Ryan Mathews' season – and possibly his time with the Eagles – is over.
The running back suffered a herniated disk (C6 and C7) in his neck, an injury that will require surgery and head coach Doug Pederson called "a pretty major deal."
Pederson said he didn't think the injury was career threatening, but it will force Mathews out for the last game of the 2016 season.
Mathews actually injured his neck – it was called a stinger during the game – on the third-down play at the goal line toward the end of the third quarter. He actually stayed on the field on fourth down, but lost a yard.
For the season, Mathews finished with 155 carries for 661 yards and eight touchdowns.
"Yeah, I think that Ryan obviously got off to a good start and then there was a little bit of a lull in the middle and he's finished up strong," Pederson said. "That's kind of been the nature of the season for him. These last couple of weeks he's kind of been our workhorse at the running back position and did some really good things for us. This obviously is unfortunate now that he can't finish the season for us."
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There seems to be a pretty good chance Mathews has played his final game with the team. With a cap number of $5 million in 2017, the Eagles could save $4 million in cap space by cutting him. There might be cheaper and perhaps better options going forward.
While Pederson last week came out and said he wanted Jason Peters back with the team next year, he declined to talk about Mathews' future with the team on Friday.
"Listen, I'm not going to speculate on any of that kind of stuff right now," he said. "We'll save all those for the offseason and wait until that time to make any decisions."
With Mathews done for the season, the Eagles are left with just two healthy running backs – Darren Sproles and rookie Byron Marshall. The Eagles recently signed Azusa Pacific back Terrell Watson to the practice squad.
So what's the plan at running back for Week 17 against the Cowboys?
"Do you want to play?" Pederson said, jokingly (we think), to the Philadelphia Inquirer's Zach Berman. "It's tough. We'll take a look at it. We've got time, obviously, with the weekend. Players won't be back until Tuesday. We've got time to evaluate it and see if there is anybody else available. If not, then by no means hesitate to bring Watson up and have him as an emergency third running back for next week."
As far as the Eagles' other injuries, Pederson said left guard Allen Barbre's left hamstring "got tight on him" during Thursday's game. It's unclear if he'll be able to play in the season finale, but he will have extra days to get ready.
Jordan Hicks (ankle), Jordan Matthews (ankle) and Isaac Seumalo (high ankle) should be fine for the Cowboys game. Safety Jaylen Watkins is in the concussion protocol.
The Eagles worked out Halapoulivaati Vaitai (knee) before Thursday's game and "should expect a little more out of his next week."
