Landon Dickerson revealed the cold reality of the NFL. Does anyone even care?
Dickerson acknowledged that he again tried to play through injury, to the detriment of the Eagles. His removal from the lineup, while pragmatic, could come at a personal cost.
Landon Dickerson stepped into a South Philadelphia sports bar Monday night and started answering questions, and anyone there who cared to understand the reality of professional football should have stopped chowing down on cheesesteaks and crab fries and listened closely to him.
Dickerson didn’t break any news about his health or his status as the Eagles’ starting left guard. The Inquirer’s Jeff McLane took care of that, revealing that the team was placing Dickerson on injured reserve because of bone bruising in his right knee.
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For at least four weeks, Dickerson will be out of the lineup, and backup Drew Kendall will probably replace him, and the easiest, coldest reaction is for Eagles fans to cheer that change and celebrate that their favorite team’s running game has a chance to be functional again. At best, they might laud Dickerson for acknowledging publicly what everyone who watched him could see: that he was nowhere close to 100% physically, just as he was a less effective player throughout last season after undergoing knee surgery and suffering through a host of other injuries, and that he shouldn’t have suited up Sunday at all.
“Honestly, to address the elephant in the room, I played like [poop],” he said during an interview on WIP 94.1. “I was a complete liability [Sunday], and again, that was my fault. I know I said earlier in camp I shouldn’t be out there until I feel healthy. A few weeks ago, got rolled up on in practice. I thought as weeks went by, it would get better, and it didn’t.”
His stint on injured reserve, he said, might allow him to “have a good stretch at the back of the season as opposed to what happened last season, which was go out and limp it through for 18 weeks. I don’t think anybody wants to see that again because that was just ugly. I don’t want to do that again because that was just some B.S.” But his admissions only raise the obvious questions: If Dickerson was so compromised, why was he out there? Why not simply let Kendall start?
This, of course, is where pro sports generally and the NFL specifically get tricky and uncomfortable, especially for those who want to close their eyes and plug their ears and root for their team … and who don’t want to contemplate the potential cost of that victory. Dickerson felt an obligation to be on the field, sure, not just because he owed it to his teammates but also because he owed it to himself. It’s how he perceives himself. He’s 27. Football in high school. Football in college. Football as the only job he’s ever known.
» READ MORE: Drew Kendall’s job replacing Landon Dickerson on Eagles O-line would be to ‘make sure we don’t skip a beat’
If he’s not lining up across from a defensive tackle or end and trying to pancake that guy, if he’s not in the huddle or on the sideline, if he’s not testing himself as an individual, if he’s not sharing in the camaraderie and common mission of his teammates, then who is he?
“We’re football players,” Dickerson said. “That’s what we do for a living. When you take that away from us, when you’re not doing what you know you can do, it hurts. It’s just kind of like taking your identity away from you. It’s one of those things where you keep fighting for it. You’re like, ‘I’ve got to keep doing this until somebody pulls me out on a stretcher or something else.’ But then you’ve got to look at it and say, ‘Is it about you? Or can we put somebody else out there right now who is going to do better?’”
That’s an admirable, unselfish approach for Dickerson to take. But it’s likely cut with another, more practical perspective: that as accomplished and talented as he is, there’s no guarantee that, once he leaves the lineup, he’ll get his job back.
What if Kendall is a revelation at left guard? What if Dickerson’s knee doesn’t heal enough to allow him to play — or to play at the Pro Bowl level he did in 2024? Does anyone really believe that the Eagles or any NFL franchise would remain so loyal to someone in Dickerson’s shoes? And any fans suggesting that Dickerson has earned the right to return, regardless of the circumstances, should be honest with themselves:
If the Eagles are rolling, if the offensive line looks great with Kendall, how would you react if they removed him and reinserted Dickerson? Would you be so sympathetic to Dickerson then, or would you worry first and foremost about whether he’d be able to keep Jalen Hurts’ pocket clean and open holes for Saquon Barkley?
» READ MORE: What we know (and don’t) about the Eagles entering Week 2 vs. the Titans
Would you tell him to keep his butt on the bench for the sake of your own hopes and happiness?
Were you all that sympathetic to him Sunday, when it looked like the Eagles might lose?
You ask why Landon Dickerson played against the Commanders, why in doing so he basically dared coach Nick Sirianni to make the difficult decision to bench him, why he was willing to damage the cohesion and performance of the Eagles’ offensive line, and the question answers itself. Next man up is a convenient cliche. Too many people forget or don’t give a damn about its corollary: First man, out. Sometimes for good.
The Eagles eked out a season-opening win over the Washington Commanders thanks, in large part, to Jalen Hurts channeling the elements of his game that make him so dangerous. But when it comes to other areas of the offense, concerns from last year still linger. The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane and David Murphy assess Hurts’ performance, Sean Mannion’s debut as offensive coordinator, and warning signs on the offensive line Listen here.
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