Britain Covey knew it was bad as soon as it happened.
It was early in the second quarter of the Eagles-Saints game at the Superdome back in Week 3, and on a 2nd-and-9 he caught a short pass from Jalen Hurts and ran 11 yards down the right sideline for a first down.
Saints safety Will Harris drilled Covey, driving his helmet just under Covey’s left shoulder pad and breaking the scapula bone in his shoulder.
“I knew it was bad,” Covey said after practice Thursday. “My whole left side shut down. But I didn’t want to give (Harris) the satisfaction of knowing I got hurt. So I popped up and played another play.”
Get top local stories in Philly delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Philadelphia's News Headlines newsletter.
Only then did Covey leave the game and get checked out by Eagles medical personnel, who gave Covey the bad news: He would probably miss the next six weeks or so.
“It’s not an injury you see very often in football players,” Covey said. “I saw four doctors and they all said this particular injury is something you generally see in car crashes. The trainers said they’ve only seen one or two of them before.”
That was Sept. 22 and on Wednesday Covey returned to practice as a full participant. He’s still officially on Injured Reserve, but his practice window is open and there’s a good chance he’ll be activated in time to return to action Sunday night when the Eagles face the Rams in Inglewood, California.
Philadelphia Eagles
Complete coverage of the Philadelphia Eagles and their NFL rivals from NBC Sports Philadelphia.
The Eagles are expected to place edge rusher Bryce Huff on Injured Reserve after he underwent wrist surgery, and that would open up a roster spot for Covey.
“The training staff here is awesome,” Covey said. “I really trust them, which is nice to have. I feel like they genuinely care about you. So yeah, it's just a weird bone to break, and I might have to run out of bounds a couple more times - I probably shouldn’t try to run people over - but just happy to be back.
“I've worked hard and progressed nicely so feels good to open the practice window and be out there competing. I got to block B.G. for a play today.”
How did that go?
“Not good,” he said. “But it was fun still. I just missed the competition.”
If Covey is back, the Eagles will have a curious decision to make. Covey averaged 14.4 yards on punt returns last year, 3rd-highest in the league and 3rd-highest in Eagles history. But Cooper DeJean has been outstanding in Covey’s absence, averaging 11.8 yards per return. But he’s also a starting slot corner these days, and that’s a lot on his plate.
“I think it's going to be a great opportunity to have two really good guys,” Covey said. Coop is such an incredible athlete. It's been fun (watching him). I've just tried to help out as much as I could from the sidelines, helping out with schemes, helping out with the gunners and Coop. I mean, he's tough to tackle.
“And so, if I'm not up, Coop's going to keep doing a good job. If I am up, we'll see what they do. I think there's a big misconception in punt return that you can just stick any quick, fast guy back there, and you know after years of watching around the league it's not like that. So it's really nice to have a couple guys that can do it.”
With DeVonta Smith iffy for Sunday night with a lingering hamstring injury, Covey could also help out on offense, where he was just starting to make an impact when he got hurt.
He runs good routes and has sure hands and had a career-high six catches against the Falcons working out of the slot the week before he got hurt.
“That's why the timing was pretty unfortunate for me,” he said. “I've worked really hard to build that trust with Jalen (Hurts) and really have always felt like I could play that Cole Beasley type of role, you know, guys that I've watched my whole life, Julian Edelman, Danny Amendola.
“So you’ve just got to work back to it. But I pride myself in working in the slot, so hopefully it comes. But, you know, we're 6-0 in the last six games, so let's just keep that rolling. I'll be prepared.”
Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts:
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Simplecast | RSS | Watch on YouTube
