PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Landon Dickerson played bartender and served cold ones for the Super Bowl champion Eagles with the injured offensive lineman’s career temporarily on ice.
The Eagles can’t wait for Dickerson to resume his day job.
Dickerson passed around beers Thursday at the end of a joint practice with the Cleveland Browns — with a brace on his right knee following meniscus surgery that will keep the three-time Pro Bowl lineman sidelined at least through the end of training camp.
Dickerson was injured at the end of Sunday’s open practice at Lincoln Financial Field. There is no set timetable for his return, and Brett Toth took first-team snaps at left guard this week at practice.
Toth likely will start for the Eagles when they play their second preseason game Saturday against the Browns.
“Whatever they ask me to do, I’m going to step to the plate and give it the best I got,“ Toth said. ”Hopefully I can perform to the standard that was before me.”
Beyond that, there are no guarantees. The Eagles remain hopeful Dickerson could return for the season opener when the Eagles raise their championship banner on Sept. 4 against Dallas.
“Don’t have to name any starters or any backups at any position,” coach Nick Sirianni said. “Brett’s done a nice job and I like the depth that we have at that position and I know we have options there, but you asked about Brett, I think Brett’s doing a really good job and he’s got a lot of versatility.”
Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson remained confident that Toth could handle the spot but was relieved that Dickerson wasn’t necessarily expected to remain sidelined deep into the season.
“It was alarming but I’m glad we got a good-case scenario,” Johnson said. “Make no mistake, Landon’s one of the, if not, the best guard in football.”
Toth, who played at Army, has had three stints with the Eagles and spent a bulk of that time on the practice squad.
“H’s a really smart individual, really good with the detail of the game,” Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo said. “He understands a lot of positions, which is great to have a guy like that that can line up in multiple spots and be able to step in if something happens. So I think that’s the biggest thing he brings and I think he’s been in the system for a while.”
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