Bad news.
Philadelphia Eagles fullback/linebacker Ben VanSumeren suffered a season-ending knee injury during the team’s Friday practice, according to a report from the Inquirer’s Jeff McLane.
This sucks.
BVS, who originally signed with the Eagles as an undrafted rookie free agent last year, had carved out a role as a lead blocker on offense in addition to providing depth at linebacker and contributing on special teams. All told, he played 22 offensive snaps, 213 special teams snaps, and zero defensive snaps this season.
It remains to be seen if the Eagles have another player in mind for their fullback role or if they just scrap it moving forward. The guess here is the latter.
The BVS injury leaves the Eagles with less depth at LB. With Zach Baun and Nakobe Dean starting, the only depth off-ball linebackers are Oren Burks and Jeremiah Trotter Jr. They also have Dallas Gant on the practice squad.
If the Eagles want to place BVS on injured reserve to open a roster spot to fill prior to Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens, they have until 4:00 PM Eastern on Saturday. Otherwise we’ll see them make that maneuver next week.
Here’s wishing BVS a speedy recovery.
