As indicated by the decision to bring back wide receiver Mardy Gilyard on Tuesday, head coach Andy Reid said Wednesday that Jeremy Maclin's status is up in the air for Sunday's home opener against the Baltimore Ravens. Maclin suffered a hip pointer and a hip flexor strain against the Cleveland Browns in the season opener on Sunday, though he battled through those injuries to post seven catches for 96 yards and a touchdown. As he works his way back, Maclin will not practice with the team on Wednesday, Reid said.
"He's actually made progress here over the last couple days," Reid said. "He's feeling better. I wouldn't list him as out today, that's not how I'd list him, but he's not going to practice either."
In order to re-sign Gilyard, the Eagles released 2011 second-round pick safety Jaiquawn Jarrett. That decision was a matter of finding the right fit for Jarrett, Reid said.
"I have a lot of respect for the kid," Reid said. "I know he's going to end up hooking on with a team that probably plays a little more his style in the secondary and I know he'll do a great job. The kid's all class. I've said this before, that's the toughest part about this business and he's top notch.
"For the kid's sake, you wanted it to work out. I think he'll land some place that maybe plays more his style of secondary play where he's up there and he's knocking the heck out of people. I have a lot of respect for him."
Reid did acknowledge the difficulty of parting ways with a second-round pick so soon, but added that those are the kind of introspective decisions teams have to make in order to be successful.
"I think you have to be honest with yourselves," Reid said. "If it's working, then it works. If it doesn't, then it doesn't. I think that's the important thing there, and then you give the kid an opportunity to make a living. If it wasn't working with you, then it'll work with somebody else. You see that throughout the league with different cuts. We're all human. We all have errors that we make at times, where we think somebody's going to fit and it doesn't fit, and then you give them an opportunity to move on and, like I said, make a living for themselves."
With Jarrett gone, the Eagles have two backup safeties who could be looking to make their 2012 debuts with the Eagles. First, there's David Sims, the safety acquired from the Cleveland Browns via trade on roster cutdown day. Sims was inactive last week against the Browns, as was Colt Anderson, the special teams standout who is on the rebound from a torn ACL suffered in Week 13 of the 2011 season. Anderson practiced fully last week and he's now ready to contribute, Reid said.
"Colt's ready to play," said Reid. "He's there. He's done everything that he can do to get himself ready to play in a game. He's gone through practice. He practiced fast. He didn't have any setbacks, no swelling, soreness, any of that. The knee felt tight. Now he has an opportunity to possibly get in the game and contribute. That's what he wants and that's what we want.
"Sims, we liked what we saw on tape, we liked what we saw last week in practice, it was just a matter of him picking up some of the verbage that we use and technique that we use. He'll continue to do that this week. We obviously felt some comfort there to make the move that we made."
As for Gilyard, the 25-year-old stood out for the Eagles in the preseason, catching nine passes for 151 yards and two touchdowns, and was the obvious choice for receiver reinforcements.
"You saw Mardy make plays; that's really what it came down to," Reid said. "He was able to handle X and Z position mentally, and then he went out and he made plays. So we're giving him an opportunity to come back here. We had a lot of tough cuts that we had to make and that was one of them when we had to let him go."
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