL career.” He began really feeling it this year after the opener against Jacksonville, and it got progressively worse. It tore fully in-game against Washington.
“I heard it go,” said Kelce. “When you get up you just don’t feel stability in your core or anything like that.”
He won’t necessarily wait until he is 100 percent to rejoin the action. The key is getting it to a point when there is no risk of re-injury.
“As soon as it’s safe and I’m ready to come back and help the team out, I’m going to try and get out there,” said Kelce.
Lane Johnson returned to the fold this week after being suspended for the first four games and is expected to start at right tackle against the Rams.
“I got my boy Lane back,” said LeSean McCoy, who is clearly frustrated over the lack of success on the ground (as well as all of the questions he’s being asked about it.) He’ll have to make do without the rest of the gang for a little while longer, but at least there is a target date in sight.